GeoJournal

As you read this chapter, use your journal

to note the ethnic diversity of North Africa,
Southwest Asia, and Central Asia. Record
both similarities and differences among the
peoples who inhabit this region.

Chapter Overview Visit the Glencoe World

Geography Web site at tx.geography.glencoe.com
and click on Chapter OverviewsChapter 18
to preview information about the cultural
geography of the region.

Guide to Reading

Population Patterns

Consider What You Know

As you know, the region of North
Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central
Asia is made up of a variety of physical features and climates. Many different peoples live in the region.
How does the diversity of ethnic
groups affect life in North Africa,
Southwest Asia, and Central Asia?

A Geographic View
Refuge of Peoples

infrastructure

A refuge since the last period of

Eurasian glaciation, the Caucasus
region has been a gateway for
travel, trade, and conquest.
[Despite the numerous power
struggles] the Caucasus has
remained a [stronghold] of peoples whose identities are tied
to the 50-some languages they
speak. . . . The persistence of the
enduring identities of ethnic
groups has been aided by the
rugged terrain and by societies
whose loyalties are to clan
and family as much as to
nation or region.

Places to Locate

Mike Edwards, The Fractured Caucasus,

National Geographic, February 1996

Read to Find Out

How have movement and interaction of people in the region
led to ethnic diversity?
How do the regions seas, rivers,
and oases influence where people
live?
What effect does the growing
migration into the cities have
on the region?

Terms to Know
ethnic diversity

Family
in the
Caucas
us

Turkey
Afghanistan
Armenia
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Tajikistan
Uzbekistan
Tehran

Like North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central

Asia as a whole, the Caucasus area has long been home to many
peoples. Some of these peoples vanished long agodefeated in
wars, wiped out by famines, or absorbed by more powerful groups.
Others have survived for hundreds of years and flourish today
because of contact with travelers, merchants, and conquerors from
distant places. The result is a tapestry as rich and varied as the
regions much-sought-after carpets.

Many Peoples

El Faiyum oasis, Egypt

The region of North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia has
served as the crossroads for Asia, Africa, and Europe. As a result, the
region has remarkable ethnic diversity, or differences among groups
based on their languages, customs, and beliefs.
Chapter 18

439

Bedouins in
Tunisia Bedouins, or nomadic Arabs, live in the desert areas of
North Africa and Southwest Asia.
Place Which countries are part of the Maghreb?

Arabs

Most people of the regionabout

275 millionare Arabs. Most Arabs
are Muslims, followers of the
religion of Islam, but a small percentage follow
Christianity or other religions. Both Islamic culture
and Arabic, the language of the Arabs, have had a
significant impact in this region.
Before the spread of Islam in the A.D. 600s, Arabicspeaking peoples inhabited the Arabian Peninsula
and a few areas to its north. Many Arabic-speaking
people today, however, descend from ancient groups
such as the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Saharan Berbers,
and peoples speaking Semitic languages. Currently,
Arabs live in 16 countries, including Libya, Tunisia,
Algeria, and Moroccothe countries known as the
Maghrebthe West in Arabic.

Israelis
About 6.4 million people of the region are
Israelis living in Israel. Of these, 82 percent are
Jewish. The remaining 18 percent are mostly Arabs
who are Muslim or Christian.
Jews living in Israel and elsewhere trace their
religious heritage to the Israelites, who in ancient
times settled Canaan, the land shared today by
Israel and Lebanon. The Israelites believed that
God had given them this area as a permanent
440

Unit 6

homeland. Over the centuries, wars, persecution,

and trade led many Jewsas the descendants of
the Israelites are calledto settle in other countries. Their religious identity, however, kept alive
their link to the ancestral homeland. Finally, in
1948, Israel was founded as a Jewish state. Today
half of Israels Jews were born in Israel, and half
have emigrated from elsewhere.
The Arabs of the region, however, did not want
a Jewish state in territory that had been their
homeland for centuries. Tensions between Arabs
and Jews resulted in four wars that brought
severe hardship to all the people of the area,
including the PalestiniansArabs living in the
territory in which Israel was established. During
this period of conflict, many Palestinians were
displaced from their homes and lived in refugee
settlements in neighboring Arab countries.
Today agreements between Israeli and Palestinian
leaders have led to greater Palestinian self-rule.
Nevertheless, peace is still elusive. Issues such as the
ownership of the Old City of Jerusalem, the return
of Palestinian refugees, and ownership of water and
other natural resources remain unresolved.

Turks
Over the past 8,000 years, many peoples have
occupied Anatolia, the Asian part of what is today
the country of Turkey. Each group added its own
customs and beliefs to the cultural blend. Turkic
peoples migrated to the peninsula in the A.D. 1000s
from Central Asia. One Turkic group, known as the
Ottoman Turks, later built the Ottoman Empire,
which ruled much of the eastern Mediterranean
world for more than 600 years. When a group of
Turkish citizens was asked to define who a Turk is
today, one of them responded this way:

I dont believe anybody is Turkish,

whatever that means, he said. Then,
swinging his arms to take in the lunch
crowd, he exclaimed, Look at us! A mix
of Turks, Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Iranians,
Armenians, Kurds.

Thomas B. Allen, Turkey

Struggles for Balance,
National Geographic, May 1994

Most Turks practice Islam and speak the Turkish

language. They have a culture that blends Turkish,
Islamic, and Western elements.

Iranians and Afghanis

About 66 million people live in Iran, once called
Persia. The word Iran means land of the Aryans.
Many Iranians believe they are descendants of
the Aryans (AReeuhnz), Indo-Europeans who
migrated into the region from southern Russia
about 1000 B.C. Iranians speak Farsi, and almost 90
percent of them are Shiite (SHEEEYET) Muslims.
On the eastern border of Iran is Afghanistan.
This mountainous country is home to many ethnic groups that reflect centuries of migrations
and invasions by different peoples. People in
Afghanistan speak many languages, and most
practice Islam.

Union dissolved in 1991. The Armenians have

had their own language and literature for more
than 15 centuries, and in the A.D. 300s most
accepted Christianity.
In ancient times the Armenians ruled a large,
powerful kingdom. For much of their later history,
however, the Armenians were ruled by others
Arabs, Persians, Turks, and Russians. In 1915
about 1 million Armenians in Turkey were massacred, were deported, or died of illness at the hands
of the Ottoman Turks. Many survivors fled to
Southwest Asia, Europe, and the United States.
The republic of Georgia also became independent
after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Like the
Armenians, most Georgians became Christian in
the A.D. 300s. Today they have their own Orthodox
Christian Church. The Georgian language, with its
unique alphabet, is related to other Caucasian
languages, which suggests that the Georgians
probably originated in the Caucasus region.

