GEOG 101 World Regional Geography

Professor: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue

Chapter 7 North Africa / The Middle East

A Naming the Realm
B The Oil Curse
C Regions of the Realm

Overview
Physical geography
Aridity; a prevalent character.
Oil; the worlds most valuable resource.

Cultural geography
Culture Hearths (cradle of civilization; Mesopotamia, Egypt,
Persia).
World Religions.
Religious conflicts.

Population geography
Discontinuous clusters around infrequent water sources.
Fast growth rate (young population).

Overview
Political geography
Fragmented due to colonial experience.
Oil and Non-oil states (haves versus have-nots).

Resource wars
Conflicts over water:
Regional / national issue.

Conflicts over oil:

Global issue.

A Naming the Realm

Popular Labels

Dry World.
Arab World.
Islamic World.
Middle East.

Dry world

Dry/arid climate prevails throughout the realm.

Along the northern dry band.
10 to 30 degrees north.

Much of the land is unsuitable for cultivation:

Pastoralism, particularly nomadic pastoralism.

Exceptions:

Peripheral regions of Turkey.

Northwestern section of Iran.
Oases.
Several great river valleys.

North Africa / Middle East, Mean Annual Precipitation

(mm)

Saha
ra

Less than 100

100 - 200
200 - 400
400 - 600
600 - 1,000
1,000 - 1,500
1,500 - 2,000
2,000 - 3,000
More than 3,000

Naming the Realm

Water
Critical for life, food production, and industrial processes.
Increasing stress on water resources:
Water diversion (Nile, Jordan, Tigris / Euphrates).
Aquifers (several fossil aquifers).

Population distribution
Around water resources:

The Nile.
Mediterranean Sea.
Euphrates and Tigris Basin (Hydraulic Civilization).
Lower mountain slopes of Iran, south of the Caspian Sea.

Grain Production in Saudi Arabia, in M tons

North Africa / Middle East, Population Density

People per Square Kilometer

None
Less than 25
25 to 50
50 to 100
100 to 500
More than 500

Naming the Realm

Arab Realm
Relates to language as a cultural feature of this realm.
Arabic is the dominant language in 16 States of the realm.
In Non-Arab States, indigenous languages dominate:

Turkey Turkish.
Iran Farsi.
Israel Hebrew.
Niger French.

Turks

Azerbijianis
Persians

Kurds

Arabs

Naming the Realm

Islamic Realm
Monotheistic religion:
Meaning submission to God.
Emerged in Saudi Arabia in the 7th century (Mecca).
A Muslim is a believer.

Word of Allah contained in the Koran (recitation).

Five Pillars of Islam:

One God (Allah) and Mohammad as His prophet.

Prayer five times a day.
A month of daytime fasting (Ramadan).
Giving of alms.
One pilgrimage to Mecca (The Hajj).

Naming the Realm

Division of the faith
Two branches, Orthodox Sunnis (85%) and Shiites (15%).
Sunni:
Orthodox branch of Islam.
Succession from Muhammad did not depend on hereditary decent from
his son-in-law Ali.

Shiite:
Muhammads genuine successors descended from his son-in-law Ali.

Diffusion of Islam

Diffusion theory; expansion & relocation.

Conquest.
Voluntary conversion.
Migration.
Proselytization.

The Oil Curse

The Resource Curse
Prone to authoritarian rule, slow growth, corruption and conflict.
Resources used to finance armies, corruption and patronage.
Oil is a good example.

Modernization
High incomes.
Industrialization.
Regional and national disparities (oil wealth distribution).

Migration
Brought populations from outside the realm.

Foreign incursions

OPEC Countries

Iraq
Algeria Libya

Iran

Saudi Arabia

Venezuela
Nigeria

Indonesia
Kuwait
Qatar
United Arab Emirates

Major Crude Oil Reserves, 2003

Global Oil Reserves, 2003

Barrels (2003)
Less than 5 billion
5 to 25 billions
25 to 50 billions
50 to 150 billions

More than 150 billions

Shipping Lanes and Strategic Passages in the Middle

East
Black
Se

Oil transited (millions of

1.0 barrels per day)

2002-2003 figures

3.0 Bosporus

Med
iterr
ane
an

Turkey
Iran

Iraq

Suez 3.8

PG

Hormuz
15.5

Egypt
Saudi Arabia
d
Re
Sea

Sudan

Oman
Yemen
3.3

Bab el-Mandab

cea
O
n
India

PG: Persian Gulf

Oil Exports for the Persian Gulf by Outlet, 2002

World Annual Oil Production (1900-2004) and

Estimated Resources (1900-2100)

Net Oil Imports from the Persian Gulf Region as % of

Total Net Oil Imports, 1982-2002

Regions of the Realm

Regions of the Realm

Egypt
Continuous civilization > 5,000 years.
95% of Egypt's 74.1 million people live within 12 miles (20 kms)
of the Nile.
Basin irrigation.
Aswan high dam (1968):
Increased agricultural land by 50%.
Provides 40% of electricity.

Regions of the Realm

The Maghreb

Dominated by the Atlas mountains.

Morocco - last of the north African kingdoms.
Algeria - a secular republic with religious-political problems.
Tunisia - smallest and most westernized of the Maghreb.
Libya - oil rich desert state with a coastal orientation.
Atlas Mountains:
Fertile Coastline.
Rain Shadow Effect.

French Colonialism.
Oil-Rich Libya.

Regions of the Realm

African Transition Zone

Sahel - Arabic word for border or margin.

A zone where people are ethnically African but culturally Arab.
Desertification - principal environmental problem.
Cultural and political instability.
North versus south - Muslim versus non-Muslim patterns.
Cultural Conflict; Muslim Christian.
Nomadism.

