Middle East - geography.

Middle East - geography. I INTRODUCTION Middle East, geographic and cultural region located in southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa. The geopolitical term Middle East, first coined in 1902 by United States naval officer Alfred Thayer Mahan, originally referred to the Asian region south of the Black Sea between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and India to the east. In modern scholarship, and for the purposes of this article, the term refers collectively to the Asian countries of Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel (and the Israeli-occupied West Bank), Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, and the African country of Egypt. A broader, more cultural definition might include the Muslim countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The area is mostly arid with hot, dry summers and cool winters. It contains about 65 percent of the world's oil reserves, primarily in the states bordering the Persian Gulf. Oil is the region's main export. Some Middle Eastern countries are extremely rich because of their oil reserves. Others with high populations and no significant oil resources (notably Egypt and Yemen) are considerably poorer. The first civilizations of the Middle East, which grew in the valleys of the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers, are among the oldest in the world. Alphabets, law codes, and cities all began in the Middle East, as did the world's three great monotheistic religions, Judaism (13th century (7th century AD). BC), Christianity (1st century to 4th century AD) and Islam Of the three, Islam continues to mark the region most profoundly. More than 90 percent of the people of the Middle East are Muslims. The Middle East is an area of frequent conflict, largely for reasons embedded in its recent past. For example, the conflict between Arabs and Israelis over the land in Palestine (present-day Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories) is more a product of 20th-century developments rather than any age-old hostility between Muslims and Jews (see Arab-Israeli Conflict). Likewise, although there have been tensions between Persians and Arabs in the past, the Iran-Iraq War between 1980 and 1988 was more a result of political tensions and border disputes in the second half of the 20th century. Islamic militancy, which has produced deadly results in Egypt, Iran, Israel, and Lebanon, is a consequence of late 20th-century problems such as widespread unemployment, political and socioeconomic turmoil, and an overarching sense of despair rather than a result of any violent or extremist characteristics inherent to Islam. II LAND AND RESOURCES Saudi Arabian Desert Vast desert areas cover much of the southern reaches of the Middle East. Shown here is a dramatic desert landscape in Saudi Arabia. Ray Ellis/Photo Researchers, Inc. The total land area of the Middle East is 7.3 million sq km (2.8 million sq mi). Much of the region consists of flat plains or plateaus. Extensive desert areas stretch across the southern reaches, including the Libyan Desert and Arabian Desert in Egypt, the Rub' al Khali in southern Saudi Arabia, and the Syrian Desert at the junction of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. Northern mountainous areas include the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, the Elburz Mountains and Zagros Mountains in Iran, and the mountains of northern Iraq. Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel contain the northernmost extension of the Great Rift Valley, a depression that extends from the Middle East to southeastern Africa. The Caspian Sea, the largest inland sea in the region and the only one of any economic significance, indents Iran's northern border. The area is particularly susceptible to earthquakes, which have caused massive devastation in the second half of the 20th century, especially in Iran and Turkey. A Climate Rainfall and temperature vary considerably across the Middle East and even within countries. For example, the Caspian Sea coast of northern Iran receives up to 2000 mm (80 in) of rain a year, while the desert regions of Iran may receive no rain at all for several years. Temperatures also vary by region. Ankara in the central plateau region of Turkey averages 0°C (32°F) in January and 23°C (73°F) in July. In contrast, low-lying coastal regions of the Arabian Peninsula (the large peninsula south of Jordan and Iraq) and those bordering the Mediterranean Sea experience much more moderate winter temperatures: Jiddah in western Saudi Arabia averages 24°C (75°F) in January and 31°C (89°F) in July. Lowland desert areas in the interior regions of the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Iraq, and Egypt experience periods of extreme heat in the summer, with temperatures often reaching 45°C (113°F) or higher. B Water Resources Arid Plains Near the Tigris The Tigris River brings water to an otherwise arid desert. The Tigris has sustained agricultural communities for several thousand years. Spectrum Colour Library Apart from the Nile River, which provides much of the water supply and irrigation systems of Egypt, and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which supply Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, there are no major rivers or navigable waterways. The Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) in northern Israel, fed from the north by the shallow, unnavigable Jordan River, provides Israel's main source of fresh water. With such a limited water supply, access to water for drinking, irrigation, and hydroelectricity has become increasingly crucial in many parts of the Middle East. The control of water resources is a frequent source of political tension. When Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 and