Geography of the Middle East, anancient and modern crossroads

Image 1: The Nile River runs through the city of Cairo, which is the capital of Egypt and the second largest city on the African

continent. Cairo and its surrounding areas are home to over 20 million people. Photo by: hadynyah/Getty Images

The Middle East lies at the junction of trade routes connecting Europe and China, India and

Africa to all the cultures of the Mediterranean basin. Many of these routes have been documented

from as early as 5,000 years ago. The presence of so many different people and products over

the years has had a profound effect on the region's culture, politics and economy.

By WGBH Educational Foundation, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.09.18

Word Count 1,124

Level 1210L

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1

More Than Just Deserts

The landscape of the Middle East has more variety than the deserts that dominate movie screens

and novels would suggest. Rivers allowing for productive agriculture were the key factor in the

early development of cities. Mountain ranges and deserts kept cultures apart, providing natural

barriers to potential invaders.

The fertile soil of the Middle East led early civilizations to domesticate plants and animals, build

cities, and prosper. The Fertile Crescent, the area that stretched from the Tigris and Euphrates

rivers down through historic Palestine to the Nile River, was where the earliest civilizations in the

world developed. The lands between the Tigris and Euphrates (now modern Iraq, and extending

northwest into Syria and Turkey) was called Mesopotamia in ancient times. It was home to the

Sumerians, the world's first urban culture, 6,000 years ago.

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The Egyptians, rivals of the Sumerians, lived along the Nile River and enjoyed rich harvests due

to annual flooding that rejuvenated the soil. Protected by vast deserts, they safely exported wheat

and barley across the region. They became a wealthy and powerful kingdom. Soon, the Hittite

civilization in Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the seagoing Phoenicians in the eastern

Mediterranean were competing with the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians for wealth and

dominance.

The mountain ranges in the Middle East helped isolate various peoples from each other as much

as, if not more than, bodies of water did. The Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey separated

Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor, from parts of Asia. This kept the Hittites and Mesopotamians

apart, while the Zagros Mountains protected Mesopotamia from the invaders to the east.

During difficult times, mountains provided refuge for oppressed minorities, such as the Alawites in

Syria; the Christians in Lebanon; and the Kurds in Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq.

A Well-Traveled Trade Route

The Silk Road, one of many trading routes that crossed into the Middle East, came all the way

from China through Central Asia. Silk Road merchants were the first to introduce this region to

such Chinese products as paper and gunpowder. The traders exchanged not only products, but

ideas – scientific, religious, and artistic ideas – that challenged and changed institutions from one

end of the Silk Road to the other.

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Although religious wars first introduced European armies into the region a thousand years ago,

the strategic location of the Middle East was the motivation for a continued European presence in

the 19th and 20th centuries. The British and French both desired a route to India and Southeast

Asia. The building of the Suez Canal in Egypt (paid for by the British and French, and completed

in 1869) allowed military and commercial ships to pass between the Mediterranean Sea to the

Red Sea, and on into the Indian Ocean. Now, the long and expensive trip around Africa was

unnecessary.

Geographical Features Bring Economic And Political Riches

Geography and natural resources have always contributed to the political power in this region.

Farmers in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed many technologies to successfully irrigate their

fields with water from the rivers of the region. Over the centuries, this generated enough wealth to

support empires.

Today, the wealth in Middle Eastern soil comes not from crops, but from petroleum, or oil. This

region contains more than half of the world's known petroleum reserves. With global demand for

oil increasing exponentially since World War II, the oil reserves in the Middle East have become

critically important all over the world.

Human Geography

The Middle East enjoys a high level of ethnic and cultural diversity. These people live a variety of

lifestyles — nomadic and semi-nomadic, farming and fishing, and, increasingly, urban.

