World Regional Geography GEG 101-001 North Africa and Southwest Asia -- Outline

LINKS:

• Syllabus
• Review Exercises
• Map quizzes
  • Chapter 6 - Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Chapter 7 - North Africa and Southwest Asia
• All online Lectures for GEG 101 ONLINE!
• All Online Map Quiz Tutorials for GEG 101 ONLINE!

NORTH AFRICA and SOUTHWEST ASIA

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From the textbook - Chapter 7:

MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES OF THE REALM

• North Africa and Southwest Asia were the sceneof several of the world's great ancient civilizations, based in its river valleys and basins.
• From this realm's culture hearths diffused ideas, innovations, and technologies that changed the world.
• The North Africa/Southwest Asia realm is the source of three world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
• Islam, the last of the major religions to arise in this realm, transformed, unified, and energized a vast domain extending from Europe to South­east Asia and from Russia to East Africa.
• Drought and unreliable precipitation dominate natural environments in this realm. Population clusters exist where water supply is adequate to marginal.
• Certain countries of this realm have enormous reserves of oil and natural gas, creating great wealth for some but doing little to raise the living standards of the majority
• The boundaries of the North Africa/Southwest Asia realm consist of volatile transition zones in several places in Africa and Asia.
• Conflict over water sources and supplies is a constant threat in this realm, where population growth rates are high by world standards.
• The Middle East, as a region, lies at the heart of this realm; and Israel lies at the center of the Middle East conflict.
• Religious, ethnic, and cultural discord frequently cause instability and strife in this realm.

• Physical
  • Aridity
  • Oil
• Cultural
  • Culture Hearth
  • World Religions
  • Conflict
• 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

NAMING THE REALM

Popular labels:

• Dry World?
• Arab World?
• Islam World?
• Middle East?

THE DRY WORLD?

• Dry/arid climate prevails throughout the realm (figure G-7, G-8)
• Exceptions:
  • Peripheral regions of Turkey
  • Mediterranean coast (soutwest, east, northeast),
  • lower mountain slopes (northwestern section of Iran, Turkestan)
  • Oases
  • Several great river valleys (Nile, Tigris-Euphrates)
• 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.
• POPULATION DISTRIBUTION
  • The majority of the people in this realm live not in the dry arid regions, but around water resources.(figure G-9)
    • The Nile
    • Mediterranean Sea
    • Euphrates and Tigris Basin (Hydraulic Civilization)
    • Lower mountain slopes of Iran, south of the Caspian Sea

 

AN ARAB WORLD?

• Relates to the Arabic language as a cultural feature of this realm (map)
• Arabic is the dominant language in 16 States of the realm.
• In Non-Arab States, indigenous languages dominate
  • Turkey - Turkish
  • Iran - Farsi
  • Israel - Hebrew
  • others

 

ISLAMIC WORLD? (figure 7-2 )

• Muhammed born in Arabia (571- 632 A.D.)
• The diffusion of Islam (figures 7-4, 7-5)
• Today: 1.3 billion followers in this realm and
  • Pakistan, India, Bangaldesh
  • Indonesia
  • Northern Nigeria
  • coasts of East Africa
  • Europe (Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia)

MIDDLE EAST

• East of what?
• Used in textbook as the name of a REGION within the REALM ( (figures 7-9, 7-12)

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY -

• Hearths of culture
  • Introduction
    • pivotal part of the world -- a crossroads
    • two ancient culture hearths: Mesopotamia and the NileValley
    • > million years ago traversed by human ancestors moving out of Africa
    • >100,000 years ago Homo sapiens rossed on way to Europe
    • > 10,000 years ago domestication of plants and animals resulting in enlarged settlements
      • wheat, rye, barley
      • peas, beans
      • grapes, apples, peaches
      • horses, pigs, sheep
    • other acheivements include advances in the calendar, mathematics, astronmy, government, engineering, metallurgy,
    • 1,000 -2000+ years ago Christ and Muhammad born in the realm
  • Mosopotamia (figure 7-3)
    • early culture hearth
    • fertile cresent (figure 7-3)
    • "land amidst the rivers" - Tigris and Euphrates (figure 7-9)
    • domestication of plants and animals
    • irrigation and early cities and states
    • hydraulic civilization theory of early state survival
  • Nile
    • early culture hearth, maybe earlier than Mesopotamia
    • focused on cataracts upstream fromthe delta on the Mediterranean
  • Indus Valley (figure 7-3)
    • in South Asianrealm
    • ancient cultural and commercial ties to Meopotamia
  • Decline and Decay
    • the role of climate change
• Foreign Invasions
  • first the Persians, then the Greeks, later the romans
  • the Arabian Peninsula lay remote, and virtually untouched by the foreigners

