Southwest Asia

Physical Geography

Tectonic Activity

Mountains

Taurus Mountains Southern Turkey

Zagros Mountains Southern Iran

Water

Mediterranean Sea Red Sea Arabian Sea Persian Gulf Arabian Gulf

Strait of Hormuz Bosporous Strait Dardanelles Jordan River Tigris & Euphrates

Rivers

Climate

Water is the region’s most important resource

Mediterranean climate in some areas

Dry, semi-arid or arid in most other places

Culture

Countries & Languages

Speak Arabic Bahrain Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria United Arab Emirates Yemen

Non-Arab Countries Iran: Persian Israel: Hebrew Turkey: Turkish

Major Cities

Istanbul Jerusale

m Mecca Tehran Baghda

d

Art & Architecture

Artwork and architecture reflects religious diversity Mosques &

minarets Churches Synagogues

More tomorrow!

Economy/Human Impact

Wide range in per capita incomes and

levels of development in the region

Great variation in standard of living Ranges from very wealthy to poverty-

stricken

Life

“Black Gold” & the Economy

Main exports: Petroleum & oil products

Over 60% of world’s oil reserves

About 50% of world’s natural gas reserves

Use petrochemicals (derived from oil/natural gas) for fertilizer, plastic, medicine and paint

Service Industries

Rapid urbanization/modernization has led to growth of the service industry

Major role in economies Banking, real

estate, insurance, tourism, etc.

i.e Bahrain: 60% of GDP

Transportation

Waterways are key for shipping Oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz & Persian Gulf

Extensive road systems in Iran and Turkey Gov’ts building more transit systems to

connect urban & rural populations Subway in Istanbul

Trade & Interdependence

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Algeria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi

Arabia, & United Arab Emirates Oil dependency means that OPEC has a lot

of influence Economic disparity between oil-rich and oil-

poor countries

Human Impact

Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) Burning oil wells

smoke pollution affected birds

Dumping oil into Persian Gulf Fish & other marine life died

Iraq War (2003-2011) Lebanon-Israel (2006)

Dumped oil into Mediterranean Sea

The End