GY middle east

The ME is mainly grouped together through

Shared history of Language and faith (Arab ethnicity and Islamic faith)

Most people in the ME live in

Dry climate lifestyles/ nomadic pastoralists

most ME economies are dépendant

Oil

The Middle East holds some of the most

Ancient human civilizations

Most of the region is

Dessert

This regions enviromental challenges come from

Humans cultivating and grazing

What is the climate like

Medeteranian climate on coasts/ in mountains with limited rain and snowfall

A Mediterranean climate is

Warm dry summers and cool wet winters

Lebanon is

The hearth of the wine industry

Lebanon and wine

It is a 500 million dollar industry, and 5,000 years old

Not everything is dessert

There is cedars of Lebanon- very famous and on the flag

Most people live in And where agriculture is

The Atlas mountain range

The Atlas mountain range

In morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, located very Near the coast so its relatively humid and fertile

Of all Middle East countries, Lebanon is

The most religiously diverse today

The Atlas Mountain range has

Relatively dry landward slopes

The tassel n’ajjer in Algeria

Looks like mars, has 12,000 year old cave paintings

The Nubian Ibex

Lives in mountainous areas, only found in a few areas now due to over hunting

Most of the population lives on

Arable land

Arable land

Land that is capable of growing crops

Salinization

Large enviromental challenge, it is the buildup of salts in the soil caused by intensive irrigation

GERD

Dam in Ethiopia- since construction began in 2011, and completed in 2023 it has been a source of tension

Since Ethiopia’s filling of the GERD reservoir

Egypt is not happy and the disagreement has become a international geopolitical issue

The Nile river accounts for more then

90% of Egypts fresh water supply

What are some enviromental challenges

Water management and availability, Dams, Desalinization, fossil water, and overall population

Saudi Arabia devotes a lot of money to pumping

Fossil water

Fossil water

Water supplies stored deep underground

Becuase it took thousands of years to amass under the surface

Fossil water is not a renewable resource on human time scales

Population and settlement patterns in this region are characterized by

Extremes: crowded and empty areas, ancient and modern cities

How many people live in this region

500 million

Where do people typically live

Almost exclusively in the wetter coastal highland, river, or oasis areas

Very few people live

In the vast expanses of the Saharan and Arabian deserts

Population density is low while physiological density is very

High

Physiological density

The density of people within arable land

Siwa is

An oasis city- important stop on trading routes that offer access to food and water

People in Mesopotamia began domesticating plants and animals

between 8000 and 7000 BC- domesticating wheat and grapes

Cities began forming in Mesopotamia by

3500 BC

Cities in Egypt began forming by

3000BC

Where was wheat first domesticated

The Fertile Crescent

The Fertile Crescent is

A region that includes turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and western Iran

When did wheat domestication start

Around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago

Thebes was founded in

3200 BC

Jerusalem was founded in

3000Bc

Cairo was founded in

900s AD

Istanbul was founded in

657 bc

The ibex are a

Native goat species

Water is a

Geopolitical military issue

the Petra Jordan was founded in

300 BC

One of the first civilizations was born in

The Nile

Al Asha is known for

It’s date palms and palm tres

Al -alhs has over

2.5 million palm trees, that produce over 100,000 tons of dates every year

Sice ww2 this region has

Rapidly urbanized

In 1950 Saudi Arabia’s population

18% of the Population was urban, today it is more then 80%

Some of the oil rich gulf states are

100% urban

Oil

Has driven the change from nomadic to urban and global

The dominant faith is

Islamic

This region is the birthplace of some of the most

Ancient civilizations

What binds the territory is

Language and faith

Something recently discovered in Egypt is

27 sacropaghi in a tomb at saqqara

This region is a cultural hearth of

Judaism, Christianity, and islam

Culture hearth =

The location where a given culture originated before spreading

Jerusalem

Has sacred spaces or all 3 religions- this does create some cultural and political tension

Dome of the rock

Iconic gold topped Islamic shrine built around 690 AD- the worlds oldest surviving work of Islamic architecture

The western wall

Sacred site of Jewish prayer and pilgrimage, many poltical leaders visit here

Although the Middle East is the cultural hearth of Christianity

Numbers have declines substantially over the past 100 plus years

Today Christian’s make up

5% of the ME population, down from 135 in the early 20th century

The main two variants of islam are the

Shiites and Sunnis, after the death of Muhammad in 632 AD

What recent of the Muslim population are Sunni

73%

What percent of the population is Shiite

23%

This region has seen large scale exodus of

Christian and Jewish minorities as islam radicalized, creating regional geopolitical issues

Usually in countries that are governed by Sunnis

Shia make up the poorest sections of society, and often see themselves as victims of discrimination and depression

The Iranian Revolution of 1979

Launched a radical Shia Islamist addenda that was seen as a challenge to conservative Sunni regeme- still shapes politics today

The dominant language is

Arabic

Geopolitics in this region are largely defined by

Tension among cultural groups

The suez canal

Formed in 1869, made the area and Egypt a geopolitical location

Modern boundaries were formed by

Colonial powers, which formed instability and conflict

Since Iraq’s independence in 1932

The countries sunnies, Shiites and Kurds have vied for power

Balfour declaration in 1917

Jewish homeland in Palestine

The Jewish state of isreal was created

In 1948 from former British colonial territory

In the 1967 war

Israel gained the West Bank , Golan Heights, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and Sinai (returned to Egypt in 82). Jewish settlements were later built in these areas

Water in the West Bank and Goland heights

Is still an important topic today

The Arab spring began in

Tunisia in 2011

The Arab spring was a series of revolts on

Economic hardshi, authoritarian gov, kleptocracy, religious difference, and created many power vacuums

What does ISIS stand for

Islamic state of Iraq and the levant

The ISISL is

A Sunni extreamist organization that wants to Establish a fundamental Islamic state

ISIL came to global prominence

In 2014 and is conflict torn Iraq and Syria

Baghad and Damascus are

Capital cities of isis

Syria was ruled by Hafez al Assad from

1971 to 2000

Bashar al Assad ruled Syria from

2000 to 2024

Iran has spent over _____ propping yo the Assad regeme and its other partners

16 billion

How many deaths were in the Arab spring

250,000 civilian deaths with 14 million displaced

Socioeconomics in this region is defined by

Extremes of rich and poor

Economics are largely a product of

Uneven patterns of fossil fuel access and politcal instability

About____of the worlds oil supply comes from this region

50%

How much of the oil supply comes from Saudi Arabia

16%

Political instability Causes

Economic stability

Famine and civil war in Yemen have killed

More than 100,000 people since 2012

After irans 1979 Islamic revolution women…

Are required by law to wear a hijab in public

University attendance in the Middle East

More women are enrolled in universities than men overall

The Middle East is

Southwest Asia and North Africa

Why were the British in the Suez Canal

To influence trade