Diversity Amid Globalization

Rowntree, Lewis, Price, Wyckoff

Fifth Edition

Chapter 7: Southwest Asia

and North Africa

Wendy Mitteager
SUNY Oneonta
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Learning Objectives
• Describe linkages between water,
settlement, and political conflict.
• Explain the region’s role as a historical and
modern cultural crossroads.
• Understand the intersections between
religious, ethnic, and political geographies in
the region.
•Examine the economic differentiation among
countries in the region.
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 Key Concepts
• Culture Hearths • Monotheism
• • Quran
OPEC
• Hajj
• Islam • Theocratic State
• Qanat System • Shiites
• Fossil Water • Sunnis
• Hydropolitics • Ottoman Empire
• • Suez Canal
Fertile Crescent
• Palestinian Authority
• Exotic Rivers

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 Setting the Boundaries
• Stretches from the Atlantic Ocean
to the Caspian Sea

• Climate, culture, and petroleum

reserves serve as binding elements
for this region

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Southwest Asia
and North Africa

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 Cultural Hearths
and Globalization
• Agriculture: an early center
• Civilizations: Egypt, Turkey, Iran
• Trade Routes:
 connected North Africa with the Mediterranean and
Sub-Sahara Africa
 Southwest Asia also has had historical ties to
Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and Central Asia
• Innovations: spread far beyond its bounds

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Cultural Hearths and Globalization
(cont.)

• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting

Countries (OPEC):
(OPEC) influenced global prices and
production targets for petroleum
• Islamic fundamentalism:
fundamentalism advocated a return
across the religion to more traditional practices
within the Muslim religion

Saudi Arabian
oil refinery
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 Environmental Issues
– Overview
• Fragile environment: + growing populations
+ pressures for economic growth
+ pervasive aridity

• Deforestation & Overgrazing: demands for

agricultural land

• Salinization the buildup of toxic salts in the soil

:
• Water Management: hydropolitics

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 Hydropolitics
• Interplay of water
resources and politics

• Aswan High Dam

• Peace Corridor

• Tekeze Dam project

• Potential for conflict

Figure 7.6 10
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 Figure 7.7
Environmental
Issues
Gaza Strip: damaged
water infrastructure

Figure 7.1.1
Irrigated fields depletes
fossil water, Saudi Arabia 11
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 Regional Landscape

Figure 7.8 Atlas Mountains

Satellite view Figure 7.9
of Turkey

Figure 7.12
Arid Iran 12
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Climate

Arid

North Africa - the

driest condition

Southwest
Asia’s desert

Maltitude and
latitude

Climate variety

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Figure 7.11
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Population and Settlement

Intimation: water - life

Desert zones Sparsely

Water zones Densely

Overall population density:

Modest

Physiological density:
Highest

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Figure 7.15
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Demographic Diversity

450M people Distribution of population: very varied

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Settlement Patterns – Rural

Fertile Crescent
Early agricultural activity

Pastoral Nomadism
Subsistence agriculture

Oasis Settlements
Provide reliable water

Oasis agriculture, Figure 7.18

Exotic Rivers Morocco
Transport much-needed
water: Nile, Tigris,
Euphrates Much higher population density 16
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 Agricultural Regions

Important
agricultural zones:
Oases + irrigated
farming

Dry farming
Midlatitude settings

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© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 7.17
 Figure 7.19

Agricultural Landscapes

Terraced fields and pasture,

Northern Yemen

Figure 7.20
Nile River Valley 18
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 Settlement Patterns – Urban
Figure 7.21
Urbanization
Mesopotamia: 3500 bce centers of political
Egypt:3000 bce. and religious control
The 8th century:
Baghdad + Cario: religious center
Islam’s impact: settlement landscape merged
with older urban traditions characteristic Islamic cityscape

Qom, Iran 19
Modern architecture Figure 7.24
Doha, Qatar © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Urban Landscape – Fes, Morocco
Temples, palaces,
tombs, and public
buildings, surrounding
walls

Local and long-distance

Creating urban landscape

Figure 7.22
The Old City
1950: Cities have become key
gateways to the global economy
 
Global economy: futuristic
architecture and new
transportation infrastructure Figure 7.23 20
Complex patterns
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 Migration and Population Patterns
Labor camp, UAE
The rural-to-urban shift

Worker migrated to areas

within the region with growing
job opportunities

Figure 7.26

Figure 7.25

Political forces
Syria’s civil war and
sectarian conflicts

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© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. “Youth bulge,” Iran
Cultural Coherence and Diversity

Patterns of Religion
• Hearth of the Judeo-Christian Tradition
– Jews and Christians trace their roots
to the eastern Mediterranean

– Monotheism: belief in one God

o Judaism
o Christianity
o Islam

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Diffusion of Islam
• The Emergence of Islam
 Originated in Southwest Asia in A.D. 622
 Islam means “submission to the will of God”

Figure 7.27 23
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 Figure 7.28
Diffusion of Islam
• Major religious schism divided
Islam early on, and still exists:
o Shiites – group that
favored passing power on to
Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law
(mostly in Iran today)
o Sunnis – group that
favored passing power
through established clergy;
emerged victorious
o Ottoman Empire –vast
Islamic empire

Makkah 24
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• Modern Islamic Diversity
Muslims majority in region, except for in Israel and
Cyprus – Sunni (73%); Shiites (23%) dominant in Iran,
southern Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, and Bahrain

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Figure 7.29 © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Jerusalem

• Varied religious
legacy
• Sacred sites
• Core of political
problems

Figure 7.30 26
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Linguistic Diversity Figure 7.31

Reveals ethnic complexities 27

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Impacts of Globalization
Movie production, Morocco

Figure 7.3.1
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Impacts of Globalization
Access to satellite TV, cell
phones, the internet brings global
cultural to the region.

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Impacts of Globalization
Manama, Bahrain: Financial Harbor

Figure 7.4.1 30
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Geopolitical Framework

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Figure 7.33 © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Figure 7.35
Colonial Legacies

Old French capital:

Algiers, Algeria

Figure 7.34

Evolution of Israel 32
Video
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Challenge of the West Bank

Controversial development

Figure 7.36 33
Figure 7.37 © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Challenge of the
West Bank (cont’d)
Israeli Security Barrier

Figure 7.38 (b)

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Multicultural Iraq
• Colonial influence
• Varied ethnic identities
and political aspirations
• Instability
• American presence

Figure 7.39 35
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Economic Differentiation

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Development Issues

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Figure 7.40 © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
 7% of the world’s
population
 60% of the world’s
proven oil reserves

Persian Gulf,
Rich petroleum reserves

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 Higher-income Oil Exporters
• Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and UAE benefit from fossil
fuel production
 Reshaped the cultural landscape
 Raised the standard of living in the past 40 years
• Fluctuations in world oil market will continue
• Resource depletion in the next 20-30 years (Bahrain, Oman,...)

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 Lower-income Oil Exporters
• In the past 15 years, Algerian have
faced political instability and increasing
shortages of consumer goods
• Iraq faces huge economic and political
challenges (war)
 Extremely high unemployment
 >20% of the population remains
malnourished
 25% of the country is served by
dependable electricity

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Prospering Without Oil

Israel
High-tech industry
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Regional Patterns of Poverty

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Impacts of Globalization – Resources

Desertec Energy Project:

Linking North Africa and Europe 43
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Development in Dubai

Burj Dubai Palm Island

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Social Development and Gender

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THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING

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