Southwest Asian Geography

1. Southwest Asian Geography Chapter 11 Lesson 1

2. SW Asia’s Relative Location • Crossroads location • Links Europe, Africa, and Asia • Traders/Invaders spread their goods and ideas • Each group left cultural footprints • Language, religion

3. SW and World Trade • Region controls vital sea and land routes • Bosporous and Dardanelles Straits link Black and Mediterranean Seas • Red Sea and Suez Canal are important sea lanes • Ships use to avoid long trips around Africa on way from Europe to Asia

4. SW Asian Mountains • Mountains affect movement and communication • Must find way around or through them • Mountains influence SW Asia’s rainfall • Western and northern slopes receive more and block precipitation from reaching east and south • Shifts in mountains cause earthquakes

5. SW Asian Plateaus • Anatolian Plateau suitable for growing grain • Continental climate • Iranian Plateau • Dry, has little plant life

6. SW Asian Deserts • Deserts discourage movement of people • Very little or no water

7. Importance of SW Asian Bodies of Water • Region surrounded by Black, Mediterranean, Caspian, Red, and Arabian Seas • Jordan River • Israel and Jordan struggle over control • Lack of moisture makes fresh water very important

8. Importance of SW Asian Bodies of Water-continued • Tigris/Euphrates Rivers • Rise in Turkey, flow through Syria and Iraq, empty into Persian Gulf • Key to birth of world’s earliest civilizations • Supplies water for agriculture • Turkey dammed Euphrates and created reservoir • Downstream Syria and Iraq worry Turkey will use water for their people

9. Importance of SW Asian Bodies of Water-continued • Persian Gulf • Important to world’s economy • Has oil below its surface • Busy shipping route

10. Importance of SW Asian Bodies of Water-continued • Red Sea • Important shipping route • With opening of Suez Canal became link in world trade routes running between Europe and Asia • Suez Canal connects Mediterranean and Red Seas

11. Subregions of SW Asia • Middle East • Name use for the subregion of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestinian Authority (PNA) • Forms a curving band of fairly well-watered land • Extends from Mediterranean coast to northern shores of Persian Gulf • Located in middle of far reaching Muslim world

12. Subregions of SW Asia • Arabian Peninsula • Lies on most southwestern corner of Asia • Interior is mostly desert and has few people • Coasts have well-watered areas and oases • To Americans it is land of Bedouin (desert nomads) and oil • To Muslims it is homeland of Islam and prophet Mohammad

13. Subregions of SW Asia • Northern Tier • Includes 3 non Arab countries in the North • Turkey, Iran, and Cyprus

14. Key Vocabulary • Strait: narrow waterway that connects two larger bodies of water • Relief: differences in height or elevation • Deserts in SW Asia have little relief • Few hills and valleys to create differences in height

15. Key Vocabulary • Fertile Crescent: arc of green land stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf • Key agricultural region • Mesopotamia • “Land between the rivers” • Tigris and Euphrates • Part of Fertile Crescent