Name:_______________________________________ Gold or Maroon:____________
Block:____________
People and World Cultures
Unit I: Middle East
Five Themes of Geography
The Region and Location of the Middle East
-Absolute
-Relative
Baghdad, Iraq:
Islamabad, Pakistan:
Muscat, Oman:
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
Sana, Yemen:
Tehran, Iran:
33°
33°
23°
24°
15°
35°
19'
43'
36'
42'
21'
41'
N
N
N
N
N
N
/ 44°
/ 73°
/ 58°
/ 46°
/ 44°
/ 51°
25'
3'
35'
43'
12'
25'
The Middle East is a region
strategically situated because it
connects Asia, Africa, and Europe. The
relative location of the Middle East is
East and North East of Africa, West of
Asia, South West of Europe, and East
of the United States. The earliest
human civilizations began in the region
in what was formerly the “Cradle of
Civilization. Mesopotamia was founded
on the delta between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers, which allowed
increased agriculture to support larger populations. As a result, centers and cities emerged
to support densely populated areas.
The Middle East has a population of about 246 million, or nearly as many people as the
United States. The distribution of the population varies widely. The fertile regions are
very densely settled; many others are only lightly populated; while others, particularly in
the deserts, are completely empty of human life. The most populous Middle Eastern
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countries are Turkey, Egypt, and Iran, each with more than 50 million people. The
Persian Gulf states of Bahrain and Qatar have the smallest populations, about 400,000
each. Saudi Arabia, although greatest in area, has a relatively small population for its
size, a little more than 10 million, because much of its land is desert.
Since ancient times, the Middle East has attracted migrating peoples. Mixing with the
earlier inhabitants of the region, they produced the peoples that make up the Middle East
today. They can be classified into three main ethnic groups--Arabs, Turks, and Iranians.
There are, in addition, smaller numbers of Kurds, who are scattered across Turkey, Iran,
and Iraq; Jews (of varied ethnic origin), who live chiefly in Israel; Pakistanis; Armenians;
and Greeks, who live mainly on the island nation of Cyprus.
What is the relative location of the Middle East in relation to the United States?
What is the largest ethnic group group in the Middle East?
What is the largest city in the Middle East? What is the population there?
Language and Religion.
Language and religion are basic elements of cultural identity in the Middle East. The
major languages of the region, which correspond to the three main ethnic groups, are
Arabic, the most widely used language; Turkish; and Persian (or Farsi), the language of
the Iranians. Kurdish is
related to Persian. The
Hebrew spoken in Israel is,
like Arabic, a Semitic
tongue. Educated people
throughout the Middle East
frequently speak English or
French as well.
Islam, the religion of the
Muslims, is the predominant
faith of the Middle East.
There are two main branches:
Sunni Islam, the larger
branch; and Shi'i Islam,
found mainly in Iran, Iraq,
and Lebanon. Christianity is practiced by some Arabs, particularly in Lebanon; by the
Greeks of Cyprus; and the Copts in Egypt. Judaism was the faith of ancient Israel and is
the religion of the modern state of Israel.
What is the predominate language spoken in the Middle East?
What is the predominate religion practiced?
The Place of the Middle East
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Physical features (bodies of water, mountains, plains, etc...)
Climate
Environment
Human Characteristics
The Taurus Mountain range extends through southern Turkey to the Iraqi and Iranian
borders. The famous Mount Ararat, seen in the Bible as the resting place of Noah’s Ark,
is located in the eastern part of the range, and is the highest peak of the Taurus Mountains
at 16,583 feet (5137 meters). On the northern side of the Taurus peaks lies the arid
Anatolian plateau, averaging 500-1000 meters high, where the capital Ankara is located.
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
both originate in the eastern
Taurus Mountains, and are fed by
snowmelt as they flow toward Iraq.