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

• Stage for Islam
  • Realm is the source of Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Islam, but only Islam remained dominant in the realm
  • Muhammad the Prophet
    • born in Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula in 571 A.D.
    • according to Islam:
      • began to receive revelations from Allah (god) in 611 A.D.
      • chosen to be a prophet
      • Arab society in social and cultural disarray
      • began teaching Allah's lessons
      • forced out of Mecca by enemies in 622, fled to Medina, called the hehira (migration), Year 1 on the Islamic calendar
      • islam brought the Arab world not only a unifying religious faith, but als a new set of valuse, a new way of life
        • forbade alcohol smoking, and gambling
        • tolerated polygamy, favored monogamy
    • Five Pillars of Islam
      • repeated exspression of the basic creed
      • the daily prayer
      • a month each year of daytime fasting (Ramadan)
      • the givig of alms
      • atl east one pilgrimage to Mecca in a Muslim's lifetime
  • the Arab-Islamic Empire
    • figure 7-4
    • figure 7-5
• Islam Divided
  • Sunni and Shia
    • division arose after Mohammad's death in 632 over who would be his successor
      • blood relative?
        • wanted Muhammad's cousin Ali to be successor
        • became Shi'ites
        • minority of Muslims
        • Royal House of Persia adopted Shi'ism as only legal religion
        • today 15 of Muslims are Shi'ites moslty in Iran (Persia), Azerbaijan, western Afghanistan,, parts of Pakistan, and southern Iraq
      • any devout follower?
        • became Sunni's
        • majority of Muslims today - 85%
        • spread Sunni Islam about the world
    • Effiects:
      • 1979 Iran became an Islamic (Shi'ite) state
      • 1980's war between Sunni lead Iraq and Iran
      • many stateswith Sunni minority are weary of the ihi'ite minority
  • Religious Revivalism in the Realm / al-Qaeda
    • religious fundamentalism / religious revivalism
    • Iran
    • tradional Islamic beliefs
    • disdain for Western culture
    • conflict between moderate and militant Muslims
    • 911 and other attacks
    • ???????????????????
    •  
  • Islam and Other Religions
    • Christianity
      • 1/4 of Lebanon
      • Also in Israel, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan
    • Judaism
      • Jewish state of Israel proclaimed in 1948
      • conclict with Islamic neighbors ever since
  • The Ottoman Aftermath
    • Turkish Ottomans (uslims) defeated part of the Roman empirre in 1453 controlling Turkey
    • later pushed into southeasern Europe
    • Ottoman Empire survived for more than 400 years
    • slowly lost territory (figure 7-7)
    • WWI European victors took over Ottoman colonies in syria, Lebanon Iraq, and Yemen estabilishik their own boundaries (geometric borders= straight lines)
    • Colonial bordrs led to conflict after independence

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY - THE POWER AND PERIL OF OIL (figure 7-8)

• Location and Dimensions of Known reserves
  • 77% of world's know reserves in the realm
  • 5 countries in realm with significan reserves
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Iraq
    • United Arab Emerites
    • kuwait
    • Iran
  • found in three zones (figure 7-8)
    • Arabian Peninsula, Persian Gulf, Euphrates/Tigis valley, into Turkey
    • North Africa Algeria, Libya, Egypt into the Sinai Peninsula
    • nNE coprner of realm - Azerbaijan, Caspean Sea,
• A Foreign Invasion
• Impact of Oil - a "double-edged sword"BV
  • High incomes (fig G-11)
    • but unequally distributed within countries and between countries
  • Modernization
    • modern cities
    • "western" ideas
    • cause of tensions within and between countries
  • Industrialization
    • oil revenues
    • preparation for post-oil economy?
  • Intra-Realm migration
    • from oil-poor acountries to oil rich acountires
  • Inter-Realm migration
    • from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, others
  • Regional disparities
    • within countries
    • between countries
    • remember ithe European established borders before oil reserves were known
  • Foreign investment
    • oil wealth from realm being invested elsewhere
    • also investment of companies from the "west" in the oil industry bringing a clash of cultures and cultural change

REGIONS OF THE REALM (figure 7-9)

EGYPT AND THE LOWER NILE BASIN (figure 7-10)

