Download Origins of the Middle East

Climate
• Climate - the type of weather a
region has over a very long period.
• The countries of the Middle East
generally have a very hot and dry
climate.
• Four large oceans or bodies of water, the Mediterranean Sea,
the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean border
the Middle East.
• Even so, mountain ranges close to many of the coastal areas
block rains coming from these bodies of water and the result is
that much of the interior of this region is desert.
• Because there are coastal areas as well as a number of large
rivers, other parts of this region have enough water to support
agriculture and towns and cities of significant size.
Geography
Peninsula – a piece of land
surrounded by water on three sides.
The Sinai Peninsula is separated
from Africa by the Suez Canal, which
was dug in 1868.
A large body of water called the
Dead Sea is one of the saltiest
bodies of water on Earth
Salt and other minerals have
collected in it because it has
no rivers running through it to
make the water fresh
The Dead Sea is more than a
thousand feet below sea level.
Nothing but bacteria lives there.
 Most of the Arabian Peninsula is made up of the Arabian
Desert
 Water is very hard to find and is
very valuable.
 The most fertile land in the Middle
East is found along the Tigris and
Euphrates River in modern Iraq.
 The Middle East is home to some
of the worlds earliest civilizations.
 Europe and Asia meet at Istanbul, Turkey,
which is located on both sides of the
Bosporus strait.
 Strait – a narrow channel connecting two
bodies of water
• The rivers of Southwest Asia (Middle East) are
important because much of this region of the world is
dry and desert or semi-desert.
• One of the longest rivers in the
region is the Euphrates River,
which begins in Turkey, and flows
through Syria and Iraq.
• In southern Iraq, the Euphrates
River joins with the Tigers River to form one waterway
called the Shaat al-Arab, which
then flows along the border
between Kuwait and Iran before
e
emptying into the Persian Gulf.
Tigris River
• The Tigris River begins in the
mountains of Turkey and flows
south through Iraq.
• It joins the Euphrates in
southern Iraq.
• These two rivers provide water for both drinking
and farming.
• The countries that share these rivers have had
problems over how the water will be shared
among them.
Persian Gulf
• The Persian Gulf is one of
the main ways oil is shipped
from the rich fields of Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, and
other countries that line its shores.
• All of the countries that produce oil in that region
depend on the Persian Gulf as a shipping route.
• Any ships coming out of or into the Persian Gulf must
navigate through the very narrow Strait of Hormuz,
located at one end of the Persian Gulf.
• The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf to the
Arabian Sea.
Suez Canal
• Once in the Arabian Sea,
ships can sail east into the Red Sea, which is
bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and Egypt
to the west.
• At the northern end of the Red Sea, ships can
enter the man-made Suez Canal, which will
allow then to get to the Mediterranean Sea
without having to sail all around the continent of
Africa.
Jordan River
• The Jordan River is a much smaller
river than either the Tigris or the
Euphrates, but it is still very important.
• The waters that form the Jordan River
began in the mountains of Lebanon
and Syria and flow down into the Hula
Valley in northern Israel before
reaching the Sea of Galilee.
• The Jordan River begins at the southern end of the
Sea of Galilee and flows south until it reaches the
Dead Sea.
• This river is one of the main sources of water for
Israel, Jordan, parts of Syria, and many of those living
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Dead Sea
• Because so much water is taken
out of the Jordan River by the
different groups that depend on it,
less and less water reaches the Dead Sea.
• The Dead Sea has no outlets.
• Water that flows in stays there and
because so much evaporates in the
desert air, the water remaining is
high in salts and other chemicals.
• There are no fish living in the Dead Sea, and that is
the reason for its name.
• The Jordan River is important because it is the
boundary between Israel and the West Bank, and
Jordan.
Deserts
• The Middle East has a number of very large
deserts areas: the Syrian Desert shared
between Syria and Iraq, and the Rub al-Khali, or “
empty Quarter,” in southern Saudi Arabia.
• Deserts in the Middle East have historically provided it with
natural barriers against invasion.
• They have also led to a way of life that developed around the
need to survive in such harsh surroundings.
• Some people have always managed to live in and around the
desert, living in tent camps and surviving as sheep and camel
herders and making a living by trading animals and handmade
goods with those who lived in the towns on the desert’s edge.
• These people are known as “Bedouins,” or desert nomads, and
their way of life is gradually disappearing.
Afghanistan
• The country of
Afghanistan is
located at the far
eastern edge of the
Middle East.
• This country is
landlocked, which
means it has no seacoast.
• Afghanistan is very mountainous, and the people who
live there are divided into a number of different ethnic
groups or tribes.
