Ch. 18, Sec. 3Cultures & Lifestyles

ArchitectureEarly Civilizations:

Sumerians built ziggurats - large, mud-brick temples shaped like a pyramids

Egyptians built pyramids as royal tombs

Persians built palaces

Persepolis - IranA UNESCO World Heritage Site

The ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire

during the Achaemenid dynasty

(550-330 BCE)

Panoramic view of Persepolis

LiteratureEpics & Poetry - dominant literary forms

Epics – based on strong oral traditions

Poetry – increased western influence

Modern Literature - reflect themes of nationalism & the challenges of changes in traditional society

Islamic architecturemosques & palacesgeometric patterns & floral design•NO living figures in Islamic art

Architecture

Religious Celebrations & ObservancesPrayer - 5 times a day

muezzin (a chosen person at the mosque who leads the call to Friday service and the five daily prayers) calls Muslims to prayer from a minaret

Ramadan - holy month when the Koran was revealed to MohammadEid al Adha - Feast of Sacrifice

(when Abraham showed willingness to sacrifice ISHMAEL – not Isaac)Jewish observances - Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) & Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)Christian observances - Christmas, Easter

The Great Mosque of

Xi'an, China

Everyday LifeThe lives of people in NAME have changed dramatically in the last century because of 3 things:

Population – grown rapidly b/c of: •Increased Healthcare •High Birthrate - few women use contraception

•More than 33% of population is under 15 yrs old in most countries in NAME

Many have moved to Urban areas•Less than 50% of people still farm•Only a small percentage are still bedouins (desert nomads)

Contact with other regions of the world•through Travel, Trade, Internet

Everyday Life

Bedouins Family Tent

However, cherished customs still survive.revolves around family, home, religion & education

Large cities – high-rise apartmentsOlder parts of cities & Rural areas –centuries old stone, wooden or mud-brick buildings – typically lack running water & electricity

Shopping - village markets, supermarkets in cities, bazaars - traditional open-air markets

Home & Community

Standards of Livingvaries widely

high SOL in urbanized countries economies based on oil production, manufacturing or trade

Low SOL in developing countries citizens don’t benefit from natural resources (ex – Libya)

Educationprimary education

elementary - middle school is free

secondary educationhigh school is increasing in attendance

university attendance is low

In many parts of the Middle East, education is a luxury, unavailable to many or only offered to a select few. Too often, girls are prevented from attending school by custom, lack of resources, and oppression. The result is that too many people in the region can neither read nor take advantage of the opportunities that come with education. Over 75 million women and 45 million men are illiterate.

Education

Healthcarehealth care – improving

Gov’t owned hospitals most common

BRAIN DRAIN - doctor shortages prevalent

hospitals & health care access is mainly in cities so life expectancy rates are still low

Chapter 19

Living in the Middle East

Agriculturemeeting food needs - big challenge because of rapid population growth

small percentage of arable land in region -land suitable for farming

large percentage of people in agriculture

many countries must import grains because of lack of rainfall

Oil-Rich Countries - buy food with oil profits

Major Exports: citrus fruit, olives, dates, cereal grains, grapes

Uzbekistan - one of world’s biggest cotton producers

Agriculture

Dates

Fishingimportant food source

over-fishing & pollution causing decline of fish in some areas

Industrial Growthmain export commodities - petroleum & oil products

67% world’s oil reserves

33% world’s natural gas reserves

other industries - financed by oil money

Petrochemical industry - products derived from petroleum or natural gas

•makes fertilizers, medicines, etc.

service industries also increasing - banking, real estate, insurance, tourism

Industrial Growth

About 11 by 5 kilometers

6 by 9 kilometers & $25 Billion

Transportation&

Communications

Roads, Railroads, & Airlines

connect major cities with oil fields & seaports

mountain & desert areas have fewer roads

rapid transit systems developing - subways

Water Transportation- vital to N.A.M.E. economies

major ports along Mediterranean & Black Seas

Strait of Hormuz & Gulf of Aqaba

pipeline systems transport oil overland to seaports

CommunicationsTV and Radio are increasing, but media is controlled by government in many countries

2 new Silk Roadsworld’s longest telecommunications highway opened in 1998 along old Silk Road16,767 mile cable

TRACECA - proposed network of road, rail, & air transportation systems to connect Moldova, Europe to Mongolia, East AsiaTransport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia

InterdependenceOPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, formed in 1960

It controls oil production & prices

People & Their Environment

Need for Waterfreshwater comes from rivers, oases & aquifersOnly Major Rivers - Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, Jordan, Amu Darya, & Syr DaryaDesalination - process of removing salt from seawater

Israel - 1st country to do it; other countries followedRegion now has 60% of world’s freshwater producing capacity

Libya’s Great Man-Made River2 pipelines carry water from large aquifers beneath the Sahara to farms near the Mediterranean SeaPossibly the largest engineering project ever undertakenGuinness acknowledged in ’08 that it is the world's largest irrigation projectLargest underground network of pipes & aqueducts in the worldConsists of more than 1,300 wells, most more than 500 m deepSupplies 6,500,000 m³ of freshwater per day to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirt and elsewhere.