• CONTINUOUS CIVILIZATION > 5,000 YEARS
• 95% OF EGYPT'S 74.1 MILLION PEOPLE LIVE WITHIN 12 MILES (20 KMS) OF THE NILE
• BASIN IRRIGATION
• PERENNIAL IRRIGATION - MID 1800s
• ASWAN HIGH DAM - 1968
  • INCREASED AGR LAND BY 50%
  • PROVIDES 40% OF ELECTRICITY
• Centrally locatedpart in Asia, part in Africa
• Suez Canal
• Aswan High Dam and Lake Nasser
  • 50% more irrigated land
  • 40% of ounte's electricity
  • problems:
    • more malaria
    • prevents flooding, therefopre need for increase use of fertilizers
    • fewer fish do to fertilizers
    • delta is subsiding, fear of salt water invasion
• Egypt's Regional Geography
• Divided Sudan
  • Arab/Islamic north and African south (figure 7-2)
  • oil found in 1990s )figure 7-10)
    • close to rebellious southern provinces
    • Sudanese army drove villages form the oil area (100.000s)
    • oil revenues used to build military
  • civil war 1983 - 2005 ?
    • oil
    • Shatria law
    • peace agreement?
  • Darfur "genocide"

   

  • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/827425.stm

 

THE MAGHREB AND ITS NEIGHBORS (figure 7-11)

• THE MAGHREB - DOMINATED BY THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS
• MOROCCO - LAST OF THE NORTH AFRICAN KINGDOMS
  • conflict with the Western Sahara - former Spanish dependancy
• ALGERIA - A SECULAR REPUBLIC WITH RELIGIOUS-POLITICAL PROBLEMS
• TUNISIA -
  • SMALLEST AND MOST WESTERNIZED OF THE MAGHREBS
  • repression of Muslim radicals
• LIBYA -
  • OIL RICH DESERT STATE WITH A COASTAL ORIENTATION
  • Muammar Gadhafi - dictator
• ATLAS MOUNTAINS almost 13,000
  • FERTILE COASTLINE
  • RAIN SHADOW EFFECT (figure G-7)
  • Skiing in Aftica? - http://www.goski.com/rmor/ouk.htm
• FRENCH COLONIALISM

 

THE MIDDLE EAST (figure 7-12)

• "MIDDLE" OF THE ISLAMIC REALM
• IRAQ, SYRIA, JORDAN, ISRAEL, LEBANON
• CENTER OF CONFLICT BETWEEN CHRISTIANS, JEWS, AND MUSLIMS
• SUNNI - SHI'ITE CONFLICT (WITHIN IRAQ AND THROUGHOUT THE REGION)
• A FUTURE KURDISTAN?
• FERTILE CRESCENT
• CULTURE HEARTH
• OIL
• CULTURAL CONFLICT
• Five countries:
  • Iraq (figure 7-13)
    • 1980s war with Iran
    • 1991 Gulf War (Kuwait)
    • axis of evil
    • WMD
    • March 2003 to ???? - war
    •  
    • oil, natural gass, godd agricultural land, resources
    • multination state
      • Sunni
        • north and northwest of Baghdad
        • Sunni triangle (Baghdad, Ramadi, Tikrit) Hearth of the Iraqi Sunni nation
        • 22 % of Iraq's populaiton
        • Saddam hussein
        • controlled iraq before current war
        • major oil fields
      • Kurds - mountains of Turkey/Iranian border
        • stateless nation
        • Sunni Islam
        • 16% of Iraq'a population
        • 25 million in Turkey (14) , Iran (8) , Iraq (4) , Syria, Armenia, azerbaijan (figure 7-12)
        • 300 years
        • repressed by Turkey, Saddam Hussein in Iraq,
        • internal rivalries
        • Saddam hussein used poisonous gas against the Kurds
      • Shiah
        • south of Baghdad to Persian Gulf
        • largest nation in Iraq - 60%
        • oil fields and Persan Gulf waterfront
        • Shi'ite Arabs aslo entend into Iran (which is moslt Shi'ite Persians)
        • politially repressed by Saddam Hussein
        • Uprising after the Gulf War 1991 - ruthlessly put down by Saddam hussein
  • Syria
    • ruled by a minority (like Iraq was)
    • 75% Sunni
    • Rulers come from a smaller Islamic sect - Alawites
    • authoritarian rule / ruthless suppression of dissent
    • densely populated coastal zone
    • was involved in Lebanon
    • lost Golan Heights to Israel
  • Jordan
    • kingdom
    • product of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire
    • Palestinian refugees
    • no oil
  • Lebanon
    • advantages:
      • Mediterranean coast
      • modern capital city
      • oil terminals
      • fertile agricultural land
      • Beirut - "Paris of the Middle East"
    • But:
      • civil war began in1975
      • Mulsim with large Christian Minority
    • current politcal change
      • Syrian troops forced to leave
      • elections
  • Israel (figure 7-14)
    • Be able to locate the following on the map:
      • the UN partition of palestine (Israel and Palestine)
      • Territory gained in 1948-1949
      • the West Bank (figure 7-15
      • the Gaza Strip (figure 7-14)
      • Jerusalem (figure 7-16)
      • the Golan Heights (figure 7-14)
    • Online Lecture - How the map changed
      http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/g101ilec/nafswas/nwc/nwisrl/nwisrfr.htm
      • After WWI
      • Division of the Mandate
      • UN Plan
      • After 1948 war
      • After 1967 "six day" war gained:
        • Sinai and the Gaza Strip from Egypt,
        • Golan Heights from Syria,
        • and the West Bank from Jordan
      • After 1982 Camp David Accord
        • Sinai returned to Egypt
      • 1993 "secret talks and the"Handshake" / devolution of power in the West Bank (figure 7-15) abd Gaza
      • 2003 Roadmap to Peace / potential statehood for the Palestinians
      • Currently Israel plans unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip later this year ????
    • Palestinians
      • stateless nation
      • 1 million as Israeli citizens
      • 2.3 million in the West Bank
      • 1.3 million in the Gaza Strip
      • 2.7 million in Jordan
      • 300,000 to 500,000 each in Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia
      • many still in refugee camps
    • Roadblocks on the "Roadmap to Peace" and statehood
      • Jewish settlements
        • 200,000 Israelis have settled in the West bank
        • small Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip
      • Jerusalem
        • UN Plan - International City
        • 1949 Isreal held the western part of the city
        • 1950 declared Jerusalem as the Israeliu capital (forward capital)
        • 1967 war - Israel conquered all of Jerusalem
        • Jewish settlements built in East Jerusalem
      • Golan Heights