How people put food on their tables is intimately tied to their physical surroundings. While the

herding lifestyle of the nomadic peoples of the Middle East may have captured the romantic

imagination of Europeans and Americans, in reality, pure nomads have always been a small

minority in this region. In fact, many so-called nomads were simply families of seasonal migrants

who grazed their livestock in one region in the summer and moved elsewhere in the winter.

Other families depend on the sea, or rivers, for their living. The long coastlines of the

Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea, as well as those of the large river

systems support many communities through both fishing and water-borne trade.

Farming populations are usually organized as tight-knit villages rather than isolated farms. Village

identity is extremely strong, so much so that when people migrate to the city or even abroad, they

often settle in communities of their co-villagers. A neighborhood in Detroit, for example, may be

made up of immigrants from one particular village in Lebanon.

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Rapid urbanization was a marked feature of the Middle East in the late 20th century. Cairo and

Istanbul each have more than 10 million residents and continue to grow. The rapid rise in urban

populations has strained water resources, transportation facilities, and created large-scale

pollution problems.

What's In A Name

Different names have been used for the region, some based on geography, others on culture.

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The region can be referred to most neutrally by the continental term "Southwest Asia and North

Africa."

"Middle East" is a term derived from a European point of view. Those parts of the world east of

Europe were "the East." Those areas closest to Europe were the "Near East." Those farthest from

Europe, like China and Japan, were the "Far East." By the mid-20th century, "Middle East"

became the dominant term for the Southwest Asia and North Africa.

Nevertheless, because "Middle East" is a term that is neither geographical nor cultural, it's used

in ways that can be confusing.

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Quiz

1 Read the statement below.

The Middle East is often referred to as the crossroads of civilization.

Which sentence from the article BEST supports this statement?

(A) The Middle East lies at the junction of trade routes connecting Europe and China,

India and Africa to all the cultures of the Mediterranean basin.

(B) The fertile soil of the Middle East led early civilizations to domesticate plants and

animals, build cities, and prosper.

(C) The Silk Road, one of many trading routes that crossed into the Middle East,

came all the way from China through Central Asia.

(D) Rapid urbanization was a marked feature of the Middle East in the late 20th

century.

2 Examine Image 1 at the beginning of the article and read the selection from the section "Human

Geography."

The rapid rise in urban populations has strained water resources,transportation facilities, and created large-scale pollution problems.

Based on the image and selection, which prediction is MOST reasonable?

(A) If the global demand for oil increases, the wealth of the population of Cairo will

decrease.

(B) If the Nile River continues to flood annually, the city of Cairo will continue to

increase in population.

(C) If the population of Cairo continues to increase, the challenges it faces will also

increase.

(D) If the population of Cairo continues to increase, the Nile River will soon be dry.

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3 Read the paragraphs below from the section "Human Geography."

How people put food on their tables is intimately tied to their physicalsurroundings. While the herding lifestyle of the nomadic peoples of theMiddle East may have captured the romantic imagination of Europeansand Americans, in reality, pure nomads have always been a smallminority in this region. In fact, many so-called nomads were simplyfamilies of seasonal migrants who grazed their livestock in one region inthe summer and moved elsewhere in the winter.

Other families depend on the sea, or rivers, for their living. The longcoastlines of the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea,as well as those of the large river systems support many communitiesthrough both fishing and water-borne trade.

Which conclusion is BEST supported by these paragraphs?

(A) Farming populations in the Middle East are rapidly decreasing due to farmers

moving to America.

(B) Most people in the Middle East have either a herding lifestyle or a fishing lifestyle.

(C) The nomadic peoples of the Middle East eventually settled down and became

fishermen or farmers.

(D) People in the Middle East have long adapted their lifestyles to their environments.

4 Which of the following topics is emphasized in the article, but NOT reflected in any of the images?

(A) the increase in urban living in the Middle East

(B) a way that early civilizations in the Middle East were protected from invaders

(C) a motivation for European involvement in the Middle East

(D) the shift in the Middle East from one source of wealth in the soil to another

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