Turkic Peoples
Most Turkic peoples outside of Turkey, including Uzbeks and Kazakhs, live in the republics of
Central Asia. All of these peoples speak Turkic languages, and almost all are Muslims.
The Uzbeks form the largest Turkic group in
the Central Asian republics. Of the Central Asian
Turkic peoples, only the Kazakhs are a minority
in their own country, Kazakhstan. Under Russian and, later, Soviet rule, Kazakhstan was settled by large numbers of Russians, Ukrainians,
and Germans. Since the end of the Soviet era, the
proportion of Kazakhs has increased for two reasons: a high birthrate and the movement of many
non-Kazakhs out of Kazakhstan.
The Tajiks (tahJIHKS), a predominantly Muslim
non-Turkic group in the Central Asian republics,
make up most of the population of Tajikistan.
Tajiks also live in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan and
speak a language similar to Farsi.

Caucasian Peoples
More than 50 ethnic groups and nationalities live
in the Caucasus area. Armenians and Georgians
are among the largest ethnic groups.
Armenians make up more than 90 percent
of the population of the republic of Armenia,
which became independent after the Soviet

Student Web Activity Visit the Glencoe World Geography

Web site at tx.geography.glencoe.com and click on Student Web
ActivitiesChapter 18 for an activity about visiting Egypts
cultural and historic sites.

Chapter 18

441

Kurds
The Kurds also speak a language related to Farsi,
and most Kurds are Muslims. They live in the border areas of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the
Caucasian republics, in an area that is sometimes
called Kurdistan. However, the Kurds have no
country of their own. Their efforts to win self-rule
have been repeatedly crushed by their Turkish
and Arab rulers.

Population and Resources

Geographic factors, especially the availability of
water, help determine where the regions people
have settled. Because water is scarce, people have for
centuries settled along seacoasts and rivers, near
oases, or in rain-fed highlands where drinking water
is readily available. For example, many people live
along the Nile River in Egypt or in the TigrisEuphrates Valley in Iraq. Desert areas remain largely
unpopulated except where oil is abundant. Nomadic
herders live in or near the desert oases or where there
is enough vegetation to support their herds.
Government

Control of a Vital Resource

Water has been a major issue in border disputes
between Israel and Syria. As much as 30 percent
of Israels water comes from the Sea of Galilee,
which is partly fed by streams beginning in the
Golan Heights, a Syrian area that Israel conquered
in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The Jordan River carries the water south, where Israeli farmers use it to
irrigate their crops. Some 15,000 Israelis live in the
Golan Heights. The area also has about 17,000
Arabs. Syria wants Israel to return the Golan
Heights, but Israel is reluctant to give up needed
water resources.

Population Growth
The regions most populous countries are Turkey,
Egypt, and Iran, each with more than 65 million
people. Morocco, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, and Afghanistan each have between
20 million and 31 million people. Other countries
each have about 18 million or fewer people.
Overall, the regions population is growing rapidly.
The result is that many citizens in some countries,
especially those in North Africa, are unemployed and
must migrate to other countries to find work. This
migration serves as a safety valve for some countries, helping to diffuse political discontent.

Urbanization
Water and Population A canal supplies
water to farms near Luxor, Egypt.
Place How does the availability of water affect
human settlement in Egypt?

442

Unit 6

Large urban areas, such as Istanbul, Turkey; Cairo,

Egypt; Tehran, Iran; and Baghdad, Iraq, dominate
social and cultural life in their respective countries.
Cities like these have been growing rapidly as villagers move there in search of a better life. Problems

have arisen, however, because

cities have grown too fast to supply
enough jobs and housing or
improve the infrastructurebasic
urban necessities like streets and
utilities. Poverty, snarled traffic,
and pollution have resulted. Families moving to a city sometimes
crowd into single rooms or live in
makeshift shelters far from the
citys center, and they overload
public resources. For example, illegal developments without water
or waste services have cropped up
on the outskirts of Cairo, adding to
the citys sanitation problems.
Some cities have tried to cope
by installing traffic control systems and improving public transportation. Iran has tried another
solutiondecentralizing its government. It has set up many government offices in various towns
and villages away from the capital, Tehran. By doing so, Iran
hopes to improve services in outlying areas and slow Tehrans
rapid growth.

GRAPH STUDY
Levels of Urbanization
Bahrain
Saudi Arabia
Armenia
Kazakhstan
Egypt
Tajikistan
Afghanistan
0

20

40
60
Percent Urban

80

100

Source: 2001 World Population Data Sheet

National Geographic Society

1. Interpreting Graphs Which countries are less than 60 percent

urban? More than 60 percent?
2. Applying Geography Skills Why do you think some countries
are more urbanized than others?

Checking for Understanding

Critical Thinking

Analyzing Maps

1. Define ethnic diversity, infra-

3. Comparing and Contrasting In

6. Location Study the population

structure.

2. Main Ideas Create a table like the

one below, and fill it in to show
information about the diverse peoples, religions, and languages of
this region.
North
Africa

Peoples
Religions
Languages

Southwest
Asia

Central
Asia

what ways is the population of

Turkey similar to and different
from the population of Iran?
What may account for these differences and similarities?

4. Identifying Cause and Effect

What historical event accounts for
the large number of Armenians
living outside their homeland?

5. Predicting Consequences What

might happen if Israel returns the
Golan Heights to Syria? How would
this affect life in Israel? In Syria?

density map on page 412. Where

are the largest concentrations of
people in the region? Why are
they concentrated there?

Applying Geography
7. Ethnic Diversity Think
about the diverse groups
of people you have read
about. Write a paragraph
describing positive aspects
of ethnic diversity in the
region. Also mention any
drawbacks to ethnic
diversity.

Chapter 18

443

GEOGRAPHY
AND H I S T O RY

SYRIA
LEBANON
IRAQ
ISRAEL
Re

BLACK GOLD IN
THE PERSIAN GULF

TURKEY

Major oil
reserves
IRAN
KUWAIT
BAHRAIN
QATAR
U.A.E.

Se

JORDAN
Persian
Gulf
SAUDI
ARABIA

Boom Times
Low oil prices in the late 1950s caused
Western companies to cut payments to the
oil-producing countries. In 1960 Venezuela
joined with four Gulf statesIran, Iraq,
Kuwait, and Saudi Arabiato form the

Massive pipelines carry tons of

crude oil from wells in Saudi Arabia.
444

Unit

OMAN

IKE THE GENIE IN ALADDINS

LAMP, oil has brought unimagined
riches to the nations of the Persian
Gulf. Trapped in pockets beneath
the regions sandy soils are twothirds of the worlds known petroleum
reserves. This black gold provides the
raw material for everyday products such as
compact discs, crayons, and house paint. In
addition, oil supplies more than half of the
energy used worldwide. Almost overnight,
oil profits transformed villages in Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and other Gulf
countries from watering holes for camel
caravans into gleaming, modern cities.
The discovery of oil in the early 1900s,
however, did not immediately bring riches
to the region. Nor did drilling wells to
extract oil from the ground. The American
and European companies who owned the
wells paid host countries only about 20
cents a barrel, and the quantity of oil
tapped was small.

0 mi.
0 km 500

500

YEMEN

Arabian
Sea

Money from oil profits builds

new schools for children in the
Persian Gulf region.

Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries
(OPEC). The OPEC nations
agreed to reduce oil production in an effort to
cut supplies and increase
prices. As demand grew,
the group gradually assumed more power.They set their own
prices for oil and mandated production quotas for each country.
In 1973 the Arab oil embargo, sparked by the Arab-Israeli War,
reduced supplies and further boosted prices. In less than a year,
prices increased fourfold.
With money pouring in, Gulf countries took over ownership of
their oil operations. Big budgets meant big spending. Billions were
used to build highways, airports, and telecommunications systems.
Hospitals and schools sprang up, and governments showered their
citizens with free medical care, low-cost housing, and lifetime jobs.
Planning for Post-Oil Days
Beginning in the early 1980s, however, oil prices started to decline.
Why? Reduced consumption and increased oil production outside
the Middle East led to a surplus of oil. As oil profits shrank, collaboration among OPEC members began to break down. Quota disputes and other disagreements led Iraq to invade Kuwait in 1990,
igniting the Persian Gulf War. Many Gulf countries have cut spendingan unpopular move among citizens accustomed to subsidies.
While OPEC members manipulate current oil prices, they also
know they must prepare for the day their oil reserves will run out.
Today Gulf countries are investing in foreign real estate and creating
new businesses at home, from cement factories to theme parks.

1908

Workers discover
oil in Persia (Iran)

1960

Four Gulf countries

and Venezuela
form OPEC

1960s

OPEC members press

for oil price increases

1970s

Gulf countries
acquire their oil
production facilities
(background photo)

1973

Arab oil embargo

leads to gas
rationing in United
States (photo above)

1991

Persian Gulf War

2090s

Experts predict
Persian Gulf oil
supplies will be
depleted

Looking Ahead
Persian Gulf leaders expect their oil to run out within this century.
Many are reconsidering their dependence on oil. Will oil prove to
be a genie of good or bad fortune? What will be oils legacy in the
Persian Gulf?

Unit

445

Guide to Reading
Consider What You Know
The Egyptian civilization was one of
several civilizations that arose in this
region. Ancient Egypt is a popular
subject in films and books. What can
you recall about its history and government?

Read to Find Out

What great civilizations arose
in North Africa, Southwest Asia,
and Central Asia?
What three major world religions
originated in the region?
How did countries of the region
gain independence in the modern
era?

Terms to Know
domesticate
culture hearth
cuneiform
hieroglyphics

History and
Government
A Geographic View
A Long History
Tucked away at the bottom of the
Arabian Peninsula, . . . Yemen [is] . . .
[d]ivided by nature into three distinct
geographical regionscoastal plains,
highlands, and desert. . . . Yemen has
for much of its long history been no
less divided politically by the shifting fortunes of its fiercely independent inhabitants. Kingdoms and
empires have risen and fallen here
for more than 3,000 years.
Andrew Cockburn, Yemen United,
National Geographic, April 2000

Yemen
i woma
n in tra
ditiona
l clothin
g

qanat
monotheism
prophet
mosque
nationalism
nationalize
embargo

Yemen is only one of many young countries with a

long history in the region of North Africa, Southwest Asia, and
Central Asia. This region saw the rise of some of the worlds greatest
civilizations and the birth of three of the worlds major religions.
Sadly, the region also has a long history of intense conflicts.

Places to Locate
Mesopotamia
Fertile Crescent
Persian Empire
Silk Road
Samarqand
Jerusalem
Makkah (Mecca)
Iraq
Iran

446

Unit 6

Prehistoric Peoples
Hunters and gatherers settled throughout North Africa, Southwest
Asia, and Central Asia by the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000
years ago. By 6000 B.C. farming communities had arisen in areas
along the Nile River, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Taurus and
Zagros Mountains.
The regions farmers were among the first in the world to domesticate
plants and animals, or take them from the wild and make them useful to people. These farmers captured and herded cattle, sheep, goats,
pigs, and camels. Some of the animals were used for food. Farmers
used the hides to make clothes and shelters.

Early Civilizations

40E

50E

Caspian
Sea

40N

Ti
gr
i

MESOPOTAMIA
Eu

Med i t erra n ea n
Sea

p hr
ate
sR
.

30N

NILE
VALLEY
0 mi.

60E

Se

500

0 km
500
Lambert Azimuthal
Equal-Area projection

le

Re

Ni

The Phoenician civilization, which arose along the

eastern Mediterranean coast, developed an alphabet
in which letters stood for sounds. It formed the basis
for many alphabets used in much of the Western
world today.
During the 500s B.C., the Persian Empire extended
from the Nile River and the Aegean Sea in the west
to Central Asias Amu Darya in the east. Realizing
that irrigation water would evaporate in surface
canals, the Persians constructed a system of qanats,
or underground canals, to carry water from the
mountains across the desert to farmlands.
Beginning about 100 B.C., parts of Central Asia
and Southwest Asia prospered from the Silk
Road, a trade route connecting China with the
Mediterranean Sea. Many cities in the region, such

Early Civilizations, c. 3000 B.C.

an
rsi f
Pe Gul

Empires and Trade

MAP
STUDY

.
sR

Although much of North Africa, Southwest Asia,

and Central Asia has dry land, important civilizations developed there. These civilizations began to
grow in the regions most fertile areas about 6,000
years ago.
The civilizations that arose in Mesopotamia, the
area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, comprised one of the worlds first culture hearths, or
centers where cultures developed and from which
ideas and traditions spread outward. Part of a
larger, rich agricultural region known as the Fertile
Crescent, the area was home to the Sumerian civilization. The Sumerians mastered farming by growing crops year-round and using canals to irrigate
them. The Sumerians made great strides in soil science, mathematics, and engineering. They also
established at least 12 cities and created a code of
law to keep order. They kept records by using a writing system called cuneiform (kyuNEEuhFAWRM),
wedge-shaped symbols written on wet clay tablets
that were then baked to harden them.
Egyptian civilization flourished along the Nile
River. Annual floods from the Nile deposited
rich soils on the flood plain. During dry seasons
Egyptians used sophisticated irrigation systems to
water crops, enabling farmers to grow two crops
each year. The Egyptians also developed a calendar
with a 365-day year, built impressive pyramids as
tombs for their rulers, and invented a form of picture
writing called hieroglyphics (HYruhGLIHfihks).

as Samarqand in present-day Uzbekistan, thrived

as trading stations along the Silk Road. At these stations travelers and merchants traded Chinese silks
and Indian cotton as well as ideas and inventions.
Because of the Silk Road, with its cultural and commercial exchange, the region became known as the
crossroads of civilization.
Today, as they did hundreds of years ago, nomads
travel across the steppes of Central Asia seeking
grasslands for their herds. Sometimes nomadic peoples, including the Mongols, invaded these lands.
During the late 1100s, a leader known as Genghis
Khan united the nomadic Mongol tribes living north
of China. In the 1200s they invaded Central Asia,
establishing a vast empire. The Mongols killed tens
of thousands of people to gain control, but later
they brought many improvements to the region,
such as paper money and safer trade routes.