The Taurus Mountains give us a
good example of transhumance, or
seasonal nomadism, in the Yoruk
people. Over thousands of years,
nomad herders like the Yoruk have
wintered their animals on the
southern side of the Taurus closer
to the Mediterranean, away from
the bitter cold of the mountains
and the plateau, and then moved
them to summer pastures in the
cooler heights to escape the
blistering heat and insects of the plain.
The Taurus Mountains have also acted as a natural political boundary between states over
the centuries. They marked the boundary, for example, between the Byzantine Empire
and the Islamic state founded after the rise of Islam from the seventh century.
The Zagros and Elburz Mountains run along the western and northern borders,
respectively, of Iran. The Zagros extend about 1000 miles from northern Iraq through
western and southern Iran. The Elburz run over 600 miles across northern Iran along the
coast of the Caspian Sea.
This is a region with a great deal of geologic activity, in part because this region lies
along the line where the Arabian plate grinds against the Eurasian plate.
You can see this geologic hot spot activity quite literally at Mt. Damavand, which has hot
springs at its base. Poisonous gases are sometimes expelled from vents near the peak.
There are also many earthquakes in this region. For example, a powerful 6.6 magnitude
earthquake destroyed the city of Bam in Iran on December 26, 2003.
Arabian Desert:
The Arabian Desert, one of the largest deserts on the planet, is a vast desert wilderness
stretching from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and from Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It occupies
most of the Arabian Peninsula, with an estimated area of 2,330,000 sq km (900,000 sq
mi).
As for climate, the region displays a great variety. In the desert areas, rainfall is low,
averaging about four inches per year. Temperatures in such areas show great extremes.
Along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the Black and Caspian Seas, the
water serves to lessen the temperature extremes of the desert resulting in a more moderate
climate that is similar to that of southern Italy or California.
How would you describe the Middle East as a “Place?”
How have the Taurus Mountains impacted or influenced human activity in the past
and currently?
Human-Environment Interaction in the Middle East
How people
• Adapt to their environment
• Modify their environment
• Depend on their environment
Oil exports from the Middle East Gulf States amounted to 19.6 million barrels per day in
2013 equivalent to 22.6% of total global oil production and 43% of oil consumption. The
importance of the region to the well being of the global economy cannot be overstated.
Saudi Arabia is the second largest oil producing country in the world. The Saudi Arabian
economy is fueled almost entirely by the production and distribution of petroleum and its
derivative products. Over the past decade oil sales have generated, on average, 90 percent
of the country's yearly export earnings, 35 percent of annual gross domestic
product (GDP), and 75 percent of all budget revenues. High oil prices in the 1970s led to
rapid economic expansion.
Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia by American geologists in the 1930s, but high level
production did not begin until after World War II (1939-45). In the 1960s, the Saudi oil
industry began to mature, resulting in a massive accumulation of wealth; fast paced
economic growth, and rapid urban development. However, it was not until the 1970s that
Saudi Arabia emerged as one of the Middle East's preeminent political and economic
powers.
How has the Middle East depended on their environment?
Describe ways in which the Middle East has adapted or modified their environment.
Movement in the Middle East
• People
• Goods
• Ideas
Historically, it has been an area where merchants would travel various trading routes
throughout the region in order to sell goods. Throughout this process, various ideas and
cultural influences would be passed along in addition to the goods. Over the last few
decades, the Middle East and North Africa region witnessed rapid population growth.
The region also witnessed a process of rapid urbanization during the same period.
These trends have exerted great pressures on the transportation networks of the region’s
cities and town, resulting in high traffic volumes and congestion. Policy responses to
these pressures have typically been directed towards upgrading and expanding road
networks, which encouraged further urbanization and personal vehicle use, that in turn
led to additional traffic volumes and congestion.
Public spending into road networks has also come at the expense of public transportation
networks, which remained underfunded, inefficient, and unreliable. This, together with
the region-wide policy of subsidizing car fuels – which is effectively a subsidy on private
vehicle ownership – have increased the dominance of private vehicle transportation over
public transportation.
What challenges have the Middle Eastern people struggled with?
How might this impact movement and human interaction in the Middle East?