Libya’s Great Man-Made RiverMuammar al-Gaddafi (ex-leader of Libya) has described it as the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

KurdistanKurdistan, "the land of Kurds", is an extensive plateau and mountainous area in the Middle East, inhabited mainly by Kurdish people and encompasses the Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.

KurdistanKurdistan was erased from the world's maps after World War Iwhen the British & French carved up the Middle East into colonies & denied the Kurds a nation. More than 20 million Kurds live in parts of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia & Syria.

KurdistanA largely Sunni Muslim people with their own language & culture.

After centuries of invaders, the Kurdish people remain Unconquered and Unassimilated.

KurdistanThe Kurds have been subjugated by neighboring peoples for most of their history.

Throughout the 20th century their struggles for political and cultural autonomy were opposed by the M.E.'s countries, and the Kurds are often used as pawns in regional politics.

KurdistanIn modern times, Kurds have tried to set up an independent country parts of Iran, Iraq and Turkey, but their efforts have been crushed every time.

The geopolitics of the oil and water rich region inhabited by Kurds keeps the countries constantly in ethnic conflict with the Kurds…

Homeland Afghanistan http://afghanistan.asiasociety.org/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia

Environmental Concerns

Aswan High Dam364 foot dam in Egypt that controls the Niles’ floods

irrigates land & supplies 50% of Egypt’s electrical power

Negative Impacts: no alluvial soil deposits to keep land fertile for agriculturefarmers must use expensive fertilizersland is retaining saltparasite related diseases and deaths increasing

Persian Gulf War-1991a United Nations-authorized military conflict between Iraq and a coalition force from 34 nations created to drive out Iraqi forces from Kuwait after Iraq's occupation and annexation of Kuwait in August 1990. Retreating Iraqi soldiers set fire to over 700 oil wells

heavy air pollution from black smoke -dangerous to birds and humans250 million gallons of oil dumped into the Persian Gulf - killed fish species & marine life

Nuclear & Chemical DangersOld Soviet nuclear bases in Central Asia – Kazakhstan

testing of nuclear, chemical & biological weapons were common during Cold War

leaks from these tests have caused environmental and human concerns

The Vanishing Aral Sea

Virgin and Idle Lands Program (1954-60)

Nikita S. Khrushchev

Premier of USSR 1958-64 agricultural area to be increased by 25%…

expansion of sown area necessaryWhere???

Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan

the goal: to have 1 hectar (2.47 acres) of agricultural land per person living in U.S.S.R.

Aral Sea Surface Elevation (meters)

Irrigated Area (millions of hectares)

Consumptive Water Use (cubic kilometers)

Garagum Canal

An old riverbed cuts through the delta of the Amu Darya, the river that flows along a portion of the border between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. A total of 2,540 kilometers (1,578 miles) long, the river runs from the Dar"yoi Pomir plateau in Afghanistan to the Aral Sea and provides irrigation water throughout the region.

Amu Darya Delta

By 1977, the formerly large fish catch at the Aral Sea had declined by over seventy-five percent.

Once, the annual catch of fish in the Aral was 50,000 tons. By the early 1980's, commercially useful fish were eliminated, shutting down an enterprise that had

employed 60,000. No fish have been commercially taken since 1981.

Virgin & Idle Lands Program (1954-60)

The goal: to have 1 hectar per person -expansion of sown area (Western Siberia; Northern Kazakhstan), agricultural area increased by 25% Problems: marginal climatic area; - frequent droughts - fragile soils- varying harvests - drainage & irrigation - chemical fertilizers- better harvesting technologies- Intensification in agriculture yields have improved until 1980s development of non-chernozem zone

Nikita S. Khrushchev

Premier of USSR 1958-64

1964 1973

1997

Aral Sea Environmental Effects:- 30 years of irrigation for cotton and rice- 60% loss of water since 1964- From 4th to 6th largest world lake- Salinity increased: 10% to 23%- Destroyed fishing industry- Changed local climate

(increased continentality)- Dust storms spread 75K tons of

saline/pesticide soil annually, much of it into the same fields created by irrigation

Now(1999)

and

Then(1961)

Impact on HealthIn Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakia, since 1988…

cases of kidney and liver diseases have increased 30 fold cases of arthritic diseases have increased 60 fold cases of chronic bronchitis have increased 30 fold

20% of young women aged 13-19 have kidney diseases 23% of young women aged 13-19 have thyroid

dysfunctions

80% of all women suffer from anemia(nearly all hemorrhage while giving birth resulting inone of the highest maternal mortality rates on Earth)

oneworld.org

“...we may be witnessing the end of our society as a result of human folly…”

Dr. Ataniyazovaa gynecologist and obstetrician, based in the Nukus

Vozrozhdenie Island

Vozrozhdenie (rebirth), the large island in center of Aral Sea, was a Soviet germ warfare facility during the cold war era. At one time, we would not be viewing this photo because it was classified as militarily sensitive. Astronauts on early shuttle flights were told not to take any photographic images of that region.

Three Troubled SeasCaspian Sea - polluted and over-fished; killing Sturgeon and other important fish

Dead Sea – 6 times the salt content of an ocean– is the world’s lowest dry point– water level dropping because of

diversion of streams and rivers that feed 90% of its water supply for irrigation.

Aral Sea - drying up because of water sources diverted for irrigation of farmland

- now it is separate, smaller lakes instead of a sea