Middle East? OR Near East?OR Southwest Asia? OR….?

Includes 25+ territories

Western Sahara is disputed

5.91 million square miles

Location Almost 2 times the size of US Located at latitudes equivalent Boston and Bogota

Population Around 600

million people

Majority of population in four countries:

○ Iran○ Egypt○ Turkey○ Pakistan

Why is this?

Natural Vegetation Map

Climate Map

Has a high population growth

○ Developing countries

○ Muslim cultures○ Palestine, one

of the highest growth rates in the world

The more urban the population, the wealthier the country

○ Kuwait

On the other hand…..

Desperately poor countries urban population is less than 32%

Ex:○ Afghanistan ○ Sudan○ Yemen

Water in the Middle East!

TigrisRiver

Nile River

EuphratesRiver

Jordan River Persian Gulf

ArabianSea

Mediterranean Sea

IndianOcean

Red Sea

Black Sea

Gulf of Aden

Strait ofHormuz

Suez Canal

Dardanelles Strait

AtlanticOcean

Gulf ofOman

Caspian

Sea

Tigris-Euphrates River System Land in between,

historically called Mesopotamia

○ “Land between two rivers”

Shared by Iraq, Turkey, and Syria

Part of the Fertile Crescent

Marsh, swamps, shallows

The Jordan River System extremely important

resource to surrounding countries

Where Jesus was baptized

Sections still used for baptism

The Dead Sea 1,385 ft. below sea

levelLowest Place on

Earth

One of the saltiest bodies of water

Has a high buoyancy-people can easily float

Health benefits

The Arabian Peninsula and It’s Oil

• 2/3 of the world’s oil is located in the Middle East (most located along the Persian Gulf and in Iraq)

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

The Oil Giant of Saudi Arabia Occupies most of

the Arabian Peninsula

Homeland of Arab civilization and Islam

Interior is plateau Has no permanent

rivers! Saudization

Persian Gulf Oil Exports

Saudi Oil Has the largest

amount of proven oil reserves in the world

Produces 2nd largest amount of oil

Ghawar, worlds largest oil field

Bahrain Small island Connected to SA by

four-lane causeway Also center for oil

refinement, but running out of oil

Only country of Arabian Penninsula to allow women to vote

Qatar UAE

On worlds third largest natural gas reserve

4/5 of population are imported workers because of that industry

Home of al-Jazeera But before the oil and

gas….

Confederation of seven units

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the oil economic centers

Because of oil, UAE is successfully diversifying its economy

More liberal, especially Dubai

Yemen Oman

Located on mountainous southern tip

Receives heaviest rainfall of the peninsula

Struggling economy ○ Lack of industrial production○ Immigrant Yemen workers ○ Late oil discovery

Source of ancient worlds frankincense

Capital, Muscat vital trade port between ME-SA

Been U.S. allies in Gulf War and War in Iraq

Iraq Why such a hot

spot?○ Sunni○ Shi’ite ○ Kurd

Tigris and Euphrates used for agriculture

Baghdad is everything!

○ Located perfectly

Continued….. Oil is main source of

revenue Should have

allowed them to thrive, but….

○ Arab Baath Socialist Party

Iran Used to be Persia, until occupied by British Restoration of the “shah”

○ Reza Pahlavi

1979, Khomeini ○ Islamic Republic

Continued… First country in ME

to produce oil○ Also, pistachio and

Persian rugs

Mostly Mts., plateau and desert

Northwest region able to grow subtropical crops

○ Majority depend on irrigation

Kuwait Size of New Jersey

○ Yet, 4th largest store of petroleum resources

From poor fishers and farmers to wealthy urbanized state

OIL ONLY!

U.S. and Iraq 1980-88 Iran-Iraq

War 1991 Gulf War 2003 War in Iraq

U.S. and Iran

1980 Iraq Iran War 1980 Tehran

Hostages 2002 “Axis of Evil” Straight of

Hormuz/Nuclear capabilities

ACTIVITY Using the chart,

create a trade flow map of how the U.S. obtains oil from around the world.

Be sure to indicate the amount of oil imported by arrow size.

Trade Flow Map Examples