1. © T. M. Whitmore Today North Africa and Southwest Asia  Culture  Religion  Language  Ethnicity  Ancient lands, new countries  Political problems

2. © T. M. Whitmore Last Time North Africa and Southwest Asia  Role of the geography (location & situation) of  Resources and settlement  Populations & demography

3. © T. M. Whitmore Religion — A source of commonality and division Islam (Muslim) Islam  Sunni  Shíite  Fundamentalists Judaism Christianity

4. Arab traders and other empires spread Islam to Turkey and central Europe, North and East Africa, and Central, South and Southeast Asia.

5. © T. M. Whitmore

6. Note the the presence of religious minorities such as Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians and other Islamic sects such as Ibadism and Wahhabism. Purple areas include the Druze and Bahai.

8. Religion is an important part of everyday life throughout the region, more so than in most other parts of the world.

9. © Bret Wallach

10. © T. M. Whitmore Language — also a source of commonality and division 4 language groups (several languages)language  Semitic languages  Arabic  Hebrew  Turkic languages  Persian languages  Farsi  Kurdish  Hamitic languages  in the Sahara

12. © T. M. Whitmore Ethnicity Arab — what is an Arab? Turks Kurds Saharan groups Persians in Iran

13. Kurdish language

15. © T. M. Whitmore Culture – is complex Religion Language Ethnicity Lifestyles

16. © T. M. Whitmore Ancient Lands — New countries “Fertile Crescent”Fertile Crescent Roman empire Roman Rise of Islam — 600s-700s AD Rise of Islam Mongol conquest — Genghis Khan et al. in the 1250s Mongol conquest Ottoman empire 1400s - 1920s Ottoman empire European colonial interest Role of WW I Between the World Wars Post WW II

18. Ancient Cities in the Fertile Crescent

21. Islamic Caliphates 622-750

23. 1154 world map by Moroccan Cartographer/ Geographer al-Idrisi

24. Earliest printed example of a classical T & O map by Guntherus Ziner, Augsburg, 1472

25. Limits to Mongol control ~ 1300

28. 1914 (pre WWI) Colonial Boundaries

30. 1939 (pre WWII) Colonial Boundaries