parts of southern Lebanon in 1982, it gained control of the upper tributaries of the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee, and the L???n ? and B?niy?s rivers. Also, the Israeli government gives Israeli settlers permission to drill new water wells in the West Bank, but denies Palestinian residents the same right. Any peace agreement between Arabs and Israelis resulting in full or partial surrender of Israeli authority over this area will have to address the issue of control over water supplies. A similar conflict persists over access to the waters of the Euphrates River, which rises in Turkey and flows across northeastern Syria before entering Iraq. All three countries depend on these waters for irrigation and hydroelectric power. As part of a major water development project begun in 1984, Turkey built two large dams on the Euphrates, substantially reducing the amount of water available to Syria for power generation. A dam in Syria further reduces Iraq's water supply, adversely affecting the country's agriculture. The situation nearly led to a war between Iraq and Syria in 1975. Environmental factors can also affect water supply. From the late 1980s to the 1990s droughts in Ethiopia reduced the flow of the Nile, Egypt's only source of water. Rapid growth in Egypt's population over the same period compounded the water shortage. The Asw?n High Dam in southern Egypt, opened in 1971, has decreased annual flooding of the delta region at the Nile's outlet to the Mediterranean Sea, resulting in coastal erosion and increased salt content of the soil. III PEOPLE The Middle East has a population (1997 estimate) of about 291.9 million. Population density varies greatly throughout the region. In most countries, there has been a steady migration of people from rural to urban areas since the 1940s, so today the majority of people live in urban areas. In Iraq, for example, about 61 percent of the population lived in rural areas in 1957, compared with 25 percent in 1996. Similarly, half of all workers in Lebanon were employed in agriculture in 1959; by the mid-1990s, only about 8 percent of the workforce had jobs in agriculture. The largest cities in the region are Cairo, Egypt (6.8 million), Tehr?n, Iran (6.5 million), Baghd?d, Iraq (3.8 million), and ?stanbul, Turkey (7.6 million). The population of the Middle East tripled between 1950 and 1994 primarily because of the introduction of modern medicine and agricultural techniques from Western nations. Modern medicine decreased mortality rates, while new agricultural techniques improved food productivity. The growth rate remained high by world standards through the mid-1990s with an average annual rate of 2.4 percent between 1990 and 1995. Infant mortality rates vary greatly from country to country in the 1990s, though overall they have improved considerably since the 1970s. This variation reflects the different levels of wealth and development in countries of the Middle East. In the highly developed country of Israel the infant mortality rate was 8 deaths per 1000 live births in 1997. By comparison, the rate per 1000 live births was 71 in less-developed Egypt and 75 in Yemen. A Ethnic Groups and Languages Arabs of Yemen As in many Middle Eastern countries, nearly all of the population of Yemen is of Arab descent. Here, a man and woman in traditional garments prepare the evening meal. Food and Agric. Org. of the United Nations Arabs make up the majority of the people of the Middle East, accounting for almost the entire populations of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the states of the Arabian Peninsula, and for three-fourths of the population of Iraq. The Arabs originated in the Arabian Peninsula and began to migrate northwards and eastwards in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. The rate of migration accelerated after the birth and spread of Islam in the 7th century. Under Arab influence, peoples in the surrounding areas gradually adopted the Arabic language, and even more gradually adopted Islam. Arabic, a Semitic language, serves as a unifying bond among Arabs throughout the region. The Turks, another broad, linguistically related group of peoples, reside primarily in Turkey and Iran. About 80 percent of the population of Turkey, and most of the present inhabitants of Anatolia (the Asian portion of Turkey), are descended from Central Asian tribes that migrated west between the 11th and 13th centuries. These people speak Turkish, one of a group of Turkic languages spoken between southeastern Europe and northwestern China ( see Altaic Languages). In Iran, about one quarter of the population speaks one of the Turkic languages, especially Azeri. A few hundred thousand Turkmens in northern Iraq also speak a Turkic language. The pre-Islamic people of Iran, the Persians, make up about 60 percent of the present-day population of Iran. The Persians descended from Indo-European peoples who entered the country from Central Asia during the 2nd century BC. These people speak Persian, an Indo-Iranian language. Members of another ethnic group, the Kurds, reside in the Middle Eastern countries of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, as well as in several of the former republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). They speak Kurdish, another Indo-Iranian language. The largest concentration of Kurds is in Turkey, where they make up about 19 percent of the population. The Jewish population of Israel constitutes an important cultural group in the Middle East. Although about half of the current residents were born in Israel, their parents and grandparents came from more than 100 countries throughout the world, primarily in the 20th century. From diverse backgrounds, this group nevertheless shares in common the Jewish tradition and the modern Hebrew language. &l...