11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7: Southwest Asia and North Africa FIGURE 7.1

11© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 7: Southwest Asia and North Africa

FIGURE 7.1


Learning Objectives

• Learn about the historical roots of Southwest Asia and North Africa, including religious significance

• Understand the role of Islam in shaping the history and current political situation in this region

• Understand the role of oil and water in shaping this region• Become familiar with the physical, demographic, cultural,

political, and economic characteristics of Southwest Asia and North Africa (SW Asia and N Africa)

• Understand these concepts and models:− Exotic rivers− Hajj− Islamic fundamentalism− Monotheism− Ottoman Empire

− OPEC− Levant and Maghreb− Pastoral Nomadism− Theocratic state− Transhumance


Setting the Boundaries

• Sometimes called the Middle East (a European perspective)• Region is generally arid, Muslim, and rich in oil (but this is not

true of all countries in the region)• This region is a culture hearth: cultural innovations that

subsequently diffuse to other parts of world began here• Development of petroleum industry has had large impact on

the region– OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries):

member countries profoundly influence global prices and production targets for petroleum

• Islamic fundamentalism: aspect of Islam that advocates return to more traditional practices, calls for merger of civil and religious authority, and challenges encroachment of global popular culture


Environmental Geography: Life in a Fragile World

• A long history of human settlement in has left its mark on the environment in the region– Deforestation and

overgrazing– Salinization of soils

caused by centuries of irrigation

FIGURE 7.4 Environmental IssuesFIGURE 7.5 Socotra’s Dragon’s Blood Tree


FIGURE 7.6Hydropolitics in

Jordan River Basin

FIGURE 7.7Saudi Arabian Irrigation

Hydropolitics: interplay of water resource issues and politics

– Iran’s qanat system and Libya’s “Great Man-Made River” tap groundwater – Egypt’s Aswan High Dam generates electricity– Israel’s “Peace Corridor” will bring water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea

Managing Water


Regional Landforms

• SW Asia is more mountainous than N Africa

FIGURE 7.1 Southwest Asia and North Africa

– North Africa• Maghreb (“West Island”): Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia; the Atlas

Mountains of Southwest Asia• Levant: eastern Mediterranean region of SW Asia mountains

and highlands• Anatolia: peninsula of Turkey

(“Asia Minor”), geologicallyactive plateau

• Mesopotamia: in Iraq, betweenthe Tigris and Euphrates rivers


Patterns of Climate

• Climate region is complex because of altitude and latitude– Large portions of region are arid– Deserts stretch from the Atlantic

Coast across Africa, through Arabian Peninsula, into central and eastern Iran

Arid Iran (Figure 7.12)

FIGURE 7.12 Arid Iran FIGURE 7.14 Nile Valley


Patterns of Climate (cont.)

FIGURE 7.11 Climate Map

– Mediterranean climates in the Atlas Mountains and the Levant coastline are caused by both altitude and latitude

FIGURE 7.8 Atlas Mountains


Population and Settlement: Patterns in an Arid Land

• The geography of population–More than 400 million people in the region

– Physiological densities are among the highest on Earth

– Physiological density: the number of people per unitof arable (farm) land


Population and Settlement: Patterns in an Arid Land (cont.)

FIGURE 7.15 Population

– Dry areas are sparsely settled; moist lands may be overpopulated

– Population clusters: (1) Maghreb: moister areas of Atlas Mountains and coastal regions (2) Nile Valley

FIGURE 7.13 Algerian Orange Harvest


Water and Life: Rural Settlement Patterns

– Domestication: plants and animals are selectively bred for desirable characteristics; domestication began in this region 10,000 years ago

– Fertile Crescent: ecologically diverse zone from Levant through fertile hill country of northern Syria into Iraq

– Pastoral nomadism• Traditional form of subsistence

agriculture that depends on seasonal movement of livestock

– Transhumance: seasonal movement of livestock from winter to summer pastures

FIGURE 7.2Man at Livestock Market, United Arab Emirates


Water and Life: Rural Settlement Patterns (cont.)

– Oasis life• Areas where high groundwater or deep-water wells

provide reliable moisture (small agricultural settlements or densely settled trade centers)

– Exotic river: a river that comes from a humid area and flows into a dry area that otherwise lacks streams; used for irrigation

• Kibbutz: collectively worked settlement that produces grain, vegetable, and orchard crops, irrigated by the Jordan River and feeder canals

FIGURE 7.18 Oasis Agriculture in Morocco


Water and Life: Rural Settlement Patterns (cont.)