Iran
• Iran, to the west of
Afghanistan, is one of
the largest countries in
the Middle East.
• Iran is mountainous as
well, but this country has
long sea coasts and is
able to use both the
Persian Gulf and the
Arabian Sea.
• Iran uses the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to
transport its exports to the Arabian Sea and then on to
many different world markets.
Iraq
• Just to the west of Iran is
the country of Iraq.
• Iraq has the added
advantage of having two
of the largest rivers in the
region, the Tigris and the
Euphrates rivers, flowing through its territory.
Saudi Arabia
• The Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia is the
largest country of the
Arabian Peninsula.
• The Persian Gulf lies
to the northwest of
the country and the
Red Sea is to its west.
Turkey
• Turkey is located to the north and west of Iraq.
• Turkey shares a border with Iraq, Syria, and Iran.
• Turkey is also the country in which the Euphrates and
the Tigris begins.
• Turkey has built a number of dams in recent years to
try saving water from these two rivers for use by
Turkish
farms,
villagers,
and towns.
Israel
• Israel was created by the
United Nations in 1948 as a
homeland for the Jewish
people of the world.
• The country of Israel is
bound by the Gaza Strip
along the southern coast
and the West Bank to the east.
• The Jordan River forms the
boundary between the
West Bank and the country
of Jordan.
Section 2 – Resources of the Middle East - Water
• Water is a natural resource that is distributed unevenly
in the Middle East.
• Some countries, like Turkey and Iraq, have major
rivers that provide enough drinking water for farming
communities.
• These two
countries share the
Tigris and
Euphrates river
systems.
• Israel, Syria, and
Jordan share
the Jordan River.
• Others, like Saudi Arabia, have almost no
water.
• They are mostly made up of desert.
• Others, like Iran, have areas with access to
rivers and areas that are made up of deserts.
• Because water is in short supply in so many
parts of Southwest Asia, irrigation has been
necessary for those who want to
farm and raise animals for
market.
Irrigation
• Many types of irrigation
can be found in
Southwest Asia as
farmers struggle to bring
water to their fields from
local rivers and from underground aquifers (layers of
underground rock where water runoff from rains and
streams is trapped.)
• Some farmers use water from wells that tap into fossil
water (water that has been underground for centuries).
• Rains and steams do not replace this water, and once
it is used, is gone forever.
• Farmers in very rural areas still use methods used by their
ancestors to irrigate their fields, including water wheels,
irrigation ditches and canals, and animal power to lift water from
underground wells.
• Farmers in countries with more technology use modern
irrigation techniques.
• Israel and Saudi Arabia have developed systems of drip
irrigation using computers that measure out how much water
each plant receives.
• There has also been a lot of work done to learn how to take
water from the ocean and desalinate it to use for drinking and
irrigation.
• Desalination (the process of
removing salt and other chemicals
from seawater) is very expensive
and requires complex technology.
Water Problems
• As countries in the
Middle East have
worked to modernize
their systems of
agriculture, water
pollution has been a
growing problem.
• Increased demand for
irrigation to expand
farming has led to
overuse of rivers and streams.
• Many farmers have begun to use chemical fertilizers, which
have contaminated water supplies through runoff into these
same rivers and streams.
• Constant planting and fertilizer use have led to the build-up of
salt levels in soils, eventually making it impossible to farm in
• In the rush to develop industry, many cities and towns
have grown rapidly, but the people living there have
been slow to create effective ways to manage garbage
and treat sewage.
• Access to water is also a source of conflict, especially
among countries that share a river system.
• Dams built along a river to create lakes for irrigation
and the production of hydroelectric power (electricity
produced from the energy of running water) in one
country reduce the amount
of water available to other
countries located further
downstream.
Oil
in
the
Middle
East
• Two of the most important natural resources found in
Southwest Asia are natural gas and oil.
• These two resources bring wealth into the region
because they are needed for much of the world’s
economy.
• Over half of the
world’s known oil
reserves are found in
this part of the world.
• This has made some
of these countries
extremely rich and
has led them to have
a lot of control over
OPEC
• In the 1960s, several of these
Southwest Asian countries joined
with other oil-rich countries
around the world to create the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in order
to have more control over the price of oil on the world market.
• OPEC has called for an embargo, or a slow-down or temporary
halt, to oil supplies at different times in the past to get political
and economic agreements from the other countries in the
world.
• While some countries in the Middle East have grown very rich
due to their oil production, others have struggled to help their
populations make a decent living.
Who has the oil?
• The Middle Eastern nations
with the greatest reserves of
natural gas and oil are Saudi
Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait.