T R O P IC O F C A N C E R

Early agricultural civilizations

1. Analyzing Maps What body of water lies

southeast of the Tigris-Euphrates area?
2. Applying Geography Skills How did location and environment aid the development of
early Southwest Asian civilizations?
Find NGS online map resources @ www.nationalgeographic.com/maps
Chapter 18

447

Three Major Religions

Three major religions began in the region:
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three share
many beliefs, especially monotheism, or belief in
one God.

Judaism
Judaism is the oldest of the monotheistic faiths.
Followers of Judaism, known as Jews, trace their
origin to the ancient Israelites, who set up the kingdom of Israel along the eastern Mediterranean
coast. There they made Jerusalem their capital and
religious center.
Despite political division, conquest, and exile to
Mesopotamia, Jews and Judaism continued to survive and flourish. Many Jews eventually left
Mesopotamia and returned to their homeland,
now known as Judah. Others settled elsewhere in
the Mediterranean. As they scattered, the Jews took
their beliefs with them.
Judaism teaches obedience to Gods laws and the
creation of a just society. Believing that events have
a divine purpose, the Jews recorded their history
and examined it for meaning. Writings based on
laws and on the history of the Jews make up the
Hebrew Bible, or Torah. Worship services are traditionally held in synagogues, where a rabbi officiates.

Christianity
About A.D. 30, in the territory of Judah, a Jewish
teacher named Jesus began preaching a message of
renewal and Gods mercy. Some of Jesus teachings
made him unpopular with people in power, and the
Roman officials ruling the area had Jesus put to
death. Jesus followers soon proclaimed that he was
the worlds savior, alive in heaven, and that a new
life in the world to come would be given to those
who believed in Jesus and followed his teachings.
The life and teachings of Jesus became the basis of
a new religionChristianity. The Christian scriptures came to include the Hebrew Bible as the Old
Testament, and writings on the life and teachings of
Jesus as well as on the experiences of the earliest
Christian communities as the New Testament. As
the centuries passed, Christians spread the message
of Jesus throughout the Mediterranean world and
into Asia, Africa, and Europe, and eventually to the
Americas.
448

Unit 6

Islam
Islam today is the major religion of Southwest
Asia, North Africa, and Central Asia. Islamic tradition states that in A.D. 610, revelations from God
came to Muhammad, a merchant in the city of
Makkah (Mecca) in the Arabian Peninsula. Muhammad began preaching that people should turn away
from sin and worship the one true God. Various
groups in the peninsula accepted Muhammads
message, acknowledging him as the last in a line of
prophets, or messengers, that included Abraham
and Jesus.
By the 800s, Islam had spread to North Africa,
Central Asia, South Asia, Southwest Asia, and parts
of Europe. Islam had profound religious, political,
and cultural influences in these areas. One of the
new features seen in the regions cities was the
mosque, a house of worship where Muslims pray.
Muslim scholars also made important contributions:

During Europes [Middle Ages], the light

of Islam shone, unifying, stimulating the
cultures of many lands with the currents
of trade and the bond of a common language, Arabic. Ibn Sina of Bukhara, known
to the West as Avicenna, wrote his Canon,
which remained Europes medical textbook
for more than 500 years. Mathematician
al-Khwarizmi of Baghdad introduced
Arabic numerals and the decimal system
from India and wrote the standard treatise on al-jabralgebra.

Thomas J. Abercrombie, Great

Religions of the World, 1971

The geographer Ibn Battuta traveled extensively

throughout the Muslim world in the 1300s. He
described the peoples and places of the region in his
famous book, the Rihlah. Other Muslim scholars
wrote about Islamic achievements and translated
Greek writings into Arabic, works that later added
to European knowledge about the ancient world.
Today around one-fifth of the worlds population
follows Islam and is called Muslim, a term meaning
those who submit to Gods will. Muslims follow
their faiths principles set down in the Quran,
Islams holy book. They also fulfill five duties
known as the Five Pillars of Islam: professing faith in

MAP STUDY
Muslim Empires, A.D. 7501600
0

20E

40E

60E

50N

R.

u
Am

Ti

ph
ra
te

Baghdad
R

.
le R
Ni

20N

Madinah
(Medina)

In
du
s

Persian
Gulf

EGYPT

TROPIC OF CANCER

PERSIA

30N

NORTH AFRICA

R.

Damascus
Alexandria

ya

R.

Eu

Mediterranean Sea

Samarqand

Tunis

ar

s R.
gri

Cordoba

Atlantic
Ocean

Sea

Istanbul
(Constantinople)

40N

Syr D
ar

R.

Black Sea

Aral
Sea

ya

an
spi
Ca

Dan
ub e

ARABIA
Makkah
(Mecca)

Arabian
Sea
0 mi.

500

0 km 500
Mercator projection
10N

Umayyad Empire (A.D. 750)

Abbasid Empire (A.D. 800)
Ottoman Empire (A.D. 1600)

1. Interpreting Maps Which empire controlled

Istanbul? Crdoba?

2. Applying Geography Skills Why do you think

Islamic peoples were able to create such vast
empires?
Find NGS online map resources @ www.nationalgeographic.com/maps

God and the prophet Muhammad, praying five

times a day, helping the poor and needy, fasting during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and
making a pilgrimage to Makkah, Islams holiest city.

The Modern Era

As the centuries passed, Muslim empires in North
Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia rose and
fell. Major conflicts, including the Crusades and the
Mongol invasions, brought challenges to the region.
Physical geography sometimes placed limits on economic development. For example, empires in North
Africa and Southwest Asia lacked resources such
as minerals, wood, and coal to fuel an industrial

revolution like that of western Europe. By the late

1800s, western European powers controlled large
areas of North Africa and Southwest Asia, and the
Russian Empire took much of Central Asia.
Although the Caucasus area prospered under
the Russians, peoples in other parts of the region
were discontented under foreign control. During the 1800s a well-educated urban middle class
developed in North Africa and Southwest Asia.
Trained in European ways, this new middle class
adopted European ideas about nationalism, or a
belief in the right of an ethnic group to have its own
independent country. This development stirred
demands for self-rule that provided the basis for the
modern countries that have emerged in the region.
Chapter 18

449

War and Peace

Independence

From the late 1940s to the early 1970s, Arabs and Israelis fought a
series of wars, such as the 1967 Six-Day conflict (left). Since then,
Arab and Israeli leaders have held peace talks to try to resolve
their differences.
Region What major issues divide Arabs and Israelis today?

In North Africa and Southwest

Asia, the continuing rise of nationalism after World Wars I and II
gradually ended direct European colonial rule. By
the 1960s most territories in these regions had
achieved political freedom. Independence has
been a more recent development in Muslim Central Asia, where countries did not win their freedom until the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Even after gaining independence, the regional
economies of countries often remained under
European control. Regional governments sometimes retaliated by seizing European property. Leaders in Iran, Iraq, and Libya nationalized, or placed
under government control, the foreign-owned oil
companies within their borders.

