1. Living in North Africa, Southwest Asia, Central Asia Today
Chapter 19
Living in North Africa, Southwest Asia, Central Asia Today

2. Drawing from Experience
Would you say that your lifestyle depends on the use of oil and oil products?
Why or why not?
Most of the world’s oil is found in North Africa, Southwest Asia and Central Asia.
This section focuses on the economic activities, transportation, communications, and interdependence of the region.

3. Introduction
North Africa, Southwest Asia, Central Asia hold great oil reserves. The oil industry is important in the region’s economy.
The regions improved transportation and communications link it with the world.
What industry is important in the region?

4. Meeting Food Needs
The challenge is producing food for a rapidly growing population.
Poor soil and unreliable rain produce small amounts of food.
Rich oil-producing countries can import food while,
other countries like Afghanistan must grow their own.
Sometimes irrigation can be used.

5. Not much land is suitable for farming but,
a large part of the population is engaged in agriculture.
Citrus fruits, grapes and olives are major crops in the Mediterranean climates.
Grains, cotton and livestock grow on farms in Central Asia.
Fish are an important food source in coastal areas of the region.

6. Industrial Growth
The region has about 70% of the world’s oil supply and 33% of the world’s natural gas reserves.
Petroleum and oil products are the main export commodities, or economic goods in the region.

7. Other industries use petrochemicals – products made from petroleum or natural gas – to make fertilizers, medicines, plastics, and paints.
Copper and coal are mined in Central Asia.
In North Africa, Morocco is the world’s largest exporter of phosphate used in agricultural fertilizers.

8. Two Major Service Industries
financial
tourism
Banking, real estate, and insurance account for most of Bahrain’s gross domestic produce (GDP).
GDP is the value of goods and services produced in a country in a year.

9. Tourism is popular in North Africa and Southwest Asia because of their historical importance.
Millions of visitors tour religious sites each year.
Christians and Jews tour Israel, Jordan and other countries in the region.
Muslims make a hajj, or yearly pilgrimage, to Makkah (Mecca).

10. Petra, Jordan – tourist destination

12. Petra Treasury

14. Royal Tombs

18. AIRLINES connect countries within the region and with the rest of the world.
WATERWAYS and ports on the Black and Mediterranean Seas allow ships to load and unload cargo.
Channels such as the Strait of Hormuz are used by oil tankers to transport oil from the region.

19. Transportation
ROAD systems in Iran, Turkey and Egypt connect major cities with oil fields and seaports.
RAILROADS connect cities with rural areas.
Mass transit systems have been built in urban areas to ease traffic jams.

20. The Suez Canal, a major human-made waterway lying between the Sinai Peninsula and the rest of Egypt, enables ships to pass from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
PIPELINES transport oil and natural gas overland to ports on the Mediterranean and Red Seas and the Persian Gulf.

21. Why is the Suez Canal Important?

23. Suez Canal

24. Red Sea

30. Communications a. Television & radio b. satellite technology
c. telephone
d. computer and internet
e. telecommunications cable was laid along the Silk Road.
This cable provides 20 countries with communications services.

31. Interdependence
Interdependence has increased as the more developed countries help the less developed.

32. OPEC Eight of the region’s countries: Algeria Libya Iran Iraq Kuwait
Saudi Arabia and
UAE (United Arab Emirates)

33. belong to the 11 member OPEC organization,
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Because other countries depend heavily on the region’s oil, OPEC countries have considerable influence in the world.

34. Embargo
Sometimes OPEC places an embargo, or restriction, on oil shipped to industrialized countries, causing oil prices to rise.
In 1999 OPEC forced oil prices to rise by decreasing oil production. (supply & demand)

35. Key Points
Although North Africa, Southwest Asia and Central Asia have limited arable land, a relatively large percentage of the region’s people work in agriculture.
The oil-producing countries in the region have experienced greater economic growth than other countries in the region.

36. Expanded and more advanced transportation and communications systems are helping connect the region’s urban and economic centers with one another and with the world.
Interdependence is increasing among the countries of the region, especially in controlling oil production and prices.