• Some other countries have
smaller reserves, especially
those found around the Persian
Gulf.
• These countries have enjoyed
tremendous growth in national
wealth and an improved standard of living in the past fifty years.
• Those countries without oil reserves have a much harder time
improving living conditions for their populations.
• This difference in wealth in some of the Middle East has led to
conflicts among the nations.
Farming
• Many people in the
Middle East practice
subsistence
agriculture,
growing small
amounts of crops,
to take care of their
local needs.
• Because the climate is so dry, agriculture nearly
always depends on irrigation, directing water from
small rivers and streams to the farmers’ fields.
• There is some commercial agriculture (growing crops
for industrial markets), but even that is limited by lack
of water.
Section 3 – Cultures of the Middle East - Ethnic
Groups
• An ethnic group is a group of people who share
cultural ideas and beliefs that have been a part of their
community for generations.
• The characteristics they may have in common could
included a language,
a religion, a shared
history, types of foods,
and a set of traditional
stories, beliefs, or
celebrations.
• These things make up
a common culture
shared by those in a
Religion
• A religious group
shares a belief system
in a god or gods, with
a specific set of rituals
and literature.
• People from different
ethnic groups may
share the same religion;
through they may be
from very different cultures.
• Religion has been important to the history of the Middle East.
• Christianity, Islam, and Judaism were started in this region.
• People who follow Judaism are called Jews.
• Followers of Christianity are called Christians.
• Followers of Islam are called Muslims.
Arabs
• Southwest Asia is home to many different
ethnic groups who share similar religions.
• The Arabs of Southwest Asia believe
themselves to be descendants of Abraham in
the Bible, through his son Ishmael.
• They make up the majority of those who live
throughout the region known as the Middle
East, though there are many differences among
them.
• Most Arabs practice the religion of Islam and
call themselves Muslims.
• Those who call themselves Muslims are
further divided, as some call themselves
Sunni Muslims, while others are Shia
Muslims.
• Some Arabs are Christians.
• Most Arabs, whether they are Muslim or
Christian, speak the Arabic language.
Persians
• Persians are those who live in the modern country of Iran.
• The Persian people are descended from a different group than
those who are Arabs and Jews.
• Their ancestors were Indo-Europeans from Central Europe and
Southern Russia.
• The country of Persia became known as Iran after World War I.
• Persians, or Iranians, speak Farsi, a language that uses the
Arabic alphabet but is actually a different language.
• They practice Islam, but most belong to the Shia group of
Muslims.
• About 15 percent of Muslims in the world are Shia. The other
85 percent are Sunni Muslims.
Kurds
• The Kurds are an ethnic group the
lives in several different countries
in the Middle East.
• Most Kurds are found in the
mountainous areas where Syria,
Turkey, Iran, and Iraq come
together.
• The Kurds see themselves as a distinct ethnic group from
others in the area.
• They speak their own language, known as Kurdish, and have a
separate history, literature, music, and set of traditions.
• Many Kurds hope to have a nation o their own some day, a
hope that has caused conflict with the countries in which
Kurdish people live.
• Most Kurds are Sunni Muslim, though there is a small minority
who are Shia Muslims.
The Middle East has a common culture which
includes the Arabic language and the Islamic religion.
 For centuries, kingdoms and empires have battled
for control of the region.
Three continents (Europe, Asia, & Africa) meet in the
Middle East.
Important trade routes have long passed through the
region.
For many years, whoever controlled the Middle East
held great influence over much of the world’s economy.
Hammurabi was a king of Babylon who set up the first
written law called Hammurabi’s code
It was a collection of 282 laws with the most famous being
and “eye or an eye”
Law was equal depending on your social class
The Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped, or curved, area of fertile land
along the Tigris and Euphrates River
As the population of the Fertile Crescent increased, wars began to
break out among the growing number of
city-states, mostly over land and water
Phoenician’s spread their culture and their
newly developed alphabet all over the
area through trade and conquest since
they were excellent sea voyagers
Origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
The three major religions that originated in
Southwest Asia are Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam.
All are based on monotheism, a belief in one
god.
Each religion has a sacred text, or book, which
is at the core of its faith.
Each book is a collection of writings compiled
over time.
None was written by the central figure of the
faith.
All three faiths trace their ancestry back
thousands of years to the prophet Abraham
Origins of Judaism
 Judaism is the oldest of the three religions.
 It began as a set of beliefs and laws practiced by
ancient Hebrew people in Southwest Asia.
 Its book is the Hebrew Bible – aka The Torah.
