Physical and political geography of Southwest Asia and Northern Africa

1. On a physical map, use cardinal directions, map scales, key/legend, and title to locate important physical features of the region (e.g. the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Peninsula, the Persian Gulf, the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Bosporus, and the Suez Canal). Use other kinds of maps (e.g., landform, population, climate) to determine important characteristics of this region.

2. On a political map of the region, demonstrate map reading skills to distinguish countries, capitals, and other cities and to describe their absolute location (using latitude and longitude coordinates) and relative location (relationship to other countries, cities, or bodies of water); use knowledge of maps to complement information gained from text about a city, country or region.

Modern countries in Western Asia and the Middle East

Bahrain, Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, area governed by the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

Modern countries in North Africa

Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Western Sahara (mostly under Moroccan Administration)

3. Explain how absolute and relative locations, major physical characteristics, climate and natural resources in this region have influenced settlement patterns, population size, and economies of the countries.