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

The Great River  Longest River in the world, over 4100 miles long  Runs through ten countries  Starts in Lake Victoria

 Sustains almost 160 million people  95% of Egypt’s population lives on 5% its land  Nile Water Agreement- Egypt has access to 2/3 of Niles water

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 level  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 2 nd 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

QatarUAE  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

YemenOman  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

Israeli-Palestinian conflict  Israelis: Citizens of the Jewish nation of Israel Not all, but majority are Jewish  Palestinians: Arabs with Palestine origins.  Majority are Muslims  A stateless nation

Why? What’s the big fuss?  Occupied Territory ○ Gaza Strip ○ West Bank ○ Golan Heights  Wars of ○ ○ 1967 ○ 1973  Today, who gets what?

Israel  Law of return ○ Grants citizenship to any Jew who wishes to live there  Pop. of 6.8 million, 80% Jewish  Culturally and religiously diverse  Jerusalem- political capital  Tel Aviv-Jaffa- economic capital

Continued….  Agriculturally self sustaining  Great irrigation systems  Recent conflict takes toll on economy  relies heavily on exports of equipment and U.S. aid

Continued…  IDF-Israeli Defense Force  One of the best Air forces in the world  Works with the United States on weapons development  Citizens required to serve once 18 ○ Men 3 years ○ Women 2 years

Palestinians  A stateless nation  Live in surrounding countries and the Occupied Territories  Ghurba- similar to the Jews Diaspora  PLO- Palestinian Liberation Organization  Hamas- Palestinian political party

The recent focus  1993: Israel and PLO sign agreements, lead to withdrawal of Israeli troops  2005: Israel to remove all Jewish settlements and troops from Gaza by end of 2005  Today: Palestinians claim Israel still occupying parts of Gaza, Israel claims they are offering protection against Hamas terrorism

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  Saddam givith and Saddam takith away

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, 4 th largest store of petroleum resources  From poor fishers and farmers to wealthy urbanized state  OIL ONLY!

U.S. and Iraq  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