Chapter 17 Homework: The Eastern Mediterranean
(pages 376-391)
Name _____________________
12 Point Option
Section 1: Physical Geography
1. Do Turkey, Syria, and Jordan look flat or mountainous?
2. What two deserts are in this area?
3. Commercial farming is done where there is enough rain or where land is irrigated. Most
farmers in these five countries are subsistence farmers. This is a review question. What is a
subsistence farmer?
Section 2: Turkey
4. The ancient city of Constantinople had a name change in 1930. What is the name of this city
today?
5. What are the two main ethnic groups of people in Turkey?
6. What is Turkey’s biggest problem with the smaller of these two ethnic groups?
Section 3: Israel
7. Who were the ancestors of the Jewish people of Israel?
8. What group of people conquered Israel about 60 years B.C. and drove the Jewish people out?
9. What religion was started by Jesus?
10. In the late 1800’s there was a movement called Zionism. The people who believed in
Zionism were Jewish people from around the world, but especially in Europe. What did the
people who believed in Zionism want to do?
11. After World War II, the United Nations divided Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish
state. What did the Arab people who outnumber the Jewish people in the area do?
12. Who won this war?
13. For Christians, Sunday is the holy day of the week, but for Jewish people the holy day of the
week is what?
Section 4: Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan
14. What city is believed to be the oldest city in the world? (give the city and the country)
15. About 90% of Syrians are from what ethnic group of people?
16. From the looks of the picture on the top of 389, what is hard to come by in Syria?
17. Who did Jordan gain its independence from in the 1940s?
18. The lack of what resource is one of Jordan’s biggest resource problems?
16 Point Option
Section 1: Physical Geography
19. In Adalet’s school, classes are taught in two different languages. What are the two
languages?
20. Name two things that are interesting about the Dead Sea.
Section 2: Turkey
21.What kinds of products are produced and sold in Turkey?.
22. One of the five themes of geography is human/environmental interaction. Look at page 382
and give an example of how Turkey has interacted with their environment.
23. Why are Syria and Iraq not too happy about what Turkey has done with the environment?
24. List three common foods in Turkey.
Section 3: Israel
25. What must most men and women in Israel do when they turn 18?
26. Does Israel have a poor economy or a rich modern one?
27. 82% of the people of Israel are Jewish. What is the remainder of the population?
28. What can’t Jewish people eat?
29. Israel has gained three pieces of land as a result of its wars with its Arab neighbors. What are
these three “occupied” territories that Israel controls, but neighboring Arab countries feel are
theirs?
20 Point Option
Section 2: Turkey
30. Turkey has been ruled by the Hittites, the Persians, Alexander the Great (Greeks), the
Romans, and the Seljuk Turks. In 1453, what group gained power in Turkey and spread their
control over northern Africa, southwest Asia, and southeast Europe.
31. What religion was this group of people who ruled Turkey from 1453 until the end of World
War I?
32. Turkey today is a democracy and is considered to be a secular state. What is a secular state?
33. Give an example of a Muslim law that is not allowed in Turkey even though Turkey is a
Muslim country.
34. What do many Islamic political parties want to do in Turkey?
Section 3: Israel
35. Why does Israel need such a strong army?
36. Jewish people celebrate a holiday to honor when Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt. What
is this holiday called?
37. Jerusalem is in the West Bank. The Jewish people control it. Why does this make the
Palestinian Arabs and all other Arabs mad?
38. The Arabs want all their land back including the original land of Israel, but they would settle
on just getting back the occupied territories? Why is it that many people in Israel are not willing
to just give back the occupied territories to the Arabs?
Section 4: Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan
39. Who did Syria belong to until the 1940s?
40. What country in this unit had a terrible civil war (people in the same country fighting each
other) in the 1970s and 80s?
41. What group of people moved into Jordan in large numbers after the Arab wars with Israel, so
much so that they outnumbered the original people in Jordan.
42. The authors say this strained Jordan’s resources. What do you suppose this means?