The Geography of the Middle East

1. The Geography of the Middle East Mr. Mark Gonzalez Santiago Christian School

2. The Middle East Today:Political Map-Label it w/ Mr. G.

3. Middle East? OR Near East?OR Southwest Asia? OR….?

5. Bodies of Water Caspian Sea Mediterranean Sea EuphratesRiver Suez Canal Persian Gulf Nile River Red Sea ArabianSea IndianOcean

6. The Mighty NileRiver:“Longest River in the World”

7. Egypt: The “Gift of the Nile” Nile Delta Papyrus-Paper Annual Nile Flooding • 95% of the Egyptian people live on 5% of the land! • Lined w/ papyrus plants

9. Aswan High Dam, Egypt Hydroelectric Power Plant The aim of both projects was to control Nile River flooding, to provide storage of water for agriculture, and later, to generate electricity.

10. Suez Canal • Completed by the British in 1869 • Today, the canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority(SCA) of the Arab Republic of Egypt. • it may be used "in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag."

11. The Tigris & EuphratesRiver System Mesopotamia: ”Land Between the Two Rivers” Today the area is called the country of Iraq Marsh Arabs, S. Iraq

12. Dust Storms Along the Tigris-Euphrates Flood Plains

13. Dead Sea: Lowest Point on Earth 2,300’ below sea level HighestSaltContent(33%)

14. Wadis – Instant Springs-dry during Summer, overflowingat times during the winter season due to rains

15. Ghardaïa (Tagherdayt), Algeria, with the dry bed of Wadi Mzabon the right side.

16. a Wadi in Negev Desert, Israel

17. Mountain Ranges in Mid-East Elburz Mts., Iran Zagros Mts., Iran Lebanese Mts. Taurus Mts., Turkey

18. Deserts NegevDesert Libyan Desert ArabianDesert Rubal-Khali Sahara Desert

19. Nomadic Arabic Desert Bedouins

20. 2011 Libya Uprising • The Libyan people are rebelling against the cruel 42 year dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi • 10,000 Libyans have been killed since mid February in this uprising

21. Libya Uprising • The city of Benghazi has been captured and held by rebels • No fly zone • US and other nations are enforcing the no fly zone

22. Major Geographic Problem: Breeding Areas of Desert Locusts

23. Swarms of Desert Locusts! Israel Hit By Worst Locust Plague Since the 1950s! Locusts Swarm the Pyramids Complex at Giza!

24. Rub al-Khali:“The Empty Quarter”and is neither inhabited nor traversed by the Bedouins. - Geologically, the Empty Quarter is the second most oil-rich place in the world

25. Rub al-Khali: • Summer temperatures of nearly 55 °C (131 °F) and dunes over 330 meters (1,080 ft) make Rub' al Khali a forbidding environment.

26. Desert Oases: Water at a Premium!

27. Fresh Groundwater Sources

28. DesalinizationPlants: To provide fresh drinking water

29. Fertile Crescent

30. The Fertile Crescent

31. Completed Map Caucasus Mts. Black Sea Caspian Sea Dardanelles Strait AnatolianPlateau Elburz Mts. AtlanticOcean Mediterranean Sea TigrisRiver EuphratesRiver Iranian Plateau Taurus Mts. Jordan River Zagros Mts. Atlas Mts. NegevDesert SinaiDesert Suez Canal Strait ofHormuz ArabianDesert Persian Gulf Libyan Desert Nile River Gulf ofOman Rubal-Khali Red Sea Hejaz Mts. Sahara Desert ArabianSea Gulf of Aden IndianOcean

32. The Middle East vs. the U. S.Latitude Lines

33. Middle East: Climate Regions

34. Middle East: Population Density

35. Cairo, Egypt: Most Populated City in the Middle East 17 millionPeople!

36. The Middle East:Natural Vegetation

37. The Natural Resources of theMiddle East-petroleum is the most valuable

38. World Oil Reserves

39. Persian Gulf Oil Exports (2003)

40. Saudi Oil Fields & Refineries

41. Kuwait: An Island Floating on a sea of Oil KuwaitCity

42. Leading U. S. Oil Suppliers The U. S. imports 30% of its oil needs from the Middle East.