Ch. 4

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Ch. 4

• North Africa and Southwest Asia Notes

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NORTH AFRICA
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EGYPT (Cairo)

• Egypt is about the same size as Texas and New
  Mexico together, yet most of it is desert.
• The Nile River supplies 85 percent of the
  countrys water. It begins in East Africa and
  flows north to the Mediterranean Sea.
• Aswan High Dam and channels control the rivers
  flow and its use for farming and generating
  electric power.

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• The Suez Canal is one of the worlds most
  important waterways. Ships use the canal to pass
  from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea,
  thereby avoiding traveling all the way around
  Africa.
• About 29 percent of Egypts people work in
  agriculture raising sugar cane, grains,
  vegetables, fruits, cotton, and cattle.
• Egyptian factories make food products and
  textiles.
• Egypts main energy resource is oil.
• Another important industry is tourism.

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LIBYA (Tripoli)

• Except for the coastal lowlands, Libya is a
  desert with only a few oases. An oasis is a green
  area in a desert fed by underground water.
• The Sahara covers more than 90 percent of Libya.
• Libya has no permanent rivers, but aquifers lie
  beneath the vast desert. Aquifers are underground
  rock layers that store large amounts of water.
• Poor soil and a hot climate mean that Libya has
  to import about three-fourths of its food.

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Oasis
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• The discovery of oil in Libya in 1959 brought the
  country great wealth.
• Almost all of Libyas 5 million people have mixed
  Arab and Berber heritage.
• More than two-thirds of Libyans live along the
  Mediterranean coast.
• Libya is a Muslim country, and most of its people
  speak Arabic.
• In 1969 a military officer named Muammar
  al-Qaddhafi overthrew the king and became a
  dictator. For many years, the United States and
  other democratic nations have accused Qaddhafi of
  encouraging terrorism.

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THE MAGHREB

• Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco form a region known
  as the Maghreb.
• These three countries make up the westernmost
  part of the Arabic-speaking Muslim world.

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TUNISIA (Tunis)

• Tunisia is North Africas smallest country in
  terms of land area.
• Tunisian farmers grow wheat, olives, fruits, and
  vegetables.
• Fishing is also an important industry.
• Tunisian factories produce food products,
  textiles, and oil products.
• Tourism is a growing industry.
• Tunisias largest city today is Tunis, the
  capital city of about 1 million people.
• Tunsian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced
  out of power Friday January 14,2011. People were
  angry over unemployment and wanted more political
  freedom.

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ALGERIA (Algiers)

• Algeria is the largest country in North Africa.
• Algeria must import much of its food, which it
  pays for by selling oil and natural gas.
• Algeria became a French possession in 1834 so
  many people in Algerias cities speak French as
  well as Arabic.
• In 1962, Algeria won its freedom from France.
• Today, Algeria is a republic, with a strong
  president and a legislature. Since the early
  1990s, however, there have been conflicts between
  the government and Muslim political parties.

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MOROCCO (Rabat)

• Strait of Gibraltar is at the northern tip of
  Morocco.
• Farmers in Morocco grow sugar beets, grains,
  fruits, and vegetables for sale to Europe during
  the winter.
• Morocco is a leading producer of phosphates, used
  in fertilizers.
• Tourism is also important to Morocco.
• Moroccos traditional culture is based on Arab,
  Berber, and African traditions.
• Morocco is a constitutional monarchy

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SOUTHWEST ASIA
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TURKEY (Anakara)

• Turkey has a unique locationit bridges the
  continents of Asia and Europe.
• Three important waterwaysthe Bosporus, the Sea
  of Marmara, and the Dardanellesseparate the
  Asian and European parts.
• Turkeys climate varies throughout the country,
  from hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters in
  the central plateau to hot, dry summers and mild,
  rainy winters on the coast.
• Turkish farmers grow cotton, fruits, and wheat,
  and raise livestock.

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• Turkey has many mineral resources such as coal,
  copper, and iron.
• Tourism is also a growing industry.
• About 97 percent of Turkeys nearly 66 million
  people are Muslims.
• The Kurds, an ethnic group who make up about 20
  percent of Turkeys people have demanded their
  own independent state.
• Almost 75 percent of Turkeys people live in
  cities or towns.

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• Istanbul (largest city) began as a Greek port
  called Byzantium. Later it was renamed
  Constantinople. When the Ottomans conquered the
  city in the 1400s, they renamed it Istanbul.
• Turkey has been a member of the North Atlantic
  Treaty Organization (NATO) since 1952 and is
  seeking to join the European Union.

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ISRAEL (Jerusalem)

• Israel lies completely in Southwest Asia, but its
  people include immigrants from Europe, Central
  Asia, and the United States.
• Israel includes the mountains of Galilee, the
  Golan Heights (plateau), the Dead Sea (saltiest
  and lowest in the world), the desert of Negev (in
  the southern part), and the Jordan River.
• Israels best farmland stretches along the
  Mediterranean coastal plain and produces citrus
  fruits, such as oranges, grapefruits, and lemons.
• In very dry areas, Israel uses computers to
  release specific amounts of water from
  underground tubes to the roots of plants.
• As a result of technology, Israels farmers are
  able to export some food to other countries.

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• Some Israelis live in farm settlements called
  kibbutzes, where property is shared. Other people
  live in moshavs where they share in farming,
  production, and selling, but may own private
  property as well.
• Israels skilled workforce produces electronic
  products, clothing, chemicals, food products, and
  machinery. Most industrialized country in
  Southwest Asia.
• Diamond cutting and polishing is also a major
  industry.
• Eighty percent of Israels people are Jews and
  the other 20 percent are Palestinians, who are
  Arabic. There are many conflicts between these
  two groups.

