1. Middle Eastern Ethnic Groups
By: Heather MacDougall
GSU MAT candidate

2. What are groups?

3. GROUPS
Groups are two or more humans who interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity.

4. Culture What is culture?
A learned system of shared beliefs and ways of doing things that guide a person’s daily behavior.

5. Ethnic Groups What are ethnic groups?
Ethnic groups share many common characteristics, such as language, physical appearance, customs and traditions.

6. Middle Eastern Ethnic Groups
Persians
Iran
Afghanistan
Kurds
Syria
Iraq
Iran
Turkey
Arabs
21 Middle Eastern countries
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Lebanon
Yemen
Jordan
Iraq
Qatar

7. Religious Groups What are religious groups?
share a common belief system, but are not necessarily composed of a single ethnic group. Examples include Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

8. Middle Eastern Religious Groups
Judaism
Christianity
Islam

9. Middle Eastern Ethnicity

10. Middle Eastern Religious Groups

11. MAP ACTIVITY
Choose a color for each of the three Middle Eastern ethnic groups. Color where each ethnic group would belong on the map. Use your book and your notes to complete the map. Make a key to show the representation of each group.

12. من هم ، حقا؟
Arabs
Stereotypes and truth

16. Location, Location Originated in Saudi Arabia
They are the majority population in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and the nations of North Africa.

17. Arabs are mainly connected through their use of Arabic.
Arabic is the main language for the Arab people.

18. Religion All Muslims are not Arab, just as not all Arabs are Muslim.
90% of Arabs are Muslim.
The remaining10 % are Christian and Jewish.

19. Population
There are over 200 million Arab people living in the world today.
Arabs live in 21 countries.

20. The Persian Empire

21. History
The Persians spread out from Iran in 539 BC and became the world’s largest empire.
The Persians existed before Islam began in the 7th century.

22. Location
The majority of Persians live in Iran, making up more than half of Iran’s population.
They number anywhere from 76 to 80 million.

23. Population
They number anywhere from 76 to 80 million.
76 to 80
million

24. Language
Persians speak Farsi.

25. Religion The majority of Persians are Shiite Muslims.
Some minorities include Christianity, Judaism, and Ba’hai.

26. The Kurds
A people without a home

27. History Nomadic people who existed before the spread of Islam.
Kurds consider 612 BCE the beginning of their empire and their calendar.

28. Kurdistan
The Kurds are located in 4 Middle Eastern countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey.

29. Language
Kurds speak languages associated with Farsi.
Kuurmanji
Sorani

30. Population
21 Million Kurds 21
million

31. Religion Kurds are less strict when it comes to religious rule.
75% Muslim
60% Sunni in Iraq and Turkey
6 to 7% Shiite in Iran
Sufi- Islamic mysticism

32. Location

33. Oil in Kurdistan