Arab-Israeli Conflict
Not all the independent countries in the region are
Arab or Muslim. An exception is Israel, founded in
1948 as a Jewish state. About 1,900 years earlier, the
Romans had expelled most Jews from their ancestral homeland, known as Palestine. These Jewish
migrants eventually settled in communities scattered
around the world. In their adopted countries, the
Jews often faced persecution by the majority population around them. In the late 1800s, a fierce wave of
450

Unit 6

persecution drove many European Jews to call for the

return of the Jews to Palestine and for the creation of
a Jewish homeland there. Many of these Jews, known
as Zionists, began to settle in Palestine, which was
then largely Arab and under Ottoman Turkish rule.
After World War I, the British gained control
of Palestine. They supported a Jewish homeland
there while claiming to give equal attention to the
interests of the majority Arab population. These
conflicting goals, as well as increasing Jewish immigration into Palestine, sparked conflict between
Palestines Arab and Jewish communities. Later, the
murder of 6 million European Jews by the Nazis in
the Holocaust increased Western sympathy for the
Zionist cause.
After World War II, hostilities broke out in
Palestine among Jews, Arabs, and British forces.
Finally, the United Nations decided in 1947 to divide
Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.
When the British withdrew from Palestine, the Jews
proclaimed the independent state of Israel in 1948.
During the next 25 years, Arab opposition to Israel
and Israels concern for its security led to four major
wars in the region. In the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli

conflicts, victorious Israeli forces took over Arab

lands that had been part of Palestine. Since its formation, Israel has drawn many Jewish immigrants
from around the world.

Israelis and Palestinians

War in Afghanistan
In past centuries, Hindu Kush mountain passes
brought waves of invaders and traders to
Afghanistan. Having an ethnically diverse population, Afghanistan in recent years has seen conflict
involving foreign forces and rival Afghan groups.
In the 1990s, radical Muslims known as the Taliban
won control of most of the country. Taliban leaders
were criticized internationally for human rights
abuses, especially in limiting education and jobs
for women, and for sheltering terrorists, such as
wealthy Saudi exile Osama bin Laden.
In October 2001, American and British warplanes
began bombing Afghan targets in the first military

Indus R
.

The wars that followed the birth of Israel forced

many Palestinian Arabs from their homes to live as
refugees or settlers in other lands. The status of the
Palestinian refugees is an ongoing issue in the ArabIsraeli dispute. In addition, the Palestiniansboth
refugees and those living in Israeli-occupied areas
want an independent state of their own in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip areas. The West Bank lies west
of the Jordan River, between
Israel and Jordan. The Gaza Strip
MAP
is a territory bordered on the
STUDY
south by Egypt, on the west by
the Mediterranean Sea, and on
Afghanistan: PhysicalPolitical
the north and east by Israel.
B
Boundary
72 E
68 E
64 E
60 E
Dushanbe
in dispute CHINA
The goal of Palestinian indeUZBEKISTAN
TAJIKISTAN
pendence is complicated by the
u s h
many Jewish settlements that
TURKMENISTAN
K
36 N
E
Mazar-e Sharif
have been built on the West Bank
Line of
u
since the 1967 war. The challenge,
Control
n
says one West Bank resident,
i
H
is straightforward: Israelis and
Kabul EJalalabad
B
Palestinians claim the right of
Khyber Pass
B
Islamabad
E
Herat
return to the same land.
Israel and the Palestinians
Boundary
AFGHANISTAN
claimed
finally agreed to the first stages
by India
32 N
of a peace settlement in 1993.
Under its terms the Palestinians
E
Kandahar
would gain limited self-rule in
return for Arab recognition of
Israels right to exist as a nation.
E
Quetta
Another stage began with the
Wye River Agreement, signed
0 mi.
200
in 1998. It called for Israeli
28N
N
PAKISTAN
0 km
200
troop withdrawals from IsraeliLambert Conformal Conic projection
held areas in the West Bank and
INDIA
Gaza Strip in order to increase
IRAN
Palestinian self-rule.
In 2000, peace talks stalled over
1. Interpreting Maps Describe major characteristics of
the status of Jerusalem and over
Afghanistans physical geography from north to south.
other issues. During the next year,
E
2. Applying Geography Skills How might Afghanistans
physical
24 N
Karachi
renewed violence between Israeli
geography have shaped its people and
history?
Arabian
a
forces and Palestinians had put
Find NGS online map resources @ www.nationalgeographic.com/maps
the peace process in jeopardy.
Indus R
.

Chapter 18

451

operation of the war on terrorism. The United

States also gave ground and air support to the
Northern Alliance, a group of Afghan rebels fighting the Taliban. With this help, the Northern
Alliance in November captured major Afghan
cities and routed most Taliban forces. Talks then
began to form a new Afghan government.
Meanwhile, bin Laden and his aides remained at
large in the mountain caves that honeycomb
Afghanistan. The United States and other nations
expressed resolve to defeat them and bring them
to justice.

Border Conflicts
Since World War II, various nations in Southwest Asia, North Africa, and Central Asia have
fought each other over land and water resources.
In 1980 a border dispute led to years of war
between Iraq and Iran. Ten years later, Iraqs invasion of its oil-rich neighbor Kuwait forced the
world community to impose an embargo, or a ban
on trade, against Iraq. During the Persian Gulf
War in early 1991, the United States and other
countries forced Saddam Hussein, Iraqs leader, to
withdraw his army from Kuwait. For years, the
regions 20 million Kurds, most of whom live in
border areas of Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and
Turkey, have sought a country of their own. Political differences among the Kurds themselves and
opposition by the governments ruling them have
kept the Kurds from realizing this goal.

Government

Todays Governments
The countries of North Africa, Southwest Asia,
and Central Asia have various forms of government. Traditionally the region was under the rule
of dynasties. Today monarchs with varying
degrees of power still rule in eight countries,
including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Jordan.
The rest of the regions countries call themselves republics, although their republican governments differ greatly. Israel is a parliamentary
democracy with a president as head of state and
a prime minister as head of government. In the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, a body known as the
Palestinian National Authority is laying the foundation of statehood for Arab Palestinians.
Elsewhere, powerful presidents rule in Egypt,
Syria, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
and Georgia. Military-based dictators govern
Libya and Iraq. Iraqs leader Saddam Hussein,
for example, remains in power despite a UN
trade embargo that has crippled Iraqs economy.
In some countries, such as Algeria and Egypt,
Islamist, or politically Islamic, groups have
opposed secular, or non-religious, governments.
Some of these movements have been successful.
Under Shiite Muslim religious leaders, Irans
Islamic government was set up in 1979 after
a revolution toppled the countrys shah, or
monarch.

Checking for Understanding

Critical Thinking

Analyzing Maps

1. Define domesticate, culture hearth,

3. Drawing Conclusions Why was

6. Place Study the map of

cuneiform, hieroglyphics, qanat,

monotheism, prophet, mosque,
nationalism, nationalize, embargo.

the domestication of plants and

animals so important for the early
peoples in the region?

2. Main Ideas Re-create a web dia-

4. Comparing and Contrasting How

gram like the one below, and

write in the features of one of
the major religions that began
in Southwest Asia.

are Judaism, Christianity, and

Islam alike, and how do they
differ? Describe the similarities
and differences.

