1. NORTH AFRICA & SOUTHWEST ASIA
(CHAPTER 6: )

2. EARLY CULTURE HEARTHS

3. PIVOTAL LOCATION

4. REGIONS OF THE REALM

5. GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REALM
Physical
ARIDITY
OIL
Cultural
CULTURE HEARTHS
WORLD RELIGIONS
CONFLICT

6. NORTH AFRICA & SOUTHWEST ASIA
Population
Discontinuous clusters around infrequent water sources
Regional Imbalances
Oil and Non-oil states (“haves” versus “have-nots”)
Political Geography
Fragmented due to colonial experience

7. NAMING THE REALM POPULAR LABELS DRY WORLD ARAB WORLD
WORLD OF ISLAM (MUSLIM WORLD)
MIDDLE EAST

8. THE DRY WORLD ? Dry/arid climate prevails throughout the realm
Exceptions:
Peripheral regions of Turkey
Northwestern section of Iran
Oases
Several great river valleys

9. ANNUAL PRECIPITATION

10. E.J. PALKA
MITZPE-RAMON

11. E.J. PALKA
NEGEV DESERT

12. E.J. PALKA
NEGEV DESERT

13. WATER - A RENEWABLE OR FINITE RESOURCE?
Water is critical for life, food production, and industrial processes.
9 out of 14 Southwest Asian states face water-short conditions (the most concentrated region of scarcity in the world).
The North African states all have rates of natural increase above 2.0%, increasing the stress on water sources.

14. E.J. PALKA
ISRAEL-SYRIA BORDER

15. POPULATION DISTRIBUTION
The majority of the population in this realm lives not in the dry arid regions, but around water resources.
- The Nile
- Mediterranean Sea
- Euphrates and Tigris Basin (Hydraulic Civilization)
- Lower mountain slopes of Iran, south of the Caspian Sea

16. POPULATION DISTRIBUTION

17. AN ARAB REALM ?
Relates to language as a cultural feature of this realm
Arabic is the dominant language in 16 States of the realm.
In Non-Arab States, indigenous languages dominate.
- Turkey - Turkish
- Iran - Farsi
- Israel - Hebrew
- Niger - French

18. Turks
Azerbijianis
Kurds
Arabs
Persians
Bakhtiari
Lur

19. ISLAMIC REALM? MUHAMMED (571- 632 AD) FIVE PILLARS OF FAITH
REPEATED EXPRESSIONS OF CREED
FREQUENT PRAYER
MONTH OF DAYTIME FASTING
ALMS-GIVING
PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA
OTHER KEY TENANTS
SUNNIS VS SHI’ITES

20. E.J. PALKA
DOME OF THE ROCK

21. E.J. PALKA
THE WESTERN WALL

22. E.J. PALKA
CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY

23. INSIDE THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY
E.J. PALKA
INSIDE THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY

24. WHERE ARE THE MUSLIMS ? Millions 168.3 180 Indonesia 160 India 128.8
125
140
Pakistan
104
120
Bangladesh
100
Turkey 80 62
61.7
57.1
Iran 60
Egypt 40
18.2
Saudi Arabia 20
# of
# of
Muslims
Muslims

26. THE IMPACT OF OIL HIGH INCOMES MODERNIZATION INDUSTRIALIZATION
REGIONAL DISPARITIES
FOREIGN INVESTMENT

27. NORTH AFRICA & SOUTHWEST ASIA
(CHAPTER 6: )