1. The Middle East: Southwest Asia and North Africa
Sahara Desert
The Middle East: Southwest Asia and North Africa
Physical Features
The Nile
River

2. Middle East: Southwest Asia, Central Asia and North Africa
Stretches from Morocco to Kazakhstan
Made up of peninsulas, gulfs, deserts, seas
Fresh water-Sea of Galilee
Saltwater lakes- Aral Sea
Lowest point on earth=Dead Sea (Israel) 1,400ft below
High Peak = Hindu Kush
(Afghanistan/Pakistan) 25,000ft

3. Seas and Peninsulas: North Africa= Mediterranean Sea
( separates Africa from Europe)
East of Africa= Red Sea and Gulf Of Aden
(separate Southwest Asia’s Arabian Peninsula from Africa)
Sinai peninsula=Gulf of Aqaba and Gulf of Suez

4. Continuation… East of Mediterranean= 3 landlocked bodies of saltwater
Dead Sea:
Sits at mouth of Jordan River
Israeli- Jordanian border
Actually a lake
9x saltier than the ocean/ sea
Too salty for life
Caspian Sea-
largest inland body of h2o
Borders Europe and Asia
Water loss -> irrigation, evaporation
Aral Sea-
1960’s –fishing center-> present day, much of it has dried up
USSR- diverted the Aral Sea’s water sources for irrigation purposes

5. Dead Sea:

6. Why is the Dead Sea so salty?
The Dead Sea is salty because it has no outlets. Any minerals which flow into it stay there. All bodies of fresh water have outlets which allow them to dispose of dissolved minerals which flow into them from their sources. Oceans and seas typically have no outlets (although there are exceptions; the Mediterranean Sea is saltier than the Atlantic Ocean, and loses mineral-laden water by a deep outflow layer through the Straits of Gibraltar).
This "no-outlet" condition is general with all landlocked bodies of salt water, such as the Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA, or the Caspian Sea.

7. Extraction of water
Desalination
Dam constructed in
1950’s to preserve
Fresh water, but no
fresh water flows into
The dead sea.

8. Aral Sea:
1970’s v. today

9. Cradle of Civilization:
Civilizations begin around water, why?
Fertile soil, irrigation, water source, transportation, trade, etc.
The Nile River:
4,160 mi
One of the world’s earliest civilization
Worlds longest river
Cairo, Khartoum, Aswan, Alexandria- Egypt
Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Egypt
90% of Egyptian pop. Live along the course of the river
Aswan Dam(1970): help control flooding, electricity

10. Cradle of Civilization:
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers:
Early civilizations in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia- “ land between two rivers”
Fertile valley
Irrigation system- support farming 7,000 years- Syria, Turkey and Iraq
50 miles apart, meet in Iraq and empty out into Persian Gulf

12. Moroccan Highlands: Atlas Mountains= Across Morocco and Algeria
Settlement along northern side, WHY? ---There is enough rainfall = h20 and fertile soil for farming
Mediterranean Climate, 50% of pop.= agriculture
Barley, oat, wheat
Fish

13. Natural: Disasters & Resources
Earthquakes:
This region is where three tectonic plates meet:
African, Arabian and Eurasian plates
Led to the development of
Zagros Mt.( Iran)
Tauraus Mt. (Turkey)
Widened the Red Sea
Resources:
Oil:
66% of world oil reserves
33% worlds natural gas
Persian Gulf
Production increased in1945-post WWII
OPEC
Imperial Powers in Middle East: Syria Lebanon WWI-1946; Israel
Minerals:
Sulfate-glass, sulphur
Phosphate-Fertilizers
Gold
Iron Ore

14. OPEC:
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental Organization, created at the Baghdad Conference on September 10–14, 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. It currently has 12 members and its headquarters is in Vienna, Austria.
OPEC's objective is to co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries, in order to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers; an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and a fair return on capital to those investing in the industry.

15. Post –Thoughts:
What are the Pro’s and Con’s to having an economy based on one industry such as oil?
Pro: Price control, monopoly, limit access, power
Con: dependence on one product—what happens if the demand decreases, profit decreases, entire country’s economy can crash

16. Climate and Vegetation
Mediterranean Climate
Chaparral

17. Desert Climate: Pre-historic times:
Middle East had grassy plains and the climate was moderate, but overtime desertification has occurred.
Over-farming
Over-grazing
Rain shadow effect
Desert climate is defined as an area that receives less than 10”/ year of rain.
50% of middle east
Sahara largest in world(3.5 million square miles)
Hot and Dry
Long hot summers, hot days/ cool nights
Rub’al Khali- covers almost the entire southern part of the Arabian Peninsula
Despite climate, farming can still occur due to oasis’

18. The Botanical Garden at kibbutz Ein Gedi
An oasis in the Ahaggar Mountains . Oases are crucial to support life in very arid deserts.

19. Steppe Climate: Second largest climate in region
                                                                   
Second largest climate in region
Less than 14% precipitation
North of Sahara & Eastern Kazakhstan
These regions are fit for Pastoralism:
Raising and grazing of livestock
Mostly nomadic people/ Bedouin

20. Steppe Climate:

21. Mediterranean Climate:
Bordering Mediterranean Sea, black sea and Caspian sea
Cool, rainy winters with hot dry summers
Includes: Morocco, Tunisia, Syria– boosted economies through exporting goods
Olives, citrus fruits, grapes
They keep “B” quality fruit, sell “A” quality to Europe
Tourism– warm climate