© T. M. Whitmore
Today•North Africa and Southwest Asia
Role of the geography (location & situation) of Resources and settlementPopulations & demography
© T. M. Whitmore
Some Comments on the Papers
• Mostly good efforts. But some problems, too!• Some papers had no thesis at all • In some papers, the thesis was not
connected to the rest of the paper• Some papers exhibited poor organization• Some papers failed to show a clear
connection to the topic assigned• Globalization was frequently equated with
mere economic growth and urban expansion• Some papers stated a series of facts but
never drew actual conclusions from them• Some papers brought up globalization and
its effects too generally and superficially
© T. M. Whitmore
More comments• Some papers showed no sources at all• Some papers made general claims without
substantiating them• Inappropriate sources were a problem• There was heavy reliance on internet
sources, some of doubtful reliability• Some noted sources at the end of the
paper but used no citations in the text• Some writers simply asserted opinion for
fact• Grammar and proofreading are important• Style in some papers was too casual and
informal
© T. M. Whitmore
North Africa and SW Asia (the “Middle East”)
•THEMES to characterize this regionRole of the geography (location &
situation) of resources and settlement
Role of the geography of population/demography
Role of Culture, Religion, EthnicityRole of historical developments in
current geopolitical landscape
© T. M. Whitmore
A region at the center of world events
•At the intersection of the largest continents
•Origins of agriculture and cities
•Origin of three major religions
•Center of multiple empires
•Center of world oil production
•Historical center of political Islam
•Site of destabilizing armed conflicts including the Iraq war and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Less than 100
100 - 200
200 - 400
400 - 600
600 - 1,000
1,000 - 1,500
1,500 - 2,000
2,000 - 3,000
More than 3,000
Mean annual precipitation in mm
© T. M. Whitmore
Key Landscapes of Settlement
•N. slopes of Atlas Mtns.•Nile valley•Eastern Mediterranean •Coastal Turkey•Mesopotamia (Iraq)•Slopes of Zagros and Elburz mtns
in Iran•Elevated and southern areas in
Sudan•Commonalities to these places
© T. M. Whitmore
Natural resources-Water
•Controls settlement
•Source of significant political contention
•Presence (or lack) supports various livelihoods Irrigated agricultureNomadism/herding
© T. M. Whitmore
Natural resources II - Petroleum
•Spatial Distribution
•Reserves
•Production
•US dependence
•Major regions for oil & gasKey importance of the “Gulf”
© T. M. Whitmore
Population/Demography•Population Totals
Uneven geography•Among the fastest growing (~ 2%/yr)
populations •Some of the highest fertility (TFR ~
3.5) in the world •{Global averages ~1.5%/yr & TFR
~2.7}•Mortality: ~ “3rd world” average (Eo
~63; IMR ~ 50/1000)•Urbanization
Higher than “3rd world” average
© T. M. Whitmore
Religion — A source of commonality and division
•Islam (Muslim) SunniShíiteFundamentalists
•Judaism
•Christianity