     

• ISRAEL
  • ZIONISM
    • POLITICAL MOVEMENT
    • FOUNDED BY THEODOR HERZL (1897)
    • OBJECTIVE: SECURE A HOMELAND FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE
  • BALFOUR DECLARATION (1917)
    • SUPPORTS THE CONCEPT OF A JEWISH HOMELAND
  • JEWISH IMMIGRATION TO PALESTINE
  • 1922 - BRITISH MANDATE TO GOVERN PALESTINE
  • RISING CONFLICT BETWEEN ARABS AND JEWS
  • UN PARTITION PLAN FOR PALESTINE
    • DIVISION INTO JEWISH AND ARAB AREAS
    • BRITISH EVACUATE PALESTINE IN 1948
    • PROCLAMATION OF ISRAEL AS A STATE (14 MAY 1948)
  • 1948: ARAB INVASION (WAR OF INDEPENDENCE)
    • EGYPTIAN, IRAQI, JORDANIAN, & SYRIAN FORCES
    • ISRAEL SEIZES MORE LAND THAN PRESCRIBED UNDER UN MANDATE
  • ARMISTICE (1949)
    • 900,000 PALESTINIAN REFUGEES

     

  • ARAB - ISRAELI CONFLICT
    • 1956: SUEZ WAR
    • 1967: SIX-DAY WAR - ISRAEL GAINS CONTROL OF:
      • GAZA STRIP
      • SINAI PENINSULA
      • WEST BANK OF THE RIVER JORDAN
      • EAST SECTOR OF JERUSALEM
      • GOLAN HEIGHTS IN SYRIA
    • 1973: YOM KIPPUR WAR
    • THE GOLAN HEIGHTS - RETURN TO SYRIA?
    • THE SECURITY ZONE - RETURN TO LEBANON?
    • JERUSALEM - HOLY CITY FOR WHO?
    • THE WEST BANK - PALESTINIAN HOMELAND?
    • THE PALESTINIANS- REFUGEE PROBLEM
    • ARAB/ISLAMIC DISRUPTION- IMPACT OF EXTREMIST GROUPS

 

• STRUGGLE FOR JERUSALEM
  • HOLY TO JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND MUSLIMS
  • JUDAISM: CAPITAL OF JEWISH KINGDOM 3000 YEARS BP; FAITH TOOK FORM IN THE FIRST TEMPLE-DESTROYED BY BABYLONIANS IN 586 BC; REBUILT AS SECOND TEMPLE; DESTROYED BY ROMANS IN AD 70
  • ISLAM: PROPHET MUHAMMAD ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN -7TH CENTURY AD
  • CHRISTIANITY: BASED ON THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST; CRUXIFICTION AND ASCENT
  • 1947 - UNITED NATIONS DID NOT INCLUDE JERUSALEM AS PART OF ISRAEL
  • 1947 - PALESTINE PARTITION RESOLUTION DESIGNATED JERUSALEM AS AN "OPEN CITY"
  • 1948-49 - WAR AND TRANSFER OF ISRAELI GOVERNMENT FROM TEL AVIV TO JERUSALEM
  • 1967 - WAR AND AFTERMATH CHANGED BOUNDARIES AGAIN
  • 1980 - JERUSALEM REAFFIRMED AS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL

