Ap Human Geography Middle East

The Middle East is also called "The Crossroads" because it was a place where people, goods, and ideas came together. It is in the middle of Southwest Asia which made it a crossroad for trade. Goods from Southwest Asia reached China and India. From there, it traveled all the way to East Africa.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is the largest arid country (Al-Ibrahim, 1991). The country covers some 80 percent of the Arabian Peninsula (Al-Hamzi, 1992). The area of Saudi Arabia is 2.25 million square kilometers, equivalent (1.4) million square miles (Batayneh, 2012). The total number population in Saudi Arabia is 25.7 million (Al-Shayaa et al., 2012). Saudi Arabia climate is broiling in the summer and chilly in the winter, and Saudi Arabia does not have well-defined season. In addition, Saudi Arabia is waterless country, and it does not have rivers or lakes (Al-Shayaa et al., 2012).

Often called “The Crossroads of the World”, the Middle East stands between three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. Over thousands of years, migrating traders and conquerors crossed this region and spread the ideas, inventions, and achievements of many civilizations. It is an incredibly important part of the world with rich history, important resources, and deep religious and cultural traditions. However, in the past decades up to today, the Middle East has been consumed by conflict and chaos. Although different circumstances surround each issue, religion, terrorism, disputes over the control of natural resources, and weak governance primarily allow conflict to persist in the Middle East.

Edmund Burke once said “Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.” Unfortunately, it seems that many people who have impacted the world have had a bad history teacher, as history continues to repeat itself to this day. One of the most prime examples of this is seen in the Middle East; where the Palestinian people are fighting against the Israelis over territory in which they both believe belongs to them. It has been a dispute which has resulted in loss of homes, loss of life and loss of money. However, this is nothing new. Eugene O’Neill’s statement, “There is no present and no future, only the past happening over and over again, now” applies strongly to the situation of the past 70 years in the

The Middle East was under the control of the Ottoman Empire for many centuries. It was declining but still in control until World War 1. World War 1 impacted the modern Middle East a tremendous amount. Who controlled the Middle East changed because of oil, resources, and the relationships between Israelis and Palestinians also changed drastically.

Morocco is rich in mineral deposits and the third largest phosphate rock producers. Morocco has vast reserves of phosphate rocks, copper, cobalt, anthracite coal, silver, gold, iron ore, zinc, manganese etc. The quality of water in the areas surrounding mining sites is compromised during and after the mining with harmful agents such as Arsenic (As), Lead (Pb), Zinc(Zn) etc.Due to this water pollution and the fact that water resources are limited, a large number of people and livestock in villages close to the mining sites are affected with serious life threatening diseases. In such areas thirty percent of the wastewater that is untreated is discharged directly into natural water bodies. As an example, the Sebou basin that constitutes

According to Dr. Bacevich, “The Greater Middle East was to serve—indeed, was even then already serving—as the chosen arena for honing military power into a utensil that would maintain America’s privileged position and, not so incidentally, provide a continuing rationale for the entire apparatus of national security.” However, rather than helping either the Middle East or America, this approach has actually caused a great amount of harm and only creates more dictators, internal strife, and terrorist groups. The interests of the United States and the Islamic World have never aligned and the Middle East is resistant to shaping.

Throughout history the Middle East has been home to some of the most powerful and influential empires in the world. As with all great empires they did not arise without difficulty. Though the Middle East has had periods of great prosperity, it has also had periods of poverty and stagnation. Within the last one hundred years the Middle East has seen many changes relating to borders, religions, and international politics. Much of the changes that have happened originated from diverse ways of thinking especially when it comes to religion and culture. Conflicts that occur in the Middle East such as Israel, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan have monumental effects on the global economy predominately due to the massive oil industry in the region and competition between outside nations trying to expand influence.

The Middle East is far from monumental and homogenous. Its differences have been a source of both strength and inspiration. The most visible, most pervasive, and the least recognized aspects of

The region of the Middle East and its inhabitants have always been a wonder to the Europeans, dating back to the years before the advent of Islam and the years following the Arab conquest. Today, the Islamic world spreads from the corners of the Philippines to the far edges of Spain and Central Africa. Various cultures have adopted the Islamic faith, and this blending of many different cultures has strengthened the universal Islamic culture. The religion of Islam has provided a new meaning to the lives of many people around the world. In the Islamic world, the religion defines and enriches culture and as a result the culture gives meaning to the individual. Islam is not only a religion, it is in its own way a culture. It may be this very

Nation building and remodeling societies in the Middle East is therefore the wrong policy to pursue, when the West should be minimalizing its visible presence as much as possible. Since Muslim fundamentalism is not the real cause of terrorism, attempting to change these countries will only generate more attacks against the West. Left to their own devices, most of these groups would not attack the U.S. at all, since Hamas and Hezbollah operated mainly in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank, directing almost all of their attention against Israel, while Al Qaeda never launched any attacks against Israel at all, despite its extremely hostile rhetoric against Jews. All of these groups, including the ones funded and inspired by Al Qaeda, are driven by mainly nationalist goals against a foreign military presence and the larger the size of this presence the more attacks it will generate.

Middle East considers one of the most studied areas in the world due to its rich history of politics, social, economic, and its culture and civilization. Its borders are still arguable geographically, generally in the west it starts from morocco until Iran in the east, however, many scholars don’t agree on including Turkey either as a Middle Eastern or as a European country (Milton-Edwards, 2006. P: 4). The origin of the name was invented by the colonies as a necessity to describe the place geographically, which was the era of bringing “Middle East” the language of academic writings and political scientists. Changes, innovations, and new ideologies create gaps between the transformations of any perspectives to a different

were chosen by God to set up a state of Israel where they could not be

Israel is situated at the connection of Africa and Asia. It is 20,000 square kilometres and unlike its neighbour Arab states it lacks natural resources. Lebanon and Syria border it in the north, Jordan in the east and Egypt to the south. Israel has also been holding Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the River Jordan since 1967.

     In the heart of the Middle East is a country known by many Westerners for its oil production and, often, extremist beliefs of groups within the country. The country is Saudi Arabia, and though it is thought of by many as a rather backward country, Saudi Arabia has a rich history and culture, and it is a country that revolves around Islam and the worship of Allah as the one true God.