Southwest Asian Geography

Chapter 11

Lesson 1

SW Asia’s Relative Location

• Crossroads location

– Links Europe, Africa, and Asia

• Traders/Invaders spread their goods and ideas

– Each group left cultural footprints

• Language, religion

SW and World Trade

• Region controls vital sea and land routes

– Bosporous and Dardanelles Straits link Black and Mediterranean Seas

• Red Sea and Suez Canal are important sea lanes

– Ships use to avoid long trips around Africa on way from Europe to Asia

SW Asian Mountains

• Mountains affect movement and communication– Must find way around or through them

• Mountains influence SW Asia’s rainfall

– Western and northern slopes receive more and block precipitation from reaching east and south

• Shifts in mountains cause earthquakes

SW Asian Plateaus

• Anatolian Plateau suitable for growing grain

– Continental climate

• Iranian Plateau

– Dry, has little plant life

SW Asian Deserts

• Deserts discourage movement of people

– Very little or no water

Importance of SW Asian Bodies of Water

• Region surrounded by Black, Mediterranean, Caspian, Red, and Arabian Seas

• Jordan River

– Israel and Jordan struggle over control

• Lack of moisture makes fresh water very important

Importance of SW Asian Bodies of Water-continued

• Tigris/Euphrates Rivers

– Rise in Turkey, flow through Syria and Iraq, empty into Persian Gulf

– Key to birth of world’s earliest civilizations

– Supplies water for agriculture

• Turkey dammed Euphrates and created reservoir

– Downstream Syria and Iraq worry Turkey will use water for their people

Importance of SW Asian Bodies of Water-continued

• Persian Gulf

– Important to world’s economy

– Has oil below its surface

– Busy shipping route

Importance of SW Asian Bodies of Water-continued

• Red Sea

– Important shipping route

– With opening of Suez Canal became link in world trade routes running between Europe and Asia

• Suez Canal connects Mediterranean and Red Seas

Subregions of SW Asia

• Middle East

– Name use for the subregion of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestinian Authority (PNA)

– Forms a curving band of fairly well-watered land

– Extends from Mediterranean coast to northern shores of Persian Gulf

– Located in middle of far reaching Muslim world

Subregions of SW Asia

• Arabian Peninsula

– Lies on most southwestern corner of Asia

– Interior is mostly desert and has few people

– Coasts have well-watered areas and oases

– To Americans it is land of Bedouin (desert nomads) and oil

– To Muslims it is homeland of Islam and prophet Mohammad

Subregions of SW Asia

• Northern Tier

– Includes 3 non Arab countries in the North

• Turkey, Iran, and Cyprus

Key Vocabulary

• Strait: narrow waterway that connects two larger bodies of water

• Relief: differences in height or elevation

• Deserts in SW Asia have little relief

– Few hills and valleys to create differences in height

Key Vocabulary

• Fertile Crescent: arc of green land stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf

– Key agricultural region

• Mesopotamia – “Land between the rivers”

• Tigris and Euphrates

– Part of Fertile Crescent