1. Objective
Examine the impact of location and geography on the people and culture of the Middle East

2. People and Climate/ Resources

3. Use page 555

4. Use Pages

5. Climate and Resources

6. Climate Water is scarce
Desert (majority)– Semi-Arid – Mediterranean – Map
Less than 10% of land enough water to farm
People in well watered areas = Population scattered
River valleys
Fertile Crescent, Nile River Valley
Coast
Oasis: fertile area in desert
Water is scarce
Desalination
Irrigation systems

7. Back

8. Resources Copper, salt, phosphate Oil Trade Abundant Most important
Unevenly distributed = economic differences
Trade
Ancient until today
Sea routes:
Suez Canal connects Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

9. People of the Middle East

10. Ethnic Groups Arabs Turks Iranians (Persian) Kurds
Majority – Arabian Peninsula – and conquered, expanded and adopted
Turks
Iranians (Persian)
Kurds
ethnic minority – most Muslim
Iraq, Turkey, Iran
Nationalist Movement
Later European Jews to Israel
Dominant group in Israel

11. Language Turkish Arabic Armenian Greek Persian (Farsi) Kurdish Hebrew
Latin Script Alphabet from the Romans
Arabic
Armenian
Greek
Persian (Farsi)
Kurdish
Hebrew
Later English

12. Religions Islam Christianity Judaism
Most Arabs, Turks, Iranians, Kurds
sects
Christianity
Minorities in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria
Judaism
Majority of Israel
movements

13. Closure
How has location and geography impacted Middle Eastern people and their culture?
Over thousands of years, many groups invaded/migrated to the Middle East bringing their customs and culture.