5. Identifying Cause and Effect

Major Religion

452

Unit 6

What are the main causes of

conflict in the region today?

Afghanistan on page 451. What

challenges might military forces
face in fighting a war there?

Applying Geography
7. Expansion and Geography
Look at the map of Muslim
empires on page 449. Consider the physical geography
of the region. Then write a
paragraph explaining why
the locations of the three
empires are similar.

Guide to Reading
Consider What You Know
As you have learned, North Africa,
Southwest Asia, and Central Asia
have diverse geographic features,
climate zones, and ethnic groups.
How might these aspects of the
region affect its culture?

Read to Find Out

How have religion and language
both unified and divided the peoples of North Africa, Southwest
Asia, and Central Asia?
What arts are popular in the
region?
What are some characteristics of
everyday life in the region?

Terms to Know
ziggurat
bedouin
bazaar

Places to Locate
Qatar
United Arab Emirates

Cultures and
Lifestyles
A Geographic View
City of Tradition Meets
the Modern World
Smoke and the fragrance of roasting quail float up from long charcoal grills lining the perimeter of
Suq el-Attarine, the Market of
Scents in Alexandria, Egypt. . . .
Along sidewalks men sit on
benches. . . . Some play dominoes. Above us hang the purple
flowers of jacaranda trees.
The tranquil scene recalls
earlier times in the city that
Alexan
dria, E
gypt
Alexander the Great founded
more than 2,300 years ago. But as I stroll
from the marketplace toward the harbor, I am clearly in a
modern city. Apartment buildings . . . surround me. Traffic
jams the streets. Supermarkets, cell phones, motorcycles,
and teenagers in baseball caps are everywhere.
Joel L. Swerdlow, Tale of Three Cities, National Geographic, August 1999

Everyday scenes in Alexandria, Egypt, and elsewhere in the region reflect both tradition and change. In this section
you will look at aspects of culture that have long shaped the lives and
experiences of peoples in the region. You will also consider how the
peoples of the region balance tradition and change in their daily lives.

Religion
Religion both unifies and divides the peoples of the region. The great
majority of the people are Muslims. Most belong to the Sunni branch
of Islam, which believes that leadership should be in the hands of the
Chapter 18

453

GRAPH STUDY
North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia: Religions

Religion

Number of Followers

Sunni Muslim

342,000,000

Shiite Muslim

87,000,000

Christian

16,900,000

Jewish
Other religions

6,000,000

Sunni Muslim 73%

Shiite
Muslim 18%

17,000,000

Christian 4%
Jewish 1%
Sources: World Almanac, 2001; Britannica Book of the Year, 2000

1. Interpreting Graphs How does the percentage of people who are Muslim compare with that
of the followers of other religions?

Islamic community at large. In Iran, Azerbaijan,

Iraq, and parts of Syria and Lebanon, however, most
Muslims follow the Shia branch of Islam. The Shia,
or Shiites, believe that only Muhammads descendants should lead the Islamic community.
Although Judaism and Christianity originated
in the region, their followers make up only a small
percentage of the population. Most Jews in the
area live in Israel. Christians predominate in
Armenia and Georgia, and large groups of Christians also live in Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria.

Languages
As Islam spread across the region, so did the
Arabic language. Non-Arab Muslims learned Arabic
in order to read Islams holy book, the Quran. As
more people became Muslims, Arabic became the
regions main language. Other major languages in
the region include Hebrew in Israel, Berber in south454

Unit 6

Other religions 4%

2. Applying Geography Skills How are the beliefs

of Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims similar?
How are they different?

ern Morocco and Algeria, and Turkish in Turkey.

The languages of the Iranians, the Afghanis, and
the Kurds include Farsi, Pashto, and Kurdish,
respectively. Turkic languages are spoken in most of
Central Asia.

The Arts
From earliest times, the peoples of the region
have expressed themselves through the arts and
architecture. Architects, artists, and writers later
found inspiration in Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam. Today the regions cultural expressions
reflect the influence of both East and West.

Art and Architecture

The regions early civilizations created sculptures,
fine metalwork, and buildings. In Mesopotamia the
Sumerians built large, mud-brick temples called
ziggurats, which were shaped like pyramids and

rose above the flat landscape. The Egyptians built

towering pyramids from massive stone blocks to
serve as royal tombs. The Persians erected great
stone palaces decorated with beautiful textiles.
Mosques and palaces are the best-known examples
of Islamic architecture. Because Islam discourages
depicting living figures in religious art, Muslim
artists work in geometric patterns and floral
designs. They also use calligraphy, or elaborate
writing, for decoration. Passages from the Quran
adorn the walls of many mosques.

Literature
Based on a strong oral tradition, epics and
poetry are the regions dominant literary forms.
The epic Shahnameh (King of Kings) describes heroic
events in early Persian history. The Rubaiyat by the
Persian poet Omar Khayyam is one of the few
world masterpieces that has been translated into

architecture of

most languages. The Knight in the Panthers Skin, a

Georgian epic by the writer Shota Rustaveli, paints
a picture of brave warriors and their battles during
the reign of Georgias Queen Tamara. The Thousand
and One Nights, a well-known collection of Arab,
Indian, and Persian stories, reflects life in the early
period of the Muslim empires.
Today rhythmic patterns in the regions poetry
show an increased Western influence. Much modern literature has nationalistic themes. Many writers also focus on the challenges of change in
traditional society. Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov,
for example, defends his homelands traditional
values against modernization. The Egyptian writer
Naguib Mahfouzs novels about Cairos recent past
portray the conflicts between traditional village life
and the new urban environment. In 1988 Mahfouz
became the first winner of the Nobel Prize in
literature whose native language is Arabic.

Everyday Life
SOUTHWEST
ASIA

Ishtar Gate Built about 575 B.C., the

Ishtar Gate was built over the main
entrance to the ancient city of
Babylon (now in Iraq). Thirty-eight
feet (12 m) in height, the gate is
covered in colored,
glazed bricks
adorned with reliefs,
or raised sculptures,
of animals. Rows of
bulls and dragons
seem to parade
around and
through the gate.
Each of the bricks
forming the figures had to be
cast separately.

The lives of people in Southwest Asia, North

Africa, and Central Asia have changed dramatically
in the last century. The population has grown
rapidly with improved health care and a high birthrate. In most countries more than one-third of the
population is under 15 years of age. Many people
also have moved to urban areas. For example, less
than 50 percent of North Africans and Southwest
Asians still cultivate the land, and only a small
percentage are bedouins (BEHduhwuhnz), or
desert nomads. Contact with other regions of the
world through travel, trade, and the Internet is also
changing lifestyles. Even so, cherished customs and
traditions survive. Daily life still revolves around
family, home, education, religion, and recreation.