 Jews believe that one day a human leader will
come as a messenger of God and bring about a
golden age.
 They call this leader the messiah. In Greek
versions of the Bible, messiah is written as
christos, the anointed one.
• The Bible names Abraham as the father of
the Jews.
• There is no other evidence of his life.
• Scholars place Abraham living sometime
between 2000 and 1500 BCE (BC)
• The Bible states that Abraham was born in
Ur, in present-day Iraq.
• He later moved to
Canaan, in
present-day Israel.
• Jews believe Canaan
is the Promised
Land, which God
promised to
• It was said that Abraham’s grandson Jacob had
12 sons.
• The twelve tribes of Israel began with Jacob's
sons.
• Jacob was later called Israel, and his
descendants are called Israelites.
• Sabbath – The seventh day of the week,
Saturday, observed by Jews as a day of worship
and rest
• Kosher – fit to be eaten, according to Jewish
dietary laws
• Passover – Jewish festival marking the flight or
Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt
• Rabbi – teacher of Jewish law; spiritual head of
a congregation
they were the first religion to be monotheistic and it is
one of the worlds oldest religion
their holy book is the first five books of the Bible, which
they call the Torah - this is what Moses delivered
to the Israelites from God
The rest of the Jewish bible – the Christian Old
Testament – are the
writings of prophets
Prophet – a person thought
to be inspired by God
More writings on Jewish law, history, and
folklore are collected in
the Ta l m u d
According to the Bible, the First Temple for
Jewish worship was built around 900-1000
BCE and destroyed by Babylonians in 586
BCE.
The Jews were then sent out of Canaan,
but returned after 50 years in exile.
A Diaspora occurs when a group of people
leave their homeland and move to many
different locations separately.
All of the world’s Jewish communities
today that do not live in present-day Israel
are part of the Jewish Diaspora.
 A new temple was
finished 70 years
later on the site of
the First Temple, but
was badly plundered
by invading Romans
about 54 BCE.
 King Herod, a Jew, ruled
Judea for the Romans.
 The second temple was rebuilt in 20 BCE.
 When the Romans attacked Jerusalem again in 70
CE(AD), they destroyed Herod’s temple.
 Today, the single remaining temple wall, the Western
Wall, is a place of prayer for Jewish pilgrims.
 Jews moved away from the land again, until the
modern state of Israel was formed in the late 1940s.
Origins of Christianity
In 30 CE, a Jew named Jesus began
preaching new ideas about Judaism in
Roman-controlled Judea.
The later title of Jesus Christ given to
Jesus is a reference to the belief by his
followers that he is the Jewish messiah.
 According to the Christian New Testament,
Jesus preached only to his fellow Jews.
 His idea was that the old laws of Judaism should
be replaced by a simpler system based on love
of one's fellow human beings.
 He began to grow popular.
 Jewish leaders did not want Jesus to threaten
their power and asked the Romans to arrest him.
 The Romans found him guilty of speaking
against Jewish laws and sentenced him to death
by crucifixion, or being hung on a cross.
 He died in 33 CE, after preaching for only three
years.
Jesus had 12 close followers, or disciples.
Interestingly, a man who had never met
Jesus became the person to spread his
message around the world.
Paul of Tarsus had a vision of Jesus after
the crucifixion that told him to teach Jesus'
ideas to non-Jews. Paul traveled to build
churches throughout the ancient world in
Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, and other cities.
The New Testament records Paul’s
journeys through a series of letters, or
epistles, that he wrote.
The chapters of Romans, Corinthians,
Ephesians, Galatians, and Thessalonians,
are all letters written by Paul to the people of
the new, non-Jewish churches established in
these locations.
Paul taught them how to live their lives in
these letters.
 By 100 CE, the growth of Christianity was left to
a new generation of people who had never
known Jesus and who did not know Jewish laws.
 Roman authorities fought the growth of
Christianity.
 Christians were often arrested and killed.
 A number of Roman emperors launched bloody
campaigns against the new faith.
 Christians were thrown into public arenas to be
torn apart by wild animals.
 Nero had some lit on fire to serve as human
torches.
 Most Christians practiced their religion in hiding,
but their numbers continued to grow and the
By the early 4th century, Christianity may have
reached members of the Roman emperor’s
family.
The Roman Emperor Constantine was not a
Christian, but he had his
soldiers fight an
important battle in 313
with a Christian symbol
on their shields.
His army won the battle.
 In the nearly 300 years since his death, many
different ideas had developed about how to
follow Jesus.
 In 325 CE, Constantine called a meeting for all
the Christen leaders to meet in Nicea.
