Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY The Geography of the Middle East Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

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

Bodies of Water Caspian Sea Black Sea Dardanelles Strait Atlantic Ocean Tigris River Mediterranean Sea Euphrates River Jordan River Suez Canal Strait of Hormuz Persian Gulf Nile River Gulf of Oman Red Sea Arabian Sea Gulf of Aden Indian Ocean

Completed by the British in 1869 Suez Canal Completed by the British in 1869

Mesopotamia: ”Land Between the Two Rivers” The Tigris & Euphrates River System Mesopotamia: ”Land Between the Two Rivers”

Dust Storms Along the Tigris-Euphrates Flood Plains

The Jordan River System: Israel & Jordan--A Fight Over Water Rights?

Dead Sea: Lowest Point on Earth Highest Salt Content (33%)

Wadis – Instant Springs

Mountain Ranges in Mid-East Elburz Mts., Iran Zagros Mts., Iran Lebanese Mts. Taurus Mts., Turkey

Desert Bedouins

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” Rub al-Khali: “The Empty Quarter”

Desert Oases: Water at a Premium!

Desalinization Plants Jubail

Fertile Crescent

The Fertile Crescent

World Oil Reserves

Persian Gulf Oil Exports OPEC Top World Oil Net Exporters, 2013 (Thousand Barrels per Day)

Saudi Oil Fields & Refineries

Kuwait: An Island Floating on a Sea of Oil Kuwait City

Leading U. S. Oil Suppliers • The U.S. only imports 40% of the oil it uses; the other 60% is produced in the U.S. • Half of the oil the U.S. imports is from North and South America; only 28% of imported oil comes from the Middle East