Southwest Asia (The Middle East) Location, Climate and Resources

What is SW Asia? Corner of huge Asian continent Surrounded by 5 bodies of water -- Red, Med, Black, Caspian, and Arabian Sea Crossroads for trading to Africa, Asia and Europe Conquered many times, each group leaves a cultural “footprint”

Landforms Not just all desert Turkey and Iran—mountains Rub’al-Khali – “empty quarter” sand sea in Saudi Arabia

Landforms cont. Fresh water is very valuable Major rivers– Tigris, Euphrates, Jordan Persian Gulf important—oil and trading Dead Sea -very salty, no life, float easily Wadis—dry stream beds, water a few feet below surface

Climate Most areas (not all) are hot and dry Winds and elevation influence temp and precip Turkey and Iran get good amount of rain, produce food most of food has to be imported to region Irrigation is huge in area

Oil and Gas 60% of the world’s oil Only a few countries have it though—most around Persian Gulf Oil allows countries to become 1 st world These countries rely solely on oil –bad Natural gas usually found near oil

Resource Problems Many minerals have been depleted—used up Area used to have forests-- deforestation