Download Lesson Title Geography of the Modern Middle East and North Africa

Lesson Title
Geography of the Modern Middle East and North Africa
Time
50 minutes
Purpose/Ration
ale for lesson
In order to teach appropriately about the Modern Middle East and North
Africa, it is important for students to know which countries are in the region,
where they lie on the map and how that might impact the citizens.
Curriculum
Framing
Questions
What are the countries that make up the modern Middle East and North
Africa?
Where are the countries that make up the modern Middle East and North
Africa
What is the Middle East and North Africa?
Goal
Students will know the countries of the modern Middle East and North Africa
and where they are on the map
Learning
Objectives
Students will properly label a map of the Middle East and North Africa and
distinguish between three sub-regions
Implementation
Materials
needed in class:
Copies of
blank map of
the Middle
East
Computer
and projector
to project
rethinking
schools map
game
Copies of
Geography:
Ancient and
Modern
Crossroads.
1) As a class, name as many countries of the modern Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) the class can think of. List them on the board.
2) When you have exhausted your collective memory, hand out the list of
MENA countries (attached). Ask: which ones did we miss? Which ones are
familiar? What have you heard of these countries? What do you know
about them? Which ones are unfamiliar? As you discuss, mark up the list
with the things the class knows and doesn’t know about these countries
3) Hand out the blank map of MENA (attached), offering a copy to each
student. Using the list as a guide, have the students try to fill in the country
names on their blank maps in pencil. They can work in pairs to try and do
this.
4) After 5-10 minutes, fill out the map on the smart board together using:
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/just_fun/games/mapgame.html. You
may also choose to point out the capitals and bodies of water
(Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, red Sea, Suez Canal, Persian/Arab Gulf,
Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Bab el
Mandeb). Ask students to correct their maps and label all countries in pen.
5) Have students work collaboratively to color in the countries, delineating
between the North African countries, the Middle Eastern countries, and
the Gulf countries. (This could be done as homework)
6) Free associate: Ask the class “What do you think of when you hear the
term ‘Middle East’”? Write the answers on the board. Point out
anomalies and ask questions about their answers. Students might say
“Muslim.” That’s true, but you should also point out that there are many
Christians living in the region, especially in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria and
many Jews in the region, especially in Israel, Turkey, and Morocco.
Homework: Read “Geography: An Ancient and Modern Crossroads” (below).
Assessment &
Evaluation of
Student
Learning
Students complete properly labeled maps of the Middle East and North
Africa
Countries of the Middle East and North Africa
English Name
Algeria
Bahrain
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Morocco
Occupied
Palestinian
Territories
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Arabic Name
al Jaza’ir
Bahrayn
Misr
Iran
Al’Iraq
Isra’il
Al’Ordun
Kuwait
Lubnan
Leebya
Al Maghrib
Filasteen
Capital
Algiers
Manama
Cairo
Tehran
Baghdad
Jerusalem
Amman
Kuwait City
Beirut
Tripoli
Rabat
Location
North Africa
Gulf
North Africa
Gulf
Middle East
Middle East
Middle East
Gulf
Middle East
North Africa
North Africa
Middle East
Muscat
Doha
Riyad
Gulf
Gulf
Gulf
Syria
Tunisia
Turkey
United Arab
Emirates
‘Oman
Qatar
Al mamlaka al
Arabia al
Sa’udeeya
Sūriyya
Toonis
Toorkia
Al Imārāt al
‘Arabīyah al
Damascus
Tunis
Ankara
Abu Dhabi
Middle East
North Africa
Middle East/Asia
Gulf
Yemen
Muttaḥidah
Al Yaman
Sana’a
Gulf
Facts about Arabs and the Arab World (adapted from
al Bustan curriculum)
What is the Middle East?
The Middle East is a loose term, not always used to describe the same territory. It usually includes
the Arab countries from Egypt east to the Persian Gulf, plus Israel and Iran. Turkey is sometimes
considered part of the Middle East, sometimes part of Europe. Sometimes the Middle East includes
North Africa as well. Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh are usually described as South
Asia.
Who is an Arab?
"Arab" is a cultural and linguistic term. It refers to those who speak Arabic as their first
language. Arabs are united by culture and by history. Some have blue eyes and red hair; others are
dark skinned; many are somewhere in between. Most Arabs are Muslims but there are also millions
of Christian Arabs and thousands of Jewish Arabs, just as there are Muslim, Christian, and Jewish
Americans.
