Southwest Asia

The Arabian Peninsula Bedouins – desert nomads Herded camels, goats Lived in mobile tent encampments Clans fought each other over water, pasture, and honor Warrior people

The Arabian Peninsula Around 600 CE, Muhammad founded Islam Religion spread throughout Arabian Peninsula and then into Middle East and North Africa

The Arabian Peninsula Islam has five basic duties  Submission  Prayer 5x a Day facing Mecca  Charity (Zakat)  Fasting (Ramadan) sun- up to sundown  Pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca

The Middle East Customs  Relationships between men and women  Marriage  Washing  The Left Hand  Eating

The Middle East

Muslim governments were theocratic – ruled by religious leaders Caliph - religious and political successor to Muhammad Laws were based on Islamic teachings (Sharia)

The Middle East The Schism Sunni  Wahabism  Salafism Shi’ite Sufism

The Middle East There were two great Arab empires – the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates The Abbasids were destroyed by the Mongols The third great Islamic empire was the Ottoman Empire (Turk) which lasted from 1453 until 1922

The Middle East After WWI and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, much of the Middle East came under the control of Britain and France as “Mandates”

The Middle East The Middle East became important due to its oil OPEC – Organization of Oil Exporting Countries Modernizing Much of its work force consists of foreign workers

The Middle East Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Patriarch – Abraham Jerusalem Judaism  The Kingdom  The Temple  Israel and Judah  The Second Temple  Diaspora ~70 CE  Western Wall (aka Wailing Wall)

The Middle East Christianity  Church of the Holy Sepulchre  Mount of Olives  Christianity - state religion of Rome in 300’s CE under Constantine  Crusades – series of European invasions to reestablish Christianity in Holy Land

The Middle East Islam  Mecca (Ka’aba), Medina, Jerusalem  Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque  Temple Mount

The Middle East Zionism  Belief Jews should have their own homeland  Jews began migrating to Palestine in 1800’s  Holocaust prompted demands for Jewish homeland  UN divided Palestine in 1947

The Middle East Israel established War with Arab states 1967 Six-Day War 1973 Yom Kippur War PLO – Palestine Liberation Organization Refugee problems

The Middle East Lebanon  Religious diversity  Muslims (Shia and Sunni)  Christians (Maronite and Eastern Orthodox)  Druze  Civil War  Hezbollah

The Middle East Kurdistan  Kurds have occupied territory for thousands of years  Divided by borders of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran  Kurds persecuted by governments  Kurds want their own country

The Middle East Iran  Iranian Revolution 1979  American Embassy Hostage Crisis  Iran-Iraq War over oil fields

The Middle East Iraq  Iraq invasion of Kuwait  First Persian Gulf War  Weapons of mass destruction?  Gassing of Kurds – No Fly Zone  Second Persian Gulf War  Return of Al Queda

The Middle East Syria  Bashar al-Assad  Civil War  Killing of civilians  Iranian support  Al-Quada

The Middle East Afghanistan  History of invasions  Russian occupation  9-11  Taliban  US invasion of Afghanistan

The Middle East Turkey  Mustafa Kamal Attaturk  Secular Western state  Member of NATO  Conflicts with Kurds, Greeks over Cyprus  Increasing Islamism

The Middle East Cyprus  Part of the Ottoman Empire  Came under British control after WWI  Won independence  Greek population voted to join Cyprus with Greece  Turks invaded island  Cyprus divided between Greece and Turkey