Nod to S.

Pojer, Professor Quist, Haugen

World Cultures/Fall 2007

Middle East? OR Near
East?
OR Southwest Asia?
OR….?
 Definition of the
Middle East
• Loosely defined throughout
history
• Generally…Southwestern Asia
and Northeastern Africa
Bodies of Water

Ca
Black Sea

sp
i
an
Se
Med

a
it erra Tigris
nea Euphrates
nS
ea River
Jordan River
River
Suez Canal Pe
rs Strait of
ian
Nile Gu Hormuz
lf Gulf
River

Re
of

d
Oman

Se
a
Arabian
Sea
Gulf of Aden

Indian
Ocean
 Suez Canal

Completed by the British

 The Tigris &
Euphrates
River System

Mesopotamia:
”Land Between the
Two Rivers”

Marsh Arabs,
So. Iraq
 Dust Storms Along the
Tigris-Euphrates Flood Plain
 The
Jordan
River
System:

Israel &
Jordan--A
Fight Over
Water
Rights?
Dead Sea: Lowest Point on
Earth
2,300’ below sea
level

Highest
Salt
Content
(33%)
Mountains & Plateaus
Caucasus
Mts.

s Iranian
uru
Ta s. Zagrs Plateau
Mt Mts.

He
jaz
Mt
s.
Mountain Ranges in Mid-East

Elburz Mts., Iran Zagros Mts., Iran

Lebanese Mts. Taurus Mts., Turkey

Deserts

Negev
Sinai
Desert
Desert
Libyan Desert Arabian
Desert Rub
al-Khali

Sahara Desert
Desert Bedouins
Breeding Areas of Desert
Locusts
 Swarms of Desert
Locusts
Israel Hit By Worst
Locust Plague
Since the 1950s

Locusts Swarm
the Pyramids
Complex at Giza
Rub al-Khali:
“The Empty
Quarter”
 Middle East as
“Resource Poor”
• Generally defined in terms of
“resource issues,” (i.e., lack of
resources)
 Climate
• 2/3s of the Middle East lacks
sufficient rain to grow *any* crop
• Where there is rain, it comes
usually only in the Winter, thus
out of the growing season
Desert Oases: Water at a
Premium!
Fresh Groundwater Sources
Desalinizati
on
Plants
Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent
The Middle East vs. the U.
S.
Latitude Lines
Middle East: Climate
Regions
Middle East: Population
Density
 Cairo, Egypt:
Most Populated City in the Middle East

17,000,000
+
People!
 The Middle East:
Natural Vegetation
The Natural Resources of
the
Middle East
World Oil Reserves
Persian Gulf Oil Exports
(2003)
Saudi Oil Fields &
Refineries
Kuwait: An Island Floating on a Sea
of Oil

Kuwai
t
City
 Leading U. S. Oil
Suppliers

The U. S. imports 30% of its oil needs from

the Middle East.