Transcript The Geography of the Middle East

The Middle East Today:
Political Map
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Middle East? OR Southwest Asia?
The Middle East vs. the U. S.
Latitude Lines
Middle East: Climate Regions
The Middle East:
Natural Vegetation
Diversity in climate/elevation/precipitation=diversity
in vegetation
Middle East: Population Density
Where is the water??? Find fresh water and you
find population concentration.
Bodies of Water
Black Sea
Dardanelles Strait
Atlantic
Ocean
Tigris
Euphrates
River
Jordan River
River
Suez Canal
Nile
River
Strait of
Hormuz
Gulf
of
Oman
Arabian
Sea
Gulf of Aden
Indian
Ocean
Cairo, Egypt:
Most Populated City in the Middle East
20,000,000
44,000 p/sq/mi
The Mighty Nile River:
“Longest River in the World”
Egypt: The “Gift of the Nile”
Nile Delta
Annual Nile Flooding
95% of the Egyptian
people live on 5% of the
land!
Suez Canal
Completed by the British in 1869
The Tigris & Euphrates
River System
Mesopotamia:
”Land Between the Two Rivers”
Marsh Arabs, So. Iraq
Fertile Crescent
Dead Sea: Lowest Point on Earth
2,300’ below sea level
Highest
Salt
Content
(33%)
Mountains & Plateaus
Caucasus
Mts.
Anatolian
Plateau
Atlas Mts.
Iranian
Zagros Plateau
Mts.
Mountain Ranges in Mid-East
Elburz Mts., Iran
Lebanese Mts.
Zagros Mts., Iran
Taurus Mts., Turkey
Deserts
Libyan Desert
Sahara Desert
Sinai
Desert
Arabian
Desert Rub
al-Khali
Dust Storms Along the
Tigris-Euphrates Flood Plains
Desert Bedouins
Remember the “Adam” video?
•
The Ships of the Desert
Arabian
Camel!
Sway
makes one
seasick
• Cruise at
2mph
• 1,000 lb
loads
• Toes like
snowshoes
Bactrian Camel further east
in Asia!
• No natural predators
• Can withstand a
massive amount of
dehydration
• Humps=fatty tissue
• Omnivorous
• Temperament?
Docile and sweet
• Stubborn and angry if
ill treated
• They spit…chew cud
like cows
•Brow bone
•Lashes protect
from sandstorms
•Toes like
snowshoes
•Hard pads to
withstand heat
Rub al-Khali:
“The Empty Quarter”
Desert Oases: Water at a
Premium!
Wadis – Instant Springs
Desalinization
Plants
The Natural Resources of the
Middle East
World Oil Reserves
Saudi Oil Fields & Refineries
Kuwait:
An Island Floating on a Sea of Oil
Kuwait
City
What would the Regents
Exam ask?
DBQ June 2010
Throughout history, geographic factors
(deserts/mts/rivers) have had a variety
of effects on different regions.
• Describe deserts/mts/rivers
• Discuss the effect deserts/mts/rivers
have had on a specific region.