2. What is a Region?

3. What is a region? A region is an area of land with unique characteristics that distinguish it from other areas. It can be as large as a section of the entire world, such as the tropics, the hot area that surrounds the equator. However, a region can also be as small as one part of a single country. For instance, there are many different ways to divide the regions of the United States. We can divide the United States into climate regions, like tropical wet or desert regions. We can divide the country into landform regions, like the Rocky Mountain West or the Great Plains. We can also divide it into regions based on ecosystems, which consist of the different plants and animals that live in a certain area. Another type of region that we can use to divide the United States is a cultural region. In a cultural region, the people living there share common characteristics, like religion, language, arts, food, and history. In your journal, write an explanation of how regions are determined. Give an example. Discuss what makes Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York a different region in the United States than California and Arizona.

4. 1 st Reason to Classify the Middle East as a Region. North Africa and Southwest Asia are considered as one region. Some of the oldest civilizations in the world originated in the fertile river valleys along the Nile River and between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Southwest Asia. These include Sumer, Mesopotamia, and Babylon. Other than these rivers, the region is best known geographically as a desert region. The climate is hot and arid ( dry) with little to no rain fall. This makes growing crops difficult in areas not near major rivers.

5. What do so many people live around and why?

7. Reason 2: Culture plays an important role in defining a region. Religion is part of culture. Today, more than 90 percent of the Middle East region practices the religion, Islam. There are about 15 countries in the Middle East region that are Islamic. (Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Islam is not the most popular religion.)

8. What religion are the majority of the people in the Middle East?

9. Reason 3: The Middle East is considered a region for another reason. The language and ethnicity of that region is Arabic. Below is a sentence which read from right to left that says, “Have a good day.” هاف أ جود دي. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt1enLuON8A

10. What are the top 3 most popular languages in the Middle East?

11. Reason 4: A region can be determined by its natural resources if it has an extreme supply such as the Middle East. It has approximately two- thirds of the world's known petroleum, or oil, reserves. Saudi Arabia has the world’s highest oil reserves in the world.

12. List all of the world’s oil reserves that come from the Middle East region

13. Answers: Why is the Middle East a Region? 1. Geography-desert 2. Religion- Islam 3.Language-Arabic 4. Natural resource-oil or petroleum