Home and Community

In the regions largest cities, many people live in
high-rise apartments. In the older parts of cities,
however, people may live in stone or mud-brick
buildings hundreds of years old. Similarly, many
rural people in North Africa and Southwest Asia
reside in stone or wooden structures. Some of these
dwellings still lack running water or electricity.
Many families are very close-knit, often gathering
at midday for their main meal. The menu might feature grains such as wheat and barley as well as
Chapter 18

455

their shops. Lights make the glass, beads,

and brass trays sparkle. The dimly lit
twisting streets and alleys that curve
off into the unknown add a . . . sense
of adventure.

Stewart G. McHenry, Markets, Bazaars,

and Suqs, Focus, Summer 1993

Economics

Standards of Living

Pilgrims in Makkah This Asian couple eating

a meal in front of the holy al-Haram Mosque is among
the two million pilgrims that visit the city of Makkah
each year.
Location Why is the direction they face when praying
important to Muslims?

fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. Meat, especially lamb or mutton, is also a part of the diet of
most of the regions peoples.
Rural dwellers often depend on their own farms
or the village market for food. City dwellers can
shop at supermarkets, but the bazaar is still popular. This traditional marketplace is a bustling area
ranging from a single street of stalls to an entire
district in a large city. The bazaar of Istanbul, for
example, extends along miles of passageways:

456

Sizzling hot kebabs give off an aroma. . . .

The pounding of the hammers on copper
pots assails our ears. . . . Merchants . . .
wave and call out hoping to lure us into
Unit 6

Standards of living vary widely across the

region and even within countries. Urbanized
countries with economies based on oil production
or manufacturing and trade have relatively high
standards of living. In Israel and Qatar, for example, the majority of people have access to the material goods they need. They can also afford
additional goods that they want. Some oil-rich
countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, are
so prosperous that they have labor shortages and
depend on foreign workers from India, Sri Lanka,
the Philippines, and other countries.
In developing countries, however, much of the
population does not share in the benefits of the
available natural resources. Population growth in
countries such as Egypt and Afghanistan has surpassed the ability of their economies to meet citizens needs. Prosperity and poverty often exist
alongside each other. For example, cellular phones
and foreign cars may be a common sight in
Azerbaijans capital of Baku, but many other
Azeris live in poverty.

Education and Health Care

Most young people in the region attend school.
Primary education is free, and enrollment is
increasing. Many students now complete both primary and secondary school, and a small percentage attend university. Eighteen of the regions 28
countries have literacy rates above 75 percent; in
10 countries, more than 90 percent of the people
can read and write. Before 1979, when revolution
in Iran established an Islamic government, less
than 50 percent of Iranians could read or write;
today, 79 percent can. Women have advanced
especially in education, now making up fully half
of new university admissions.

In recent decades health care also has improved

and expanded in the region. People needing
medical treatment usually go to governmentowned hospitals. In wealthier countries, the hospital stay is often free, but doctor shortages in the
rural areas of many countries mean that treatment
is available mainly in large towns and cities. So
despite improvements, average life expectancies
have remained low in much of the region.

Celebrations and Leisure Time

Calls to worship occur five times each day in
countries with large Muslim populations. A
muezzin, or crier, calls the faithful to prayer from
the minaret, or tower, of each local mosque. Men
gather in rows on the mosques mats or carpets
after leaving their shoes at the entrance. Following
the movements of the imam, or prayer leader, they
bow and kneel, touching their foreheads to the
ground in the direction of the holy city of Makkah
in Saudi Arabia.
Religious holidays and observances often bring
family and community together. Many Muslims
mark Id al Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, by making
a pilgrimage to Makkah. They also observe
Ramadan, a holy month of fasting from dawn to
dusk ordained by the Quran. Yom Kippur, the
Jews most solemn holy day, is also a time of fasting and prayer. Passover and Hanukkah are other

important holy days for Jews. Christians observe

the holy days of Christmas and Easter, with special
services at the places associated with Jesus life.
People also visit with family members during
their leisure time, often daily. Simple activities
such as watching television or going to the movies
bring young and old together. Soccer matches
draw many spectators, and hunting and fishing
are also popular. Board games such as backgammon and chess amount to unofficial national pastimes in countries like Armenia.
Interpretations of Islamic law have prevented
Muslim women in some countries from fully participating in certain public activities such as sports.
Some Muslim women, however, have begun to
protest these restrictions. For example, women
gather daily in Tehrans Mellat Park for a morning
aerobic session, but in public places they must
cover themselves completely. In sports where such
dress is not practical, women perform in separate
areas where the only spectators are female. Today
Iranian women are active in many sports, including
skiing, bodybuilding, shooting, and soccer. Their
enthusiasm helped launch the first Islamic
Womens Games in Tehran in 1993. Women competing in the games represented many predominantly Muslim countries, including Afghanistan,
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Syria,
Turkmenistan, and Yemen.

Checking for Understanding

Critical Thinking

Analyzing Graphs

1. Define ziggurat, bedouin, bazaar.

3. Making Generalizations How has

6. Region Study the graph of

2. Main Ideas Use a diagram like the

religion been expressed in the

arts from earliest times in North
Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia?

one below to organize information

about religion, language, the arts,
and everyday life in the region.

4. Predicting Consequences What

Cultures and Lifestyles

are two possible effects of recent

increases in literacy in Iran?

5. Identifying Cause and Effect

Why does a large segment of
the regions population live in
poverty, even in oil-rich countries?

religions on page 454. How does

the percentage of Sunni Muslims
compare to the percentage of
Shiite Muslims in the region?

Applying Geography
7. Ways of Life Think about
the language, religion, systems of education, and customs in this region. Then
write a paragraph comparing the ways of life there
with your own.

Chapter 18

457

Using an Electronic
Spreadsheet
E

lectronic spreadsheets are used to manage numbers quickly

and easily. Formulas may be used to add, subtract, multiply,
and divide the numbers in the spreadsheet. If you make a change
to one number, the totals are recalculated automatically.

Learning the Skill

An electronic spreadsheet is a
worksheet for numerical information. All spreadsheet programs follow the same basic
design of rows and columns.
Columns, arranged vertically, are
assigned letters. Rows, arranged
horizontally, are assigned numbers. The point where a column
and a row intersect is called
a cell. The cells position on the
spreadsheet is labeled according
to its column and row. For example, the cell at the intersection
of Column A and Row 1 is
labeled A1.
Spreadsheets use standard
formulas to perform calculations using numbers in the cells.
To create an equation using the
standard formulas, you should
first select the cell in which you
want to display the results of
your calculation. Here are some
examples of equations you can
build:
The equation = B4 + B5 applies
a standard formula to add the
values in cells B4 and B5.
The equation = B5/B6 divides
the value in cell B5 by the
value in cell B6.
An asterisk (*) signifies multiplication. The equation =
(B7 * C4) + D4 means you
want to multiply the value
in cell B7 by the value in cell
458

Unit 6

C4, and then add the value in

cell D4 to the total.

4. Print your results and share

them with the class.

Because adding is the most common function of spreadsheets,

most spreadsheet programs
have an AutoSum key () that
you can click on to place a sum
in a highlighted cell.

Practicing the Skill

To practice using an electronic
spreadsheet, follow these steps.
1. Open a new spreadsheet file.
2. Enter the information in
Columns A through E as
shown above.
3. In cell C9, use the AutoSum
function () to calculate
total population in millions
for North Africa.