What is the Arab World?
The Arab World consists of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain,the
Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania,
Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and
Yemen. Iran and Turkey are not Arab countries and their primary languages are Farsi and Turkish
respectively. Arab countries have a rich diversity of ethnic, linguistic, and religious communities.
These include Kurds, Armenians, Berbers and others. There are over 300 million Arabs.
What is the Muslim World?
There are an estimated 1.57 billion Muslims in the world. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation
has 57 member states. The ten countries with the largest Muslim population are: Indonesia (202.9
million), Pakistan (174.1 million), India (160.9 million), Bangladesh (145.3 million), Egypt (78.5
million), Nigeria (78.1 million), Iran (73.8 million), Turkey (73.6 million), Algeria (34.2 million), and
Morocco (31.9 million). Of these countries, only three are Arab countries: Egypt, Algeria, and
Morocco. Most Arabs are Muslims, but most Muslims are not Arabs.
Who are Arab Americans?
Arab Americans are Americans of Arab descent. There are Americans with roots in each Arab
country, but most originate from Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. There are also substantial
communities from Egypt, Yemen and Iraq. The first immigrants arrived in the late 19th century. A
second wave of immigration started after World War II, and still continues. The largest communities
of Arab Americans live in the Detroit-Dearborn area.
Geography: An Ancient and Modern
Crossroads (adapted from OPB Global Connections,
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/geography/index.html)
Location, location, location
The Middle East is at the junction of trade routes connecting Europe and China, India and Africa,
and all the cultures of the Mediterranean basin. Many of these routes have been documented from
as early as 5,000 years ago, and the presence of so many different people and products over the years
has had a profound effect on the region's culture, politics, and economy.
More than deserts and camels
The landscape of the Middle East is more diverse than the deserts that dominate movie screens and
novels would suggest. Rivers allowing for productive agriculture were the key factor in the settling of
cities. Mountain ranges kept cultures in separate areas, providing natural barriers to imperialist
agendas.
The rich, fertile soil of the Middle East led early civilizations to settle, domesticate plants and
animals, and thrive. The Fertile Crescent between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers known
as Mesopotamia (now modern Iraq, and extending north into Syria and Turkey) was the home of the
world's first urban culture, the Sumerians, 6,000 years ago. The Sumerians' Egyptian rivals took
advantage of the annual flooding of the Nile for their regular harvest, later exporting a large portion
of their produce to the Roman Empire. Some time later, the Hittites settled in the golden, rolling
hills of Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the Phoenicians of the eastern Mediterranean loaded olive oil
and spices into their merchant ships to trade throughout the Mediterranean.
This region introduced many staples into the kitchens of the world, including olives, figs, lemons,
coffee, chickpeas, lentils, pomegranates, and asparagus. The cedar trees covering the hills of
Lebanon were forested in ancient times for their fragrant and structurally reliable wood.
The mountain ranges in the Middle East helped isolate various cultures from each other as much
as, if not more than, bodies of water. The Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey separate Anatolia,
also known as Asia Minor, from the rest of Asia, just as the Atlas Mountains separate Morocco from
the rest of Africa. Iran's Elburz and Zagros Mountains are high enough to host ski resorts.
In tumultuous times, mountains have also provided refuge for oppressed minorities, such as the
Ismailis in Afghanistan; the Alawites in Syria; the Christians in Lebanon; the Kurds in Turkey, Syria,
Iran, and Iraq; and the Berbers in North Africa.
Geographical features bring economic and political riches
Geography and natural resources have always influenced political power in this region. The Nile
and Mesopotamian Rivers can support a rich agricultural base, but only if the water distribution
can be sustained and controlled through irrigation systems. And the prosperity of these regions has
depended on a government's ability to maintain irrigation systems over the long term. If a central
government can keep the irrigation systems in good working order, then well-irrigated fields produce
more crops, which can then be taxed to support the government. Conversely, when local
populations do not cooperate to maintain a stable government, their crop yields may drop.