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SYRIA (Damascus)

• Syrias land includes fertile coastal plains and
  valleys along the Mediterranean Sea, and vast
  deserts covering the eastern regions.
• Agriculture is Syrias main economic activity.
• Farmers raise mostly cotton, wheat, and fruits.
• The Euphrates River provides water for irrigation
  as well as hydroelectric power.
• Almost half of Syrias 17 million people live in
  rural areas. A few are Bedouinsnomadic desert
  people who follow a traditional way of life.

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• Damascus, the capital, is one of the oldest
  continuously inhabited cities in the world. It
  was founded more than 4,000 years ago. It is also
  a trading center.
• Islam has deeply influenced Syrias traditional
  arts and buildings.
• Syria became an independent country in 1946.
• Since the 1960s, one political party has
  controlled Syrias government, and it does not
  allow many political freedoms. As of May 2002,
  Syria was one of several nations named by the
  U.S. government as being state sponsors of
  terrorism.

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LEBANON (Beirut)

• Because Lebanon is so small, you can swim in the
  warm Mediterranean Sea, and then play in the snow
  in the mountains, both in the same day.
• About 88 percent of Lebanons nearly 4.3 million
  people live in coastal urban areas.
• About 70 percent of the Lebanese are Arab Muslims
  and most of the rest are Arab Christians.
  Conflict between these groups led to a civil war
  lasting from 1975 to 1990.
• Arabic is the most widely spoken language. French
  is also an official language because France ruled
  Lebanon until its independence in the 1940s.

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JORDAN (Amman)

• Jordan stretches from the fertile Jordan River
  valley in the west to dry rugged country in the
  east.
• The country lacks water resources, but small
  amounts of irrigated farmland lie in the Jordan
  River valley.
• Jordan also lacks energy resources. Most people
  work in service and manufacturing industries.
• Most of Jordans 5.2 million people are Arab
  Muslims. They include about 1.3 million
  Palestinian refugees.
• Jordan became independent from Great Britain in
  1946 and now has a constitutional monarchy.

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SAUDI ARABIA (Riyadh)

• Saudi Arabia is the largest country in Southwest
  Asia.
• The country is covered by vast deserts and has no
  rivers or permanent bodies of water.
• Saudi Arabia holds about 25 percent of the
  worlds oil and the nation belongs to the
  Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
  (OPEC). Today the 11 OPEC countries supply more
  than 40 percent of the worlds oil. By increasing
  or reducing supply, they are able to influence
  world oil prices.

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• Oil has helped Saudi Arabia boost its standard of
  living. Aware that someday its oil will run out,
  the government is trying to broaden its economy
  through industry and agriculture.
• The capital and largest city, Riyadh, sits amid a
  large oasis in the center of the country.
• Makkah (Mecca), in western Saudi Arabia, is
  Islams holiest city. Millions of Muslims from
  around the world visit Makkah each year.

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IRAQ (Baghdad)

• The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are the major
  geographic features of Iraq.
• Between the two rivers is an alluvial plainan
  area that is built up by rich fertile soil left
  by river floods. Most farming takes place there.
• Oil is the countrys major export.
• About 70 percent of Iraqs 23.6 million people
  live in urban areas.

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• Muslim Arabs make up the largest group in Iraqs
  population. The second-largest group consists of
  another Muslim people, the Kurds, who want to
  form their own country.
• In 1958 the last king was overthrown. The current
  leader, Saddam Hussein, is a dictator who rules
  with an iron hand.
• In 1990, partly because of a dispute over oil,
  Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait. By April of
  1991, at the end of the Persian Gulf War, a
  United Nations force led by the United States
  pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.

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IRAN (Tehran)

• Iran is an oil-rich nation, but is trying to
  become less dependent on oil earnings.
• It has limited supplies of water, and less than
  12 percent of its land can be farmed.
• More than half of Irans 66.1 million people are
  Persians, not Arabs or Turks. They speak Farsi,
  or Persian.
• Nearly 98 percent of Irans people practice some
  form of Islam.
• In 1979 Muslim religious leaders overthrew the
  last monarchy, and Iran now has an Islamic
  republic, a government run by Muslim religious
  leaders. The government has introduced laws based
  on its understanding of the Quran and have
  forbidden many western customs.

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AFGHANISTAN (Kabul)

• Afghanistan is a landlocked nation mostly covered
  with the rugged peaks of the Hindu Kush mountain
  range.
• The countrys almost 27 million people are
  divided into about 20 different ethnic groups.
• After a Soviet invasion, followed by civil war,
  the Taliban took control of the government,
  enforcing strict Islamic religious laws.
• In October 2001, the United States accused the
  Taliban of supporting terrorists and began
  bombing Taliban forces.
• By mid-November the Taliban government had
  collapsed and the United States began to work
  with local leaders to form a new government.

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Women were brutally beaten, publicly flogged, and
killed for violating Taliban decrees. Even after
international condemnation, the Taliban made only
slight changes. Some say it was progress when the
Taliban allowed a few women doctors and nurses to
work, even while hospitals still had segregated
wards for women that in Kabul and other cities,
a few home schools for girls were allowed to
operate, although only in secret. In addition,
women who conducted home schools were risking
their lives or a severe beating. But the overall
reality of the tragic plight of Afghan women and
girls remained virtually unchanged.