Middle East Geography 2009

Nod to S. Pojer, Professor Quist, Haugen

World Cultures/Fall 2007

Middle East? OR Near East? OR Southwest Asia? OR….?

Definition of the Middle East • Loosely defined throughout history • Generally…Southwestern Asia and Northeastern Africa

Bodies of Water i sp Ca

Black Sea

an a Se

Med it

erra nea nS

Tigris Euphrates River ea Jordan River River Pe Suez Canal

d Re

Nile River

rs

ian

a Se

Strait of Gu Hormuz lf Gulf of Oman

Arabian Sea Gulf of Aden

Indian Ocean

Suez Canal

Completed by the British

The Tigris & Euphrates River System

Mesopotamia: ”Land Between the Two Rivers”

Marsh Arabs, So. Iraq

Dust Storms Along the Tigris-Euphrates Flood Plain

The Jordan River System: Israel & Jordan--A Fight Over Water Rights?

Dead Sea: Lowest Point on 2,300’ below sea Earth level

Highest Salt Content (33%)

Mountains & Plateaus Caucasus Mts.

s ru u Ta s. Mt

Iranian Zagrs Plateau Mts.

jaz He s. Mt

Mountain Ranges in Mid-East

Elburz Mts., Iran

Lebanese Mts.

Zagros Mts., Iran

Taurus Mts., Turkey

Deserts

Libyan Desert

Sahara Desert

Negev Sinai Desert Desert Arabian Desert Rub al-Khali

Desert Bedouins

Breeding Areas of Desert Locusts

Swarms of Desert Locusts Israel Hit By Worst Locust Plague Since the 1950s

Locusts Swarm the Pyramids Complex at Giza

Rub al-Khali: “The Empty Quarter”

Middle East as “Resource Poor” • Generally defined in terms of “resource issues,” (i.e., lack of resources)

Climate • 2/3s of the Middle East lacks sufficient rain to grow *any* crop • Where there is rain, it comes usually only in the Winter, thus out of the growing season

Desert Oases: Water at a Premium!

Fresh Groundwater Sources

Desalinizati on Plants

Fertile Crescent

The Fertile Crescent

The Middle East vs. the U. S. Latitude Lines

Middle East: Climate Regions

Middle East: Population Density

Cairo, Egypt: Most Populated City in the Middle East

17,000,000 + People!

The Middle East: Natural Vegetation

The Natural Resources of the Middle East

World Oil Reserves

Persian Gulf Oil Exports (2003)

Saudi Oil Fields & Refineries

Kuwait:

An Island Floating on a Sea of Oil

Kuwai t City

Leading U. S. Oil Suppliers

The U. S. imports 30% of its oil needs from the Middle East.