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Preliminaries. Return map tests Geography Conference Field trip Africa question North Africa/Southwest Asia. WDCAG – March 11-13, 2005. The Western Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers. Annual conference is in Lethbridge.
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Preliminaries • Return map tests • Geography Conference • Field trip • Africa question • North Africa/Southwest Asia
WDCAG – March 11-13, 2005 • The Western Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers. • Annual conference is in Lethbridge. • For details see the Geography website (http://www.uleth.ca/fas/geo). • Reduced rates for students ($30). • Includes: • Conference registration, Banquet, Field trips (nominal fee), Curling Funspiel, Free entrance to Friday night social.
Friday Night Social. • Held at the Zoo. • Live Band (Southern Flyer playing from 8 pm-midnight). • Pizza by the slice. • Lots of Geographers from Western Canada (Manitoba to BC). • Come and meet other students and professors. • You don’t have to register for the conference to come and join us ($5/cover).
Africa Question: Why was disease such a problem? (by contrast with Latin America) • Colonial era • Latin America’s indigenous people decimated by European diseases: influenza and small pox • Facilitating conquest, colonization, settlement • Most European settlement at higher elevations, more temperate climate • Low population density in coastal/tropical regions • Africa – tropical environment • Half of all Europeans who remained on African coastline died within one year • Higher elevations less high, less accessible • Large indigenous population as vectors
Africa Question: Why is disease such a problem? • Contemporary era • High mortality, low life expectancy • Population is vulnerable • Rapid growth, limited food production, malnutrition • Debilitating effect of endemic disease fostered by tropical environment • Poor health care facilities and care • Considerations not hard answers!
NORTH AFRICA &SOUTHWEST ASIA • Oil • Regions of North Africa/Southwest Asia • Mahgreb & Libya • Egypt • Iraq • Turkey • Cyprus • Israel
THE IMPACT OF OIL • 65% of known reserves • High incomes • Modernization • Industrialization • Intra-realm migration • Inter-realm migration • Regional disparities • Foreign investment Dubai, UAE. Dhows & skyscrapers
Maghreb • The Maghreb - Atlas mountains • Orographic rainfall • Coastal population • Mediterranean agriculture exports to Europe • Saharan interior
Libya: The Maghreb’s neighbor • Libya – Arid but oil rich – not truly Maghreb • Territorial claims • Gulf of Sidra • Aozou Strip • Muammar Gadhafi • Normalization of relations with U.S.
EGYPT AND THE LOWER NILE BASIN • Continuous civilization > 5,000 years • 95% of Egypt’s 74.1 million people live within (20 kms) of the Nile • Largest Arab state • Heritage tourism
Egypt • Basin irrigation: floodwater trap • Perennial irrigation - mid 1800s • Aswan High Dam - 1968 • Symbolic megaproject • Relocation of Abu Simbel • Increased agricultural land by 50% • Provides 40% of electricity • But: • Salinization • Rising water table - schistosomiasis • Commercial fertilizer & pesticide dependency • Delta fishery suffers from water quality
MIDDLE EAST
The Middle East • “Middle” of the Islamic realm • Center of conflict • Sunni - Shi’ite • Kurdistan: Nation without a state • Turkey • Iran • Iraq
Iraq • Surrounded by enemies • Iran-Iraq War 1980-1990 • Kuwait invasion 1990, Persian Gulf War, 1991 • Axis of Evil: Iraq, Iran, North Korea, 2002 • WMD • Iraq War, March 2003 • Iraq occupation
Iraq’s 4 Regions • Iraq Desert • Kurdish Domain • 16%, 1990 victims of WMD • Sunni Domain • Powerful minority (22%), Ba’athist Party • Mid-Tigris west of Baghdad: Samarra & Tikrit • Shiah Domain • Lower Tigris East of Baghdad: Basra • Persecuted majority (60%), repression under Saddam
Iran • Persian Empire • Indo-Iranian – Farsi • Shi’ite • Rugged plateau, pastoral nomadism • Tehran – 7.3 million • Peacock throne, Shah deposed in 1979 • Fundamentalism
TURKEY • Ottoman empire • 6th century empire stretching Mongolia to the Black Sea • Spread the Turkic language • Collapsed 1818-1918 • Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) • Father of modern Turkey • Capital from Constantinople to Ankara • Westernized turkey and broke free from the Arab world
Turkey • Westernization in 1930s • Islam lost official status • Roman alphabet replaced Arabic • Islamic law replaced by western code • Fez and beards outlawed • Monogamy • Women’s rights • Turkey distanced from Arab world • Western-Islamic tensions • EU membership
Cyprus • Population of 900,000 • Greek heritage • Conquered by Turks in 1571 • 1878- British control • After World War II • Independence or union with Greece or Turkey? • 1960- Independence • 1974- Civil War • 1983- Turkish republic of northern Cyprus seceded
Israel • Zionism • Political movement (1897) advocating the return of the Jewish people from the diaspora to Palestine and the creation of a Jewish homeland and state • Balfour Declaration (1917) • Supports the concept of a Jewish homeland • Jewish immigration to Palestine • 1922 – British mandate to govern Palestine
ISRAEL • UN partition plan for Palestine • Division into Jewish and Arab areas • British evacuate Palestine in 1948 • Proclamation of Israel as a state (14 May 1948) • 1948: Arab invasion (War of Independence) • Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, & Syrian forces • Israel seizes more land than prescribed under UN mandate • Armistice (1949) • 900,000 Palestinian refugees
ISRAEL • Arab – Israeli conflicts • 1956: Suez war • 1967: Six-day war – Israel gains control of: • Gaza strip • Sinai peninsula (returned to Egypt) • West bank of the River Jordan • East sector of Jerusalem • Golan Heights in Syria • 1973: Yom Kippur War
Current Arab-Israeli Issues • Golan Heights- return to Syria? • Security Zone- return to Lebanon? • Jerusalem- Holy City? • West Bank- Palestinian homeland? • Palestinians- refugee problem • Arab/Islamic disruption- impact of extremist groups
West Bank • 200,000 • Israeli settlers • Middle class commuters • Aquifers are significant