Regions of the Realm

Middle of the Islamic realm

Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon.

Center of conflict between Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
Sunni - Shiite conflict (within Iraq and throughout the region).
A future Kurdistan?

The Gulf Wars (1990 & 2003)

First Gulf War (1990-91):

Invasion of Kuwait by Iraq (1990).

Kuwait not respecting OPEC quotas.
Reclaim it as a former Iraqi province (oil reserves).
Plan to invade neighboring countries (Saudi Arabia) to control Persian
Gulf oil production?
American intervention to push Iraq out of Kuwait.
Economic sanctions (1991-2003).

Regions of the Realm

Second Gulf War (2003):

In 2000, Saddam Hussein decided to sell oil in Euros.

Challenged the dollar supremacy (petrodollars).
United States invaded in 2003.
Rationale of war against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction
turned out to be false (made up?).
United States strategically located in the middle of the worlds largest oil
reserves.

Third Gulf War?

In 2006, Iran will sell its oil in Euros.

Israel
Zionism
Political movement.
Founded by Theodor Herzl (1897).
Objective: secure a homeland for the Jewish people.

Balfour declaration (1917)

By Great Britain, the occupant of Palestine.
Supports the concept of a Jewish homeland.

Jewish immigration to Palestine

1922 British mandate to govern Palestine.
Rising conflict between Arabs and Jews.

Israel
UN partition plan for Palestine
Division into Jewish and Arab areas.
British evacuate Palestine in 1948.
Proclamation of Israel as a state (14 may 1948).

1948: Arab invasion (war of independence)

Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, & Syrian forces.
Israel seizes more land than prescribed under UN mandate.

Armistice (1949)
900,000 Palestinian refugees.

Israel
Arab Israeli conflicts
1956: Suez war.
1967: Six-Day War Israel gained control of:
Gaza strip.
Sinai peninsula; bordering the Suez Canal (closure of the canal until
1975).
West bank of the river Jordan
East sector of Jerusalem
Golan heights in Syria

1973: Yom Kippur war:

Surprise attack by Egypt and Syria (backed by other Muslim countries).
Small territorial gains by Egypt; the full control of the Suez Canal.

Israel
Issues

The Golan Heights- return to Syria?

The security zone- return to Lebanon?
Jerusalem- holy city for who?
The West Bank- Palestinian homeland?
The Palestinians- refugee problem.
Arab/Islamic disruption- impact of extremist groups.
Water security (Jordan).

Israel

Jerusalem
Holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims
Judaism:
Capital of Jewish kingdom 3000 years BC.
Faith took form in the first temple; destroyed by Babylonians in 586 BC.
Rebuilt as second temple; destroyed by Romans in 70 AD.

Islam:
Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven 7th century AD.

Christianity:
Based on the teachings of Jesus Christ; crucifixion & ascent.

Israel

Conflict over Jerusalem

1947- united nations did not include Jerusalem as part of Israel.
1947- Palestine partition resolution designated Jerusalem as an
open city.
1948-49- war and transfer of Israeli government from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem.
1967- war and aftermath changed boundaries again.
1980- Jerusalem reaffirmed as the capital of Israel.

Regions of the Realm

Arabian Peninsula
Oil-rich countries of the Gulf area:
5 small: Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain.
1 larger: Saudi Arabia; 25.4 million people with the worlds greatest oil
reserves.

Capital-rich but labor-poor (rent economies).

Before recent oil booms (1970):
Underdeveloped both economically and from a human resource
perspective (education) and lacked infrastructure.

After 1970:

Oil revenues.
Begun to invest heavily in their own development.
Creation of several jobs in government, services and industry.
High profile jobs occupied by nationals (qualified or not).
Lack a skilled labor force.

Regions of the Realm

Population and labor issues in the Gulf States
A significant share of the labor is foreign:
Small populations.
Low labor force participation of women.

Heavy reliance upon foreign labor.

Solution to labor shortages:
Importing labor from other countries, including Egypt, India, Pakistan, the
Philippines, Iran, and Lebanon.
From USA, European states, and Japan.
Many stateless Palestinians also have found jobs there.
Foreigners outnumber nationals, in some cases by as much as 4 to 1.

Regions of the Realm

The national population:
Little incentive for nationals to get qualifications.
Supported by oil revenues from the state and have little need to work.
Diminishes incentive to upgrade skill levels which might necessitate
prolonging the dependence on foreign labor.

Political instability is a potential threat.

Many disenfranchised persons with no rights in the host country.
The fall of oil prices in the 1990s:
Created unemployment problems among the nationals.
Triggered Islamic nationalistic movements.

Share of Foreign Population and Workers in Persian

Gulf States, 2002

Regions of the Realm

The Empire States

Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan.

Imperial heritage.
Arab ethnicity gives way but Islamic culture continues.
High mountains and plateaus vs. rocky and sandy desert.

Turkey
Turkish ottoman empire
Nomadic peoples from the steppes and forests of Siberia.
6th century- established an empire stretching from Mongolia to
the black sea.
Spread the Turkic language far and wide.
Decline in the early 20th century.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk)

Father of modern turkey.
Moved capital from Constantinople to Ankara.
Westernized turkey and broke free from the Arab world.

Turkey
Westernization

Islam lost official status.

Roman alphabet replaced Arabic.
Islamic law replaced by western code.
Monogamy became law.
Women gained rights.
Turkey separated from Arab world.
Hope of joining the European Union.

Kurdish population
14 million- 1/5 of turkeys 70 million.
Southeast turkey (Iraq) - 3,000 BC; recently-Istanbul.
Islamic fundamentalism.