Download Notes

Name: _____________________________ Date: __________________________
Geography of Southwest Asia & North Africa
(Chapter 15, Sections 1.1-1.4)
Notes
Section 1.1: Physical Geography (pages 414-415)
 The expansive region of the Southwest Asia and North Africa is hot and
water in the region is limited
Physical Features & Climate
 Most of the area of Southwest Asia and North Africa is made up of dry and
hot deserts
 Example: Sahara Desert
arid: very dry
Important mountain ranges:
 Atlas mountains
 Zagros mountains
 Taurus mountains
Important rivers:
 Nile River
 Tigris River
 Euphrates River
Desert Transformation:
 The Sahara Desert (world’s largest desert) stretches 3,500 miles across
North Africa
 The climate of this desert changed in 5300 BC when seasonal rains changed
tropical grasslands to a desert
1
 When the land became less fertile, people started migrating to the Nile River
Valley, where there was water!
desertification: gradual transition from fertile to less productive land
reliable: dependable
Section 1.2: Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (pages 416-417)
 The Tigris and Euphrates rivers have supported life for thousands of years
 One of the world’s earliest civilizations began between two rivers in a
desert. This area is called Mesopotamia, which means “land between the
rivers”
Two Rivers
 Climate of region is very hot and dry
 Area around Tigris and Euphrates rivers is known as the Fertile Crescent
 The Fertile Crescent is an ideal area for agriculture
 Source of these rivers are in the mountains of Turkey
Tigris River:
 Longest river in Southwest Asia (1,740 miles long)
Euphrates River:
 1,180 miles long
 May cause destructive floods
Fertile Land
 The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is an alluvial plain
alluvial plain: flat area of land located next to a stream or river that floods
2
 The flooding deposits silt along the riverbanks which makes the soil fertile
silt: fine particles of soil
 Farmers rely on flooding of the rivers to water their crops or use irrigation
irrigation: process of redirecting water to crops using channels and ditches
 Most of the population lives between the two rivers
Section 1.3: The Arabian Peninsula (pages 418-419)
 The Arabian Peninsula is primarily desert and provides a large percentage of
the world’s petroleum
Sand and Heat
 The Arabian Peninsula covers more than one million square miles
 Saudi Arabia is the largest county on the peninsula
 Temperatures often rise to over one hundred degrees and there is very little
rain fall
 2 deserts:
o Syrian Desert-located in northern and central part of the peninsula
o Rub al Khali- located in southern Saudi Arabia
 The coasts of the peninsula is very different than the desert interior because
there are
o Mountain peaks
o Fertile soil
Oil/Petroleum
 Twenty-five percent of the world’s petroleum reserves lie underneath the
Arabian Peninsula
 Petroleum develops from tiny animals/plants that died millions of years ago
 Heat and pressure changes these materials
3
 Petroleum can be refined into gasoline, diesel fuel and other products after it
is extracted from the ground
 Petroleum is a nonrenewal resource
 Petroleum production is the most important industry
petroleum: unrefined oil
nonrenewable resource: a resource that cannot reproduce quickly enough to keep
pace with its use
Section 1.4: Anatolian and Iranian Plateaus (pages 420-421)
 The Anatolian and Iranian plateaus have a long history as a crossroads of
trade.
Plateaus and Mountains
 Anatolian Plateau
o Located in central part of Anatolian Peninsula
 Iranian Plateau
o Located in center of present-day Iran
 There is seismic activity on the two plateaus and activity along the fault
causes earthquakes!
North Anatolian Fault:
o runs east to west south of the Black Sea
o triggered a flood that created the Black Sea
fault: fracture in Earth’s crust
 The high mountains on the plateaus cause rain shadows (dry area on one side
of a mountain range)
Trade and Settlement
oases: fertile places in dry areas where water is found
4
 Many traders have crossed the peninsula and important trade routes have
developed!
 Early settlement took place on the Iranian Plateau around 2,500 years ago
when the people invented a system to bring water into their arid lands
qanats: underground tunnels to carry mountain waters to dry plains
5