© T. M. Whitmore Today North Africa and Southwest Asia  Role of the geography (location & situation) of  Resources and settlement  Populations & demography

© T. M. Whitmore Last Time Underdevelopment in SS Africa Questions?

© T. M. Whitmore Some Comments on the Papers Mostly good efforts. But some problems, too! Some papers had no thesis at all In some papers, the thesis was not connected to the rest of the paper Some papers exhibited poor organization Some papers failed to show a clear connection to the topic assigned Globalization was frequently equated with mere economic growth and urban expansion Some papers stated a series of facts but never drew actual conclusions from them Some papers brought up globalization and its effects too generally and superficially

© T. M. Whitmore More comments Some papers showed no sources at all Some papers made general claims without substantiating them Inappropriate sources were a problem There was heavy reliance on internet sources, some of doubtful reliability Some noted sources at the end of the paper but used no citations in the text Some writers simply asserted opinion for fact Grammar and proofreading are important Style in some papers was too casual and informal

© T. M. Whitmore North Africa and SW Asia (the “Middle East”) THEMES to characterize this region  Role of the geography (location & situation) of resources and settlement  Role of the geography of population/demography  Role of Culture, Religion, Ethnicity  Role of historical developments in current geopolitical landscape

© T. M. Whitmore A region at the center of world events At the intersection of the largest continents Origins of agriculture and cities Origin of three major religions Center of multiple empires Center of world oil production Historical center of political Islam Site of destabilizing armed conflicts including the Iraq war and the Arab- Israeli conflict.

© T. M. Whitmore

Geophysical Environment Aridity Regional Exceptions Deserts  Sahara  Arabian  Iranian

Mean annual precipitation in mm

NASA World Wind

© T. M. Whitmore Key Landscapes of SettlementLandscapes N. slopes of Atlas Mtns. Nile valley Eastern Mediterranean Coastal Turkey Mesopotamia (Iraq) Slopes of Zagros and Elburz mtns in Iran Elevated and southern areas in Sudan Commonalities to these places

© T. M. Whitmore

Source: NASA World Wind N. slopes of Atlas Mtns.

Source: NASA World Wind Nile valley

Source: NASA World Wind Eastern Mediterranean Coastal Turkey Mesopotamia (Iraq)

© T. M. Whitmore Natural resources-WaterWater Controls settlement Source of significant political contention Source of significant political contention Presence (or lack) supports various livelihoods  Irrigated agriculture Irrigated agriculture  Nomadism/herding

Irrigated land Source Atlas of the biosphere

Exotic rivers

Area of detail on next slide NASA World Wind (Blue marble image)

Center pivot irrigation at Wadi As-Sirhan, Saudi Arabia Landsat 7 image

Traditional pastoralist regions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries Bedouin pastoralists

© T. M. Whitmore Natural resources II - Petroleum Spatial Distribution Reserves Production US dependence Major regions for oil & gasregions  Key importance of the “Gulf”Gulf

World Crude Oil Production, Million Barrels per Day

World Oil Consumption in 1,000 barrels per day North America

17.2 m barrels/day

© T. M. Whitmore Population/Demography Population Totals  Uneven geographygeography Among the fastest growing (~ 2%/yr) populations Some of the highest fertility (TFR ~ 3.5) in the world {Global averages ~1.5%/yr & TFR ~2.7} Mortality: ~ “3 rd world” average (E o ~63; IMR ~ 50/1000) Urbanization  Higher than “3 rd world” average

Population Density

© T. M. Whitmore Religion — A source of commonality and division Islam (Muslim) Islam  Sunni  Shíite  Fundamentalists Judaism Christianity

© T. M. Whitmore

© Bret Wallach