 About 300 men attended the meeting to discuss
how Christianity should be practiced.
 The council produced the Nicene Creed, the first
attempt at a uniform statement of Christian
doctrine found in the current New Testament.
 When the Christian leaders left this meeting, a
new type of Christian church
had been formed.
 This new church was said to
be Catholic, which means
universal.
 Three main divisions of Christianity: Roman
Catholic (headed by a pope in Rome), Eastern
Orthodox, and Protestant
 Protestant – a Christian that split from the
Roman Catholic church in the 16th century
 Gospels – The first four books of the New
Testament containing the life and teachings of
Jesus Christ
 Easter – Holiday commemorating the
resurrection of Jesus Christ
 Resurrection – The rising of Jesus Christ from
the dead on the third day after his crucifixion
 Eucharist – blessed bread and wine shared in
Christian worship; also called Holy Communion
 Baptism – ceremony of initiation into the
Christian church, usually with water
 END SEC. 3
Origins of Islam
The Prophet Muhammad was an Arab born in
570 CE, in Mecca, which is in present-day Saudi
Arabia. He was a merchant known as “al-Amin,”
the trustworthy one.
According to Islamic tradition, in 610 CE, while
he was praying in a cave, he had a vision of the
angle Gabriel, a figure in the Hebrew Bible.
The angle gave him messages from God, called
Allah in Arabic.
 Muhammad taught that Abraham, Moses, and
Jesus were each prophets, but that Jews
and Christians had misunderstood their
teachings.
Many of the poor who heard Muhammad’s
message accepted it because he called for
social justice and equality.
A great number of powerful leaders and rich
merchants, however, rejected
Muhammad's message.
They saw him has a threat to their
economic security.
Muhammad spread the messages he
received from Allah.
He was forced to flee Mecca for Medina in
622 CE.
This flight is known as the Hijrah.
The Islamic calendar begins at this date.
By the time he died in 632 CE, Islamic
control of central Arabia was well
underway.
 Before 700 CE, Muhammad’s followers were fighting over his
successor.
 The fight split Muslims into the Shi’a and the Sunni.
 The Shi’a comprise 10% - 15% of Islamic followers today and
Sunni comprise close to 90%.
 Sunni – Orthodox Muslim who accepts the traditional teachings
of the Koran and the authority of the descendants of
Caliph Ali.
 They believe that the Caliph (leader of Islam) does not have to
be a blood relative
of Muhammad.
 Shi’a (Shiite) – A Muslim
who rejects the
authority of the
religious leaders
who succeeded
Muhammad’s
son-in-law Ali & the
Caliph must be a
blood relative.
Within a century, Islam spread throughout the Middle
East and North Africa.
Muslims even conquered parts of Spain.
Their military campaigns were inspired by a desire to
spread Islam, and for some, a desire for wealth
and power.
Due to divisions in
Christianity,
many former
Christians in
North Africa
actually
welcomed the
new religion.
Islam has other rites, including what Muslims are
allowed to eat and drink (They don’t eat pork or
drink alcohol)
Also, the Qur'an, their scared book, explains a
concept called jihad.
Jihad requires believers to meet the enemies of
Islam in combat.
Enemies can be attacked by the heart, the
tongue, the hand, or the sword.
Muslims pray at a Mosque
Minaret – a high slender tower attached to a
mosque
They write in calligraphy
Calligraphy – beautiful or elegant handwriting
Islam allowed a certain degree
of religious tolerance (letting
people practice the religion of
their choice).
Jews and Christians continued
practicing their faith under
Islamic rule.
Although Islam taught that these religious were
misguided, Muslims believed that they directed people
towards the one, true God.
Unlike much of the Christian world, the Muslims
empire experienced a time of enlightenment during the
middle ages.
Muslim scholars embraced the
ideas of the ancient Greeks and
Romans.
They translated many works and
collected knowledge from all
over the world.
Rather than rejecting ancient
teachings as a threat to their
faith, they studied and tested them.
While Europe struggled through the
dark ages, Muslims advanced
greatly in medicine, science, mathematics,
literature, and philosophy.
Many of the ideas taught by Muslims later inspired the
Italian Renaissance in Europe.
An Islamic Golden Age lasted from 750 to 1400.
Advances in Islamic learning inspired the
European Renaissance.
The city of Mecca became a major economic
center, helping Islam expand.
Literacy was, for the first time, widespread
among the populations of the Middle East.
In 1258, the Islamic city of Baghdad was
attacked, conquered, and destroyed by the
Mongols, a dynasty from central Asia.
The Islamic Golden Age began to draw to a
close.