 

• ARABIAN PENINSULA (figure 7-17)
  • SAUDI ARABIA, KUWAIT, BAHRAIN, QATAR, UAE, OMAN, YEMEM
  • OIL, DESERT, AND STRATEGIC LOCATION
  • SAUDI ARABIA- 25.4 MILLION PEOPLE WITH THE WORLD'S GREATEST OIL RESERVES
  • DESERT
  • OIL
  • ISLAM

   

  • Saudia Arabia (figure 7-17)
    • 25.4 millionn people
    • world's largest reserves of crude oil (figure 7-8)
    • Kingdom
    • economid "waist
    • nomadic periphery
    • 3-4 million foreign laborers
    • rapid population growth (2.9%)
    • 9-11 aftermath
  • On the Periphery
    • 5 of 6 are monarchies
    • oil

 

THE EMPIRE STATES (figure 7-18)

• TURKEY, IRAN, CYPRUS, AZERBAIJAN
• IMPERIAL HERITAGE
• ARAB ETHNICITY GIVES WAY BUT ISLAMIC CULTURE CONTINUES
• HIGH MOUNTAINS AND PLATEAUS VERSUS ROCKY AND SANDY DESERT
• THE EMPIRE STATES (MAP)

 

TURKEY

• TURKISH OTTOMAN EMPIRE
  • NOMADIC PEOPLES FROM THE STEPPES AND FORESTS OF SIBERIA
  • 6TH CENTURY- ESTABLISHED AN EMPIRE STRETCHING FROM MONGOLIA TO THE BLACK SEA
  • SPREAD THE TURKIC LANGUAGE FAR AND WIDE
  • DECLINED IN EARLY 1900s
  • MAXIMUM EXTENT OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (MAP)
• MUSTAFA KEMAL (ATATURK)
  • FATHER OF MODERN TURKEY
  • MOVED CAPITAL FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO ANKARA
  • WESTERNIZED TURKEY AND BROKE FREE FROM THE ARAB WORLD
• WESTERNIZATION
  • ISLAM LOST OFFICIAL STATUS
  • ROMAN ALPHABET REPLACED ARABIC
  • ISLAMIC LAW REPLACED BY WESTERN CODE
  • MONOGAMY BECAME LAW
  • WOMEN GAINED RIGHTS
  • TURKEY SEPARATED FROM ARAB WORLD
• KURDISH POPULATION
  • 14 MILLION- 1/5 OF TURKEY'S 70 MILLION
  • SOUTHEAST TURKEY (IRAQ) - 3,000 BP; RECENTLY - ISTANBUL
  • ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM

CYPRUS

• POPULATION OF 900,000
• PREDOMINANTLY GREEK SINCE ANCIENT TIMES
• CONQUERED IN 1571 BY TURKS
• 1878 - BRITISH TOOK CONTROL
• AFTER WW II, INDEPENDENCE OR UNION WITH GREECE OR TURKEY?
• 1960- GRANTED INDEPENDENCE
• 1974- CIVIL WAR
• 1983- TURKISH REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS SECEDED; 2 DE FACTO STATES EXIST
• Divided between two realms (figure 7-9)

 

IRAN

• A COUNTRY OF MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS
• POPULATION OF 67.1 MILLION
• 66% URBANIZED
• NOMADISM
• CULTURAL TIES TO IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, AZERBAIJAN
• OIL RESERVES
• 1980-1990 WAR WITH IRAQ

 

TURKESTAN (figure 7-19)

• CHARACTERISTICS OF TURKESTAN
  • MOUNTAINS
  • DESERTS
  • OIL, COTTON
  • PASTORALISM
  • DIPLOMATIC REALIGNMENT
  • ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

 

• 5 STATES OF THE FORMER USSR
  • KAZAKHSTAN
  • UZBEKISTAN
  • TURKMENISTAN
  • KRGYSTAN
  • TAJIKSTAN

 

• ETHNIC DIVERSITY (figure 7-20)

 

• AFGHANISTAN
  • BUFFER STATE
  • MUJAHEDEEN
  • TALIBAN ERA
  • CURRENT MILITARY OPERATIONS
  • PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Links: All online Lectures for GEG 101 ONLINE! Online Map Quiz Tutorials Review Web Pages Sub-Saharan Africa: http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geg101i/chapters.htm#7 North Africa and Southwest Asia: http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geg101i/chapters.htm#6