© T. M. Whitmore

Today•North Africa and Southwest Asia

Role of the geography (location & situation) of Resources and settlementPopulations & demography

© T. M. Whitmore

Last Time•Underdevelopment in SS Africa •Questions?

© T. M. Whitmore

Some Comments on the Papers

• Mostly good efforts. But some problems, too!• Some papers had no thesis at all • In some papers, the thesis was not

connected to the rest of the paper• Some papers exhibited poor organization• Some papers failed to show a clear

connection to the topic assigned• Globalization was frequently equated with

mere economic growth and urban expansion• Some papers stated a series of facts but

never drew actual conclusions from them• Some papers brought up globalization and

its effects too generally and superficially

© T. M. Whitmore

More comments• Some papers showed no sources at all• Some papers made general claims without

substantiating them• Inappropriate sources were a problem• There was heavy reliance on internet

sources, some of doubtful reliability• Some noted sources at the end of the

paper but used no citations in the text• Some writers simply asserted opinion for

fact• Grammar and proofreading are important• Style in some papers was too casual and

informal

© T. M. Whitmore

North Africa and SW Asia (the “Middle East”)

•THEMES to characterize this regionRole of the geography (location &

situation) of resources and settlement

Role of the geography of population/demography

Role of Culture, Religion, EthnicityRole of historical developments in

current geopolitical landscape

© T. M. Whitmore

A region at the center of world events

•At the intersection of the largest continents

•Origins of agriculture and cities

•Origin of three major religions

•Center of multiple empires

•Center of world oil production

•Historical center of political Islam

•Site of destabilizing armed conflicts including the Iraq war and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

© T. M. Whitmore

© T. M. Whitmore

Geophysical Environment

•Aridity

•Regional Exceptions

•DesertsSaharaArabianIranian

Less than 100

100 - 200

200 - 400

400 - 600

600 - 1,000

1,000 - 1,500

1,500 - 2,000

2,000 - 3,000

More than 3,000

Mean annual precipitation in mm

NASA World Wind

© T. M. Whitmore

Key Landscapes of Settlement

•N. slopes of Atlas Mtns.•Nile valley•Eastern Mediterranean •Coastal Turkey•Mesopotamia (Iraq)•Slopes of Zagros and Elburz mtns

in Iran•Elevated and southern areas in

Sudan•Commonalities to these places

© T. M. Whitmore

Source: NASA World Wind

N. slopes of Atlas Mtns.

Source: NASA World Wind

Nile valley

Source: NASA World Wind

Eas

tern

Med

iter

ran

ean

Coastal Turkey

Mesopotamia (Iraq)

© T. M. Whitmore

Natural resources-Water

•Controls settlement

•Source of significant political contention

•Presence (or lack) supports various livelihoods Irrigated agricultureNomadism/herding

Irrigated land Source Atlas of the biosphere

Exotic rivers

Area of detail on next slide

NASA World Wind (Blue marble image)

Center pivot irrigation at Wadi As-Sirhan, Saudi ArabiaLandsat 7 image

Traditional pastoralist regions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Bedouin pastoralists

© T. M. Whitmore

Natural resources II - Petroleum

•Spatial Distribution

•Reserves

•Production

•US dependence

•Major regions for oil & gasKey importance of the “Gulf”

World Crude Oil Production, 1973-2004Million Barrels per Day

World Oil Consumption in 1,000 barrels per day

North America

17.2 m barrels/day

© T. M. Whitmore

Population/Demography•Population Totals

Uneven geography•Among the fastest growing (~ 2%/yr)

populations •Some of the highest fertility (TFR ~

3.5) in the world •{Global averages ~1.5%/yr & TFR

~2.7}•Mortality: ~ “3rd world” average (Eo

~63; IMR ~ 50/1000)•Urbanization

Higher than “3rd world” average

Population Density

© T. M. Whitmore

Religion — A source of commonality and division

•Islam (Muslim) SunniShíiteFundamentalists

•Judaism

•Christianity

© T. M. Whitmore

© Bret Wallach