• The challenge of dryland agriculture

FIGURE 7.17 Agricultural Regions

–Depends on seasonal moisture, precipitation

–Mostly in Mediterranean area (see map)

–Crops: tree crops, livestock, grains, illegal hashish


Many-Layered Landscapes: Urban Imprint

• Some of the world’s oldest urban areas are in this region– A long urban legacy

• Earliest cities in Mesopotamia (Eridu and Ur, 3500 BCE) and Egypt (Memphis and Thebes, 3000 BCE)

• Rise of trade centers around 2000 BCE• Centers of Islamic religious administration and education

– Medina: the urban core of a traditional Islamic city has a centralmosque and bazaar

• Colonialism left Europeaninfluence

FIGURE 7.20Fes, Morocco Shown is the commercial district.


Signatures of Globalization

• Urban centers have become focal points of economic growth (Cairo, Algiers, Istanbul)

• Oil wealth has added modern element to traditional cities (e.g., Dubai)

FIGURE 7.21 Modern Doha, Qatar


A Region on the Move

• Migration streams– Rural-to-urban migration– Outmigration from Iraq because of war

• 10 percent of population have left– Job-related migration within the region

• More than 75 percent of Saudi Arabia’s workers are foreign– Immigration of low-wage workers from other regions – Emigration of workers from

the region• 2.7 million Turkish guest

workers went to Germany• Algerians and Moroccans

went to FranceFIGURE 7.22 Labor Camp in Shariah City, United Arab

Emirates Shown are South Asian workers.


Shifting Demographic Patterns

• Population growth rates vary within the region– Women in are having fewer children

• Causes: delayed marriage, family planning initiatives, greater urbanization; rising consumer orientation

• Tunisia, Iran, Turkey, Egypt

– High rates of natural increase in West Bank, Gaza, and Yemen

• Increasing population strains cities, water supplies, public services, job availability

FIGURE 7.23 Egypt’s Changing Population Shown are data for 2000 and 2050 (projected).


Cultural Coherence and Diversity: Signatures of Complexity

• Patterns of religion– Hearth of the Judeo-Christian tradition

• Jews and Christians trace their rootsto the eastern Mediterranean

• Monotheism: belief in one God– The emergence of Islam

• Originated in Southwest Asia in 622 CE• In the Judeo-Christian tradition: shares

prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus

• Qur'an (Koran); Islamic book of revelations received by Muhammad from Allah (God)

• Islam means “submission to the will of God”

FIGURE 7.25Pilgrimage to Makkah


FIGURE 7.26 Modern Religions

• Schism in Islam– Shiite Muslims favored passing power within Muhammed’s

family– Sunni Muslims favored passing power through established

clergy; most Muslims are Sunni

– Iran is an Islamic theocracy

• Theocratic state: state where religious leaders (ayatollahs) guide policy

Patterns of Religion


Patterns of Religion (cont.)

– Modern religious diversity• Muslims are majority in region, except for Israel and

Cyprus– Sunni (73 percent)– Shiites (23 percent); majority in Iran, southern Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Bahrain

• Sufism (mystic form of Islam) in region’s margins• Druze (spin-off of Shi’a Islam) in Lebanon and Syria

FIGURE 7.27 Old Jerusalem


FIGURE 7.24 Diffusion of Islam

Patterns of Religion (cont.)

– The expansion of the Ottoman Empire helped to spread Islam– Ottoman Empire: vast empire of Turks; it included most of

Southwest Asia and North Africa, as well as southeastern Europe (circa 1453)


Geographies of Language

FIGURE 7.28 Modern Languages

• Semites and Berbers– Arabic and Hebrew (Semite)– Berber in Atlas Mountains and Sahara

• Persians and Kurds – Indo-European languages– Persian In Iran– Kurdish in northern Iraq, NW Iran, eastern Turkey

• The Turkish imprint– Altaic language: more Turkic speakers in Central Asia (Chapter 10)


Regional Cultures in Global Context

• Islamic internationalism– Islamic communities are well established in central

China, European Russia, central Africa, southern Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, elsewhere

– Muslim congregations are expanding in western Europe and North America

• Globalization and cultural change– Global economy is having impact

on traditional cultural values• Fundamentalism is a reaction

– Access to satellite TV, cell phones, Internet bring global culture to theregion FIGURE 7.29

Kurdish Family in Eastern Turkey


Geopolitical Framework: Never-Ending Tensions

• The colonial legacy• European colonialism after World War I

– Dominance of Ottoman Empire (1550–1850)– Many political boundaries set by colonial powers

• Imposing European power• French in Algeria since 1800, later in Tunisia, Morocco,

Syria and Lebanon• Britain in Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf by 1900

– Suez Canal: British-engineered canal linking Mediterranean and Red seas in 1869

– European banks influenced Egyptian economy– British instrumental in establishing Saudi Arabia

• Italians in Libya, Spanish in Morocco• Turkey, Iran (Persia) never occupied


Decolonization and Independence

• Europeans began to withdraw before World War II– By 1950 most countries independent

