Transcript Middle Eastern Culture and Historical Highlights

Middle East Geography
 Why is the Middle East important?
 Crossroads to Africa, Asia, and Europe
 Cultural Diffusion / Diversity
 You likely know diversity means differences in a
group of people
 Cultural Diffusion refers to the spreading of culture
from a central point (Palestine is often the central
point in the ME)
 Strategic Location- Sea Routes, Oil are vital to the
locals and international world
Middle East Geography

Major Regions
 Northern Tier- Turkey, Iran and the Iranian Plateau

Mostly desert region—where there isn’t a desert, there’s likely to be a
mountain
 Arabian Peninsula
 Oil, birthplace of Islam.
 Fertile Crescent- Mesopotamia, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Iraq
 The Fertile Crescent is a rich food-growing area in a part of the world
where most of the land is too dry for farming.
 The Fertile Crescent is a boomerang shaped region that extends from the
eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.
 Some of the best farmland of the Fertile Crescent is on a narrow strip of
land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
 Nile Valley- Egypt
 Fertile land in Egypt = very valuable
 They become an economic leader in Africa
 Access to Mediterranean Sea (Med Sea + Suez Canal = access to Indian
Ocean)
Northern Tier- Turkey, Iran and the
Iranian Plateau
Arabian Peninsula
The Fertile Crescent
The Nile Valley
Middle East Geography
 Climate- Entire region is mostly
desert
 Very little water or rain.
 Tons of oil.
Middle East Geography
 Peoples Languages- Arabic, Turkish,
Hebrew, Kurdish, Persian, Greek,
and Armenian
 Ethnicities- Arab, Turks, Iranians
(Persians), and Kurds
Middle East People
People live:
 In small farming villages
 As Nomads- Bedouins
 A minority Arab community nomadically
living amongst the rest of the population
 They have conflicts between water and
grazing land.
Middle East People
 Family life important and patriarchal. Father has
final say.
 Marriages are arranged / Multiple wives / divorce
was permitted
 Women subordinate to men / “Men are the
managers of the affairs of women”
 Women in some Arab communities must wear a
hijab; in other communities it is optional dress
 Explanation of the view of women in traditional
Islamic culture from a traditional conservative
student’s perspective
Middle East Historical Highlights
 The Code of Hammurabi- 1st law code
 “An Eye for an Eye”
 http://www.commonlaw.com/Hammurabi.ht
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 The Phoenician Alphabet- basis for English
 The Persian Empire- largest and most
compassionate
 Religions- Islam, Christianity, Judaism
Middle East Historical Review
 Moses and the Jews flight from slavery in
Egypt to Israel as God commanded…10
Commandments
 Romans expel Jews from Palestine in70A.D.
 Christianity and Jesus
 Islam and Mohammad
 Christian Crusades
Middle East Historical Review
WW1 Treaty of Versailles stripped
Middle East from Ottoman Empire
(who sided with Germany) - Britain
and France get Syria, Lebanon, Iraq,
Trans-Jordan, Palestine.
Middle East Historical Review
 Turkey becomes a republic under
Kemal Ataturk
 Iran achieves independence under
Reza Khan Pahlavi
Middle East Historical Review
 Iraq gets independence from Britain
in 1932
 Lebanon and Syria from France in
1943 and 1946 respectively.
 Conflict over Palestine intensifies.
Middle East Historical Review
 Zionist movement calls for establishment
of Jewish State in Palestine…Encourage
Jews from Europe to emigrate to Palestine
 1917 Balfour Agreement- British back
Jewish state in Palestine
 Arab Nationalists in Palestine feel
betrayed by the British
Middle East Historical Review
 Muslims and Christians far outnumber Jews in
Palestine
 By 1930 many Jews are moving to Palestine
because of Anti-Semitism by Hitler.
 After WW2- Thousands of Jews (death camp
survivors) left Europe for Palestine.
Middle East Historical Review
 Palestinian Arabs bitterly oppose this
migration by Jews
 1947- U.N. partitions Palestine into a
Jewish and Arab state- Israel is formed.
 1948- Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon
attack Israel separately.
Middle East Historical Review
 Israel wins and seizes ½ the area the U.N. set
aside for Arabs in Palestine. 500,000 Arabs
forced to leave Palestine
 Wars in 1956, 1968, and 1973 all led to
territorial gains by Israel including the Sinai
Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, The
Golan Heights for Syria, and the West and
East Bank plus east Jerusalem from Jordan.
Middle East Historical Review
 Palestinians form PLO- Palestinian Liberation
Organization.
 PLO main objective is to create a Palestinian state for
Muslims.
 Yasser Arafat leads PLO and is moderately successful
forcing Israel to turn over some of the west bank and
Gaza Strip.
 Conflict continues as both Israel and the Palestinian
States seek to control Jerusalem and west bank.