Study Guide: Geography 1002 Test 3 (North Africa & southwest Asia & Sub-Saharan Africa)
J. Naumann
Be able to locate the countries or places in the questions below (1-16:
1. Know the approximate area of Kurdistan.
2. Algeria
3. Morocco
4. Libya
5. Tunisia
6. Egypt
7. Sudan
8. Turkey
9. Yemen
10. Saudi Arabia
11. Kuwait
12. Iraq
13. Iran
14. Afghanistan
15. Kazakhstan
16. Syria
17. What proportion (fraction or percent) of the world’s oil reserves are contained within this
realm?
18. What rivers flow through Iraq?
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19. On the map above, locate: Caucasus Mts., Atlas Mountains, Zagros Mts., Anatolian
Plateau, Iranian Plateau
20. On the map above, locate ancient Mesopotamia.
21. The Taliban revolution of the mid-1990s occurred in which country?
22. Which strategic waterway in this region of North Africa and Southwest Asia was
constructed by humans?
23. Although there are differences among Islamist movements, what are they all reacting
against?
24. Which region is hotly contested by Israel and Syria today?
25. The African transition zone roughly coincides with what semiarid region in Africa?
26. In which country are Shiite Muslims undisputedly in the vast majority?
27. The Suez Canal connects which two water bodies?
28. Which is the Eastern Mediterranean island which has been hotly contested by Greece
and Turkey?
29. Which is the North African state that had, until recently, been considered the
most radical state (supporting terrorists, etc.)?
30. Which country invaded Kuwait in 1990 and triggered the Gulf War?
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31. Using the map to the
right, locate the following
countries: Ivory Coast,
Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan,
Kenya, Somaliland,
Tanzania, Congo
(Kinshasa), Namibia,
Botswana, Republic of
South Africa, Liberia
32. Locate the following on the
map to the left: Niger R., Congo
R., Nile R., Limpopo R., Orange
R., Lake Victoria, Lake
Tanganyika,
33. Locate the following on the
map to the left (print yourself
another copy): Congo Basin,
Ethiopian Highlands, Kalahari
Desert, Drakensberg Mts. (Great
Escarpment), the African Horn,
the Rift Valleys.
34. Show where the largest area
of rainforest in Africa exists
today.
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35. Refugees from the Arab-Israeli conflicts outnumber native inhabitants in which MidEastern country
36. Which country lost the Golan Heights to Israel in 1967 and would like to regain that
territory?
37. Which countries, twenty years ago would not have been included in this realm (N. Africa
& Southwest Asia) and still is treated separately by the authors of your textbook?
38. Islam originated around, and millions of Muslims make pilgrimages to which city?
39. While Islam came to be the dominant religion in this realm (North Africa and Southwest
Asia), a stronghold of Coptic Christianity survived through the centuries in which part(s) of the
realm?
40. Which city is regarded as holy by Jews, Muslims, and Christians?
41. Which strategic waterway in this realm (North Africa and Southwest Asia) has been,
through the centuries, of most interest to Russia?
42. In 2002-2005 CE, the USA was conducting military operations in the North
Africa/Southwest Asia realm in which country/countries?
43. Which were the territories taken and occupied by Israel in the 1967 war?
44. Which country in the realm North Africa and Southwest Asia best fits this description:
large proportion of highly educated people, extremely high literacy rate, high standard of
living for most citizens, and always prepared for war?
45. Which neighboring country or group has not yet signed a peace treaty or an agreement
to work toward one with Israel?
46. The economic outlook for many of the countries of North Africa-Southwest Asia Realm
greatly improved with the discovery of what?
47. Until the terrorism and retaliation of 2002 CE, expanding Palestinian control in the West
Bank territory has been complicated by and often hampered by what actions?
48. Which event in the late 1940s displaced 2 million Palestinians from their homeland?
49. In the largest part of the realm (N. Africa & Southwest Asia), a map of population density
would probably have the greatest coincidence with a map of what other feature?
50. Which is a stateless nation in the North Africa and Southwest Asia Realm?
51. Turkey occupies what was once the center of which two empires?
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52. What was probably the most remarkable and almost inconceivable occurrence,
particularly to those old enough to remember the cold war, associated with the War on
Terrorism begun in 2001 CE?
53. What generalizations can be made about the countries of Central Asia, particularly those
that were formerly part of the U.S.S.R.?
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54. What reason best explains the relatively clean environment in Central Asia?
55. The Congo's (Kinshasa) great development potential has been hampered by what
factors?
56. What physical conditions are generally found in East Africa?
57. In South Africa, who were the Boers?
58. Name the West African country that shifted its capital from Lagos to the new centrallylocated city (forward capital) of Abuja.
59. Nelson Mandela was the president who ushered in the age of democracy in which
country?
60. The first Europeans to colonize what is now South Africa came from which country?
61. The Ibo, Hausa-Fulani, and Yoruba peoples inhabit which country?
62. Today, which is the worst and possibly most widespread of Africa's pandemic diseases?
63. In the 1980s, which African country had one of the fastest-growing populations in the
world?
64. What is the landform term that best describes the African continent as a whole?
65. What do the majority of Africans do for their livelihood?
66. How were African country boundaries created?
67. On the world scale, how does the population growth rate of Africa rate?
68. How does Africa relate to the term colonialism today?
69. The fault system in East Africa helped create what feature(s)?
70. What might be considered the legacies of colonialism in Africa today?
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71. Which religions have been showing great vitality in Africa in recent years?
72. Which was the African country that was established by former American slaves?
73. Which is the most populous country in Africa, and also has significant oil supplies?
74. Which tribal group of Nigeria attempted and failed to secede and create a new country
called Biafra in the 1960s?
75. The Boer War in South Africa was fought between which peoples?
76. In which part of Sub-Saharan Africa are the most secure wildlife reserves located?
77. Which countries did receive African territory in the Berlin Conference?
78. Describe some of the major characteristics of Apartheid in South Africa.
79. Which were reasons for the failure of many economic policies in Sub-Saharan Africa in
the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s?
80. Explain (define) the term transhumance.
81. The shrinking of Lake Chad in recent years is chiefly attributed to what?
82. Regarding Africa south of the Sahara, to what does the Great Escarpment refer?
83. African farming is plagued by what conditions?
84. Why do the five pillars of Islam make it an ideal religion for a nomadic people?
85. Why did African rivers turn out to be a disappointment to the European colonial powers?
86. U.S. involvement in the North African/Southwest Asian realm during the past 20 years
mainly reflects the American interest in what?
87. It is widely accepted that Saddam Hussein had tried to have a US President
assassinated. Which president was that?
88. Under Apartheid in South Africa, the Bantu (Blacks) were considered citizens of what?
89. Before it was ended, what part of the European population in South Africa supported
Apartheid?
90. In both ancient and modern times, why did the central portion of the North African &
Southwest Asian realm occupy and benefit from a strategic relative location?
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91. Prior to colonialism, what was the relationship between the Hutu and the Tutsi in what are
not Rwanda and Burundi?
92. In November of 2005, several cruise ships were attacked by pirates operating from which
African country?
93. By late 2005, many Americans were criticizing the military operations in Iraq and saying it
was a lot like U.S. previous military involvement in what country or part of the world?
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