Southwest Asia and North Africa Introduction v

Southwest Asia and North Africa

Introduction v Rich cultural legacy v Agricultural revolution v Urban civilization v Petroleum industry v 68% of world’s oil reserves v OPEC v Political v Islamic issues fundamentalism Aleppo, Syria

Environmental Geography

Mostly composed of deserts and uplands Maghreb Levant v Deserts: Sahara, Libyan, Nubian v Uplands: Arabian Peninsula, Anatolian Plateau, Iranian Plateau Lowlands: Tigris-Euphrates River, Nile River v

Salinization v How? Extensive irrigation + arid climates Salt accumulation in topsoil Lower crop yields, and land abandonment v Where? Iraq, central Iran, Egypt, and irrigated Maghreb

Water management v Qanat system Tapping into groundwater through tunnel v Iran Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa v

Water management v Aswan High Dam (1970) v Benefits v Year-round cropping v Hydroelectricity v Detriments: v Salinization v Schistosomiasis v Damages fishing industry near the Nile Delta Fish catches between 1962 and 1992

Hydropolitics v What? Interplay of water resource issues and politics v Where? Nile River v Sudan Egypt Tigris-Euphrates River v Turkey Iraq, Syria Jordan River v Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria

Population and Settlement

v More than 400 million v Highest physiological densities v Tie between water and life v Population cluster v North v The Africa Nile Valley, and Maghreb region v Southwest Asia v Highlands, and better-watered shores of the Mediterranean

Rural settlement patterns v What is the most important indicator of rural settlement? water

Rural settlement patterns v Home to early form of agriculture v 1. Domestication v v v 10, 000 years ago Wheat, barley, cattle, sheep, goats 2. Fertile Crescent v v Early agricultural activity (5, 000 years ago) Lebanon, Syria, northern Iraq, and eastern Turkey

Rural settlement patterns v Reflects interrelationship between water and life v 1. Pastoral nomadism In the drier portions of the region, inadequate moisture make permanent settlement impossible v Seasonal movement of livestock from place to place v v 2. Oasis settlement v Tightly clustered permanent settlement

Rural settlement patterns v 3. Irrigated agriculture along exotic rivers v Exotic rivers v Transport water from distant, more humid lands into drier regions v eg. Nile, Tigris, Euphrates v Irrigated collective farming v eg. v Kibbutzes 4. Dryland agriculture Depends on seasonal moisture to support farming v Practiced on the Mediterranean climate regions v

Urban settlement patterns v What shaped the urban landscapes? v v. Trades v Political system v. Religion Colonialism v Globalization

Cities as centers of political authority v 3500 BC Mesopotamia v 3000 BC Egypt v Temples, palaces, tombs, and public buildings

Cities as trading centers v 2000 BC the shores of the eastern Mediterranean v Beirut v Port (Lebanon), Damascus (Syria) facilities, warehouse districts, and commercial thoroughfares

Cities as religious centers v Islam (622) v 8 th century Baghdad, Cairo v Walled urban core (medina), bazaar

colonialism v Added another layer of urban landscape features v Late 19 th century North Africa v Algiers (French), Cairo (British)

globalization v Since 1950 added to traditional urban centers v High-rise apartment houses, and sprawling squatter settlements Cairo, Egypt

globalization v Since 1970 oil-rich states of the Persian Gulf v Modern Western urban design, futuristic architecture, and new transportation infrastructure Abu Dhabi, UAE

Coexistence of old and new Fes, Morocco

Migration patterns v Rural-to-urban shift v v Migration within the region v v Saudi Arabian: 18% (1950) 83% (2000) To oil-rich states such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE Migration between the region v Job Germany v Algerian, Moroccan France v Turkish v Political forces Lebanese, Iranian western Europe, North America v Jewish Israel v

Cultural Coherence and Diversity

Religion v Which religion has originated in Southwest Asia? v. Judaism (4000 years ago) v. Christianity v. Islam (622) (2000 years ago)

Geographies of religion v Judaism BC 2000 Mesopotamia to Canaan AD 70 Jewish Diaspora v Christianity v Outgrowth of Judaism v Emerged 2000 years ago near Israel 1948 Jew’s return to Israel

Geographies of religion v Islam v Originated in Makkah (or Mecca) in AD 622 v Follows Quran (or Koran) v Divided into Shiites and Sunnis v Diffused to Persia (656), North Africa & Iberian Peninsula (750), Central/South Asia, and Southeast Asia

Diffusion of Islam

Modern religions

Geographies of language v Afro-Asiatic v Semitic language v Arabic v Hebrew v v Berber language Indo-European v Indo-Iranian language v Persian v Kurdish v Altaic v Turkish language

Geopolitical Framework

Colonial legacy v When? v Late arrival because of Turkish Ottoman Empire v Began after WWI (1918) v Ended by the 1950 s

Colonial power - France v Maghreb v Algeria (1830 s) v Tunisia (1881) v Morocco (1912) v After WWI v Syria (1918) v Lebanon (1918)

Colonial power - Great Britain v British Protectorate before 1900 v Kuwait, v Suez Canal (1869) v Egypt v After Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Aden (1882), Sudan (1896) WWI v Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq

v So which countries have NOT been occupied by European powers? v Turkey v Saudi Arabia

Decolonization and independence v North Africa v Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco (1950 s) v Algeria (1962) v Southwest v Iraq Asia (1932), Lebanon (1946), Syria (1946), etc… while containing the cultural seeds of its later trouble

Arab-Israeli conflict

Arab-Israeli conflict v “Intifada” (1987) v Demonstration, led by Palestinian, against the rule of Israel in Gaza Strip and the West Bank v Agreements v Potential between the PLO and Israel (1990 s) control of the ruling Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Gaza Strip and West Bank

Islamic fundamentalism v Khomeni took power in Iran (1979) v “Rule the country by the Islamic law” v Sudan (1989) v Algeria (1992~) v Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia…

Conflicts within states v Lebanon (1975 -95) v Discord among Christian and Muslim communities v Spillover of Arab-Israeli conflict v Iraq v South: Shiites v North: Kurds v Cyprus v Northern third: Islamic Turkish v South: Greek Orthodox

Conflicts between states Sahara Morocco (late 1970 s) v Libya Israel, Western Europe, U. S…. (1969~) v Sudan Egypt (1995) v Iran-Iraq war (1980 -88) v Persian Gulf war (1990 -91) v Western

Geopolitical issues v What v is the destablizing force after WWII? Creation of Israel v. Rise v. Cold of Islamic fundamentalism war (eg. Libya) v. Ethnic differences (eg. Kurds) v. Political/religious divide (eg. Sudan, Labanon)

Relations with the U. S. v Strong allies Israel, and Turkey v Strongly opposed Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya v Ambiguous relations Saudi Arabia

Economic and Social Development

The geography of fossil fuels

The geography of fossil fuels

The geography of fossil fuels

Regional economic patterns v Higher-income v Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and UAE v Lowe-income v Algeria, oil exporters Libya, Iraq, and Iran v Prospering v Israel, oil exporters without oil Turkey, Tunisia, and Cyprus

Regional patterns of poverty v Sudan v v Civil war Morocco Berber communities v Brain drain v v Egypt v v Population growth Yemen v Civil unrest

The role of women v Is major social issues v Lowest female labor participation rates v Large gap between male and female literacy v But is changing v Iran v Libya v Israel

Connections with global economy v Oil economy v Influences oil price v Outflow of capital v Economic integration v E. U. , AFTA, Union of the Arab Maghreb v Role of Saudi Arabia v Tourism v Ancient historical sites; significant religious localities

The geography of tourism