Download Chapter 15 Sec 1.1

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Geography of Southwest Asia & North Africa
(Chapter 15, Sections 1.1-1.4)
Section 1.1: Physical Geography
 The expansive region of the Southwest Asia and North Africa is hot and water in the
region is limited
Physical Features & Climate
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Most of the area of Southwest Asia and North Africa is made up of dry and hot deserts
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Example: Sahara Desert
arid: very dry
Important mountain ranges:
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Atlas mountains
Zagros mountains
Taurus mountains
Important rivers:
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Nile River
Tigris River
Euphrates River
Desert Transformation:
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The Sahara Desert (world’s largest desert) stretches 3,500 miles across North Africa
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The climate of this desert changed in 5300 BC when seasonal rains changed tropical
grasslands to a desert
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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
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Section 1.2: Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
 The Tigris and Euphrates rivers have supported life for thousands of years
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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
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Climate of region is very hot and dry
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Area around Tigris and Euphrates rivers is known as the Fertile Crescent
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The Fertile Crescent is an ideal area for agriculture
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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
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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
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The flooding deposits silt along the riverbanks which makes the soil fertile
silt: fine particles of soil
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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
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Most of the population lives between the two rivers
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Section 1.3: The Arabian Peninsula
 The Arabian Peninsula is primarily desert and provides a large percentage of the world’s
petroleum
Sand and Heat
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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
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2 deserts:
o Syrian Desert-located in northern and central part of the peninsula
o Rub al Khali- located in southern Saudi Arabia
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The coasts of the peninsula is very different than the desert interior because there are
o Mountain peaks
o Fertile soil
Oil/Petroleum
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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
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
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Section 1.4: Anatolian and Iranian Plateaus
 The Anatolian and Iranian plateaus have a long history as a crossroads of trade.
Plateaus and Mountains
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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
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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
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Many traders have crossed the peninsula and important trade routes have developed!
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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
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