Use the information on pages

414416 to develop a spreadsheet on the land area and population for all countries in the
region. Use the AutoSum function to create calculations showing the total land area and the
total number of people in the
region. Then create an equation
to calculate the population density of the entire region.

SUMMARY & STUDY GUIDE

SECTION 1

Population Patterns

(pp. 439443)

Terms to Know

Key Points

Organizing Your Notes

ethnic diversity
infrastructure

Movement and interaction of people have

created the regions ethnic diversity.
The largest concentrations of population are
in coastal and river valley areas where water
is readily available.
Urbanization has caused increased pollution
and overcrowding, challenges that cities
and regional governments are addressing
in many ways.

Use a cause-and-effect chart like

the one below to help reinforce
your understanding of how
change affects population patterns in the region.

SECTION 2

Cause

Effect

Movement of people

History and Government

(pp. 446452)

Terms to Know

Key Points

Organizing Your Notes

Early peoples in the region were among the

first to domesticate plants and animals.
Two of the worlds earliest civilizations arose
in Mesopotamia and the Nile River valley.
Three of the worlds major religionsJudaism,
Christianity, and Islamtrace their origins to
Southwest Asia.
After centuries of foreign rule, independent
states arose in North Africa, Southwest Asia,
and Central Asia during the 1900s.

Create an outline using the format below to help you organize

important details from this
section.

domesticate
culture hearth
cuneiform
hieroglyphics
qanat
monotheism
prophet
mosque
nationalism
nationalize
embargo

SECTION 3

Cultures and Lifestyles

History and Government

I. Prehistoric Peoples
A. Rise of Farming Communities
1.
2.
B.
II.

(pp. 453457)

Terms to Know

Key Points

Organizing Your Notes

ziggurat
bedouin
bazaar

Islam and the Arabic language have been unifying forces in much of North Africa, Southwest
Asia, and Central Asia.
Many people in the region speak Arabic. Other
major languages in the region include Hebrew,
Berber, Greek, Farsi, Pushtu, Kurdish, and various
Turkic languages.
The peoples of North Africa, Southwest Asia,
and Central Asia have expressed themselves
from the earliest times through the arts and
architecture.
Tradition, especially religious observance, plays
an important role in everyday life in the region.

Use a graphic organizer like the

one below to fill in examples of
the role tradition plays in different aspects of everyday life in
the region.

Role of Tradition

Chapter 18

459

ASSESSMENT & ACTIVITIES

Critical Thinking
1. Comparing and Contrasting How are
Armenians and Georgians similar? Different?

Reviewing Key Terms

2. Predicting Consequences How might

Match the following terms with their definitions.

a.
b.
c.
d.

cuneiform
culture hearth
hieroglyphics
qanat

e.
f.
g.
h.

the impact of new technologies affect the

regions ways of life?

monotheism
ziggurat
bedouin
bazaar

3. Categorizing Information Create a web

diagram like the one below to explain reasons
for varying standards of living in the region.

1. center where cultures developed and from

which ideas and traditions spread outward

2.
3.
4.
5.

Standards of Living

form of picture writing

writing system developed by the Sumerians
belief in one God
large, mud-brick temple shaped
like a pyramid

6. traditional public marketplace

7. desert nomad
8. underground canal

Reviewing Facts
SECTION 1
1. What groups of people live in

Locating Places
North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central
Asia: Physical-Political Geography
Match the letters on the map with the places and physical features of North
Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia. Write your answers on a sheet of paper.

1.
2.
3.
4.

Tripoli
Iran
Istanbul
Casablanca
20W

the region?

2. How has urbanization affected

cities in North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia?

SECTION 2
3. What physical features allowed
areas in Mesopotamia and the
Nile Valley to become culture
hearths?

Riyadh
Israel
Tehran
Suez Canal
20E

9.
10.
11.
12.

40E

Astana
Cairo
Kabul
Uzbekistan

60E

80E

50N

J
L

40N

G
I

30N

D
B

4. What basic idea is shared by

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam?

5.
6.
7.
8.

TROPIC OF CANCER

20N

5. In which areas of Israel do the

Palestinians want an independent state of their own?

SECTION 3
6. How do religion and language
influence the regions cultures?

7. How does tradition blend with

modern ways in everyday life?

460

Unit 6

10N

N
0 mi.

1,000

0 km
1,000
Lambert Azimuthal
Equal-Area projection

EQUATOR

Self-Check Quiz Visit the Glencoe World

Geography Web site at tx.geography.glencoe.com
and click on Self-Check QuizzesChapter 18 to
prepare for the Chapter Test.

Using the Regional Atlas

Refer to the Regional Atlas on pages 410413.

1. Location

Where do most people in Turkey

live? What accounts for this pattern?

2. Place

Which countries capitals have populations of more than 5 million?

Thinking Like a Geographer

Think about how language both unites and
divides the regions peoples. Prepare a map of
North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia,
using different colors to show specific language
areas. Use one color for areas where Arabic is the
main language, another for Turkish and Turkic
languages, and a third color for Farsi-related
languages. As a geographer, what might you
suggest to improve communication within the
region?

Problem-Solving Activity
Group Research Project Working in a small
group, simulate a meeting of delegates from four
or five oil-producing countries. Each group member should research and report to the group on his
or her countrys oil production, oil revenues, and
ways the revenues should be spent. Group members should then work together to create a chart
or a graph to present the information to the class.

GeoJournal
Descriptive Writing Use details from your
journal to write a descriptive paragraph about
one of the culture groups of North Africa, Southwest Asia, or Central Asia. Share your paragraph
with the class.
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Technology Activity

Using E-Mail Search the Internet for

the e-mail address of a museum or university in
one of the regions countries. Compose and send
an e-mail message requesting information about
some aspect of the countrys culture, such as architecture, religion, art, or language. Write a short
report from the response you receive.

The following question refers to the accompanying quotation. Read the quotation carefully and then answer the question.

"Censorship in Saudi Arabia is even more

overt. Under a system that took two years to
develop, all Internet connections in the country have been routed through a hub outside
Riyadh, where high-speed government computers block access to thousands of sites catalogued on a rapidly expanding blacklist."
Douglas Jehl, The Internets Open
Sesame Is Answered Warily, New York
Times on the Web (online), March 18, 1999

1. Which of the following statements

CANNOT be inferred about Saudi
Arabia from the excerpt above?
F There is a great amount of censorship in
Saudi Arabia.
G People in Saudi Arabia are not interested
in technology.
H The Saudi Arabian government feels
threatened by the impending technological
revolution.
J Many Internet sites are off-limits in Saudi
Arabia.
Many questions ask you to identify
information that CAN and CANNOT be
inferred from a passage. In this example, you are asked to identify information NOT implied
by the passage. Eliminating answers that are directly
referred to in the passage helps narrow the possible
choices. Ask yourself: Which of the statements are true
about the passage, and which of the statements are
false? Eliminate statements that you are certain can
refer directly to the passage above.

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461