– Algeria independent in 1962

• Modern geopolitical issues– Across North Africa

• Libya formerly a problem; since 2004 moving toward cooperation, including disarmament

• Islamist movements in Algeria and Egypt

• Sudan had north (Islamist) versus south (Christian and animist) war in 1990s; now has conflict between nomadic Arabs and black African sedentary farmers in the Darfur region


Modern Geopolitical Issues

• The Arab–Israeli conflict– Creation of Israel in 1948– Three wars: 1956, 1967 (when Israel gained most land), 1973– Palestinian attacks on Jewish settlements (ongoing) • Israel’s construction of wall around settlements is a new source of tension; contributes to economic woes of Palestinians

FIGURE 7.32Evolution of Israel

FIGURE 7.33West Bank


Modern Geopolitical Issues (cont.)

• Iraq’s political evolution– Iraq was born in colonial era:

carved from British Empire, 1932

– Multiethnic: Shi’a Arabs, Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Marsh Arabs

– U.S. troops in Iraq (since 2003)

FIGURE 7.36Multicultural Iraq


Modern Geopolitical Issues (cont.)

• Instability in Saudi Arabia

• Iranian geopolitics

– Saud family (conservative monarchy) controls country– No democratic reforms– Home to radical Wahhabi Muslims (15 of 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi)– Foreign workers, U.S. military presence

– Islamic Revolution 1978– Supports other Shi’a Islamists– Oil and gas reserves– Nuclear development– Reformers among Iran’s educated middle class

FIGURE 7.30 Geopolitical Issues


Economic and Social Development: Lands of Wealth and Poverty

• The geography of fossil fuels– Oil unevenly distributed in the

area

• This region has 7 percent of the world’s population, 61 percent of the world’s proven petroleum reserves

• Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Libya, Algeria have much

• Israel, Jordan, Lebanon have none

FIGURE 7.37 Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas

Production and Reserves


Regional Economic Patterns

• Higher-income oil exporters– Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE– Not all benefit, e.g., rural Shiite Muslims and foreign

workers do not– Recent economic downturn caused oil prices to drop

• Lower-income oil exporters– Algeria: oil and natural gas are its top exports, but

political instability remains a problem– Iran: has huge oil reserves, but long war with Iraq

(1980–1990) and withdrawal from world trade lowered living standards

– Iraq struggling to get its oil industry back on track


Regional Economic Patterns (cont.)

• Prospering without oil– Israel has highest living standard in the region

– Turkey has a diversified economy; has seen growth; 35 percent still employed in agriculture

– Economic reforms in Tunisia

– Lebanon has potential for prosperity through tourism and telecommunications

FIGURE 7.38 Israeli High-Tech Industry


Regional Patterns of Poverty (cont.)

– Sudan’s economy ruined by civil war, political instability

– Egypt’s prospects unclear, with growth in 1990s, but many are still poor, with a large gap between rich and poor

• Brain drain: phenomenon in which some of brightest young people leave for better jobs in western Europe

– Yemen is poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, with marginal subsistence farming and widespread unemployment

– Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza: political disruptions discourage investment; Israel has destroyed infrastructure; two-thirds of Palestinians live in poverty; unemployment above 40 percent


Development Indicators


A Woman’s Changing World

• World’s lowest female workforce participation; large gaps between male and female literacy

• More orthodox Islamic countries limit female participation– In Saudi Arabia, women are not permitted to drive– Women in Iran wear head scarves (but may also wear Western-style fashions)

• Educational opportunities for women are increasing – Some classrooms segregated by gender

FIGURE 7.40 Women in the Workforce in Algeria


Global Economic Relationships

• OPEC’s changing fortunes– OPEC no longer controls oil and gas prices globally but

still influences availability and cost– Saudi Arabia still dependent on oil and gas

• 90 percent of exports are crude oil shipments (70 percent) or refined petrochemical products (20 percent)

– Recession of 2008–2009 caused drop in oil prices• Regional and international linkages

– Turkey asks to join European Union, but the going is slow– Arab League formed in 1945– Greater Arab Free Trade Area (2005) to spur cooperation– Islamic Development Bank; Arab Fund for Economic and

Social Development


Global Economic Relationships (cont.)

• The geography of tourism– Ancient historical sites and globally significant

religious localities are a large draw

– Tourist hotels and condos on the Mediterranean

– Ecotourism

– Tourism is a large part of the regional economy in Turkey, Israel, and Egypt

– Impacts to visual landscape, physical environment, and archeological sites


Summary

• Southwest Asia and North Africa have played a critical role in world history and globalization

• Important culture hearth and religious center• Oil plays world role• Political conflicts disrupt economic development• Tension between modern ways and fundamentalist

traditions

Documents

11 © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7: Southwest Asia and North Africa FIGURE 7.1