Mesopotamian farmers used Persian Gulf seawater to irrigate for centuries, and now, as a result,
much of southern Iraq's soil is too salty to grow crops. Agriculture in the region now relies on
modern practices like fresh water irrigation, rotating crops each year, and technologically
sophisticated dam projects.
Today, the wealth in Middle Eastern soil comes not from crops, but from petroleum. This region
contains about two-thirds of the world's known petroleum reserves, the geological remnants of lush
tropical forests of eons past. When the United States and Europe increased their consumption of oil
drastically during World War II, the oil reserves in the Middle East became critically important to
U.S. foreign policy, and have remained so ever since.
Human geography
The ethnic and cultural diversity of the population of the Middle East is as varied as any place on
earth, save the New World. People in the Middle East live a variety of lifestyles -- nomadic and
semi-nomadic, farming and fishing, and, increasingly, urban.
How people put food on their tables is intimately tied to their physical surroundings. While the
herding lifestyle of the nomadic peoples of the Middle East may have captured the romantic
imagination of Europeans and Americans, in reality, pure nomads have always been a small minority
in this region. In fact, many so-called nomads were simply seasonal migrants who grazed their
livestock in one region in the summer and moved elsewhere in the winter. These migratory
populations gained a reputation for breeding fine horses and camels, although most supported
themselves raising sheep and goats. This system of seasonal migration functioned well until modern
states established exclusive ideas of property and land ownership.
Most states in the region with large nomadic or semi-nomadic populations have pursued a
settlement policy in order to better track and control the historically independent tribes. Clan and
family relationships are still a vital part of their social structure.
Other families depend on the sea, or rivers, for their sustenance. The long Mediterranean, Persian
Gulf, and Red Sea coastlines and large river systems of the region support many communities
through both fishing and water-borne trade. The pearl industry of the Persian Gulf spawned a
specialized economy there.
Productive areas of both rain-fed and irrigated agriculture support rural farming populations, which
are usually organized as tight-knit villages rather than isolated farms. Village identity is extremely
strong, so much so that when people migrate to the city or even abroad, they often settle in
communities of their co-villagers. A neighborhood in Detroit, for example, may be made up of
immigrants from one particular village in Lebanon. Immigrants often aspire to earn enough money
to return to their village, buy land, and build a large home.
Rapid urbanization has been a marked feature of the Middle East in the late 20th century. Cairo,
Istanbul, and Tehran each have more than 10 million residents and continue to grow. While
migration to the cities offers attractive opportunities of employment and modern amenities to poor
villagers, the rapid rise in urban populations has strained water resources, transportation facilities,
and other public services as well as contributing to pollution.
What's in a name
Many different terms have been used to describe this area of the world, and although various
geographic and cultural descriptions have major overlaps, each may significantly exclude different
regions. The region can be referred to most neutrally by continental terms, such as "West Asia" or
"Southwest Asia and North Africa."
Linguistically, the "Arab world" includes the Arabic-speaking countries from North Africa,
Southwest Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula, but excludes Iran, Turkey, and Israel.
The "Islamic world" includes all of the Arabic countries, as well as neighboring Turkey and Iran.
Other nations that are predominantly Muslim, like Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and many subSaharan African countries, should be considered as integral parts of the Islamic world, but
terminology for the region often omits them. In addition, there are significant populations of
Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and other religious groups that live in these same nations that make
up the so-called Islamic world.
The "Middle East" is a term derived from a European perspective. For 19th-century Europeans, the
Middle East was differentiated from India and the Far East (Southeast Asia and China). Originally,
the Near East referred to areas under Ottoman control, from the Balkans to the border of Iran. The
term Middle East was introduced in the early 20th century to include the area around the Persian
Gulf, and the Near East was used to refer to the Ottoman Balkans. After World War II, Middle East
became the dominant term for the whole region.
Because "Middle East" is an outsider's term describing neither geography nor culture, it is an
ambiguously applied name. For some, it refers to the area bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the
Arabian Peninsula, and the Taurus and Zagros Mountains. For others, Egypt, Arabia, and the
Persian Gulf states fall under their description of the Middle East. Still others use the term as a
synonym for the Arab world, sometimes including Turkey and Iran based on their proximity and
linguistic and religious affinities to the region. Despite its foreign origins, the term "Middle East" has
been translated and adopted into many Middle Eastern languages, including Arabic, Hebrew,
Persian, and Turkish.