Middle East

Unit Essential Questions:

1. How do historical events such as conquest, invasion, colonization, immigration, etc.. affect present day societies and cultures in southwest Asia and North Africa?
2. What are the historical foundations of the governments of southwest Asia and North Africa.?
3. How has the religious and ethnic diversity led to conflict in the region?
4. How has the location of profitable natural resources shaped patterns of population and the economy?

monotheism: the belief in one God; (mono = one, theism = God)

• most of the religions in the Middle East are monotheistic; for example, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

Islam: The second largest major world religion (belief system). Islam is mostly practiced in the Middle East/North Africa and southeast Asia.

• The followers of Islam are called Muslims.

scarce/scarcity: Not having enough, lacking.

• There was a drought, so the crops failed. Therefore, there is scarcity of food.

desalination: the process of removing salt from seawater in a plant (factory)

• The Middle East has few fresh water sources. Therefore, they are building desalination plants to help provide fresh water. In fact 70% of the world's desalination plants are located in the Middle East

fossil fuels: a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.

• Fossil fuels, like oil and natural gas, are huge money makers in the middle east and their economy depends on these resources.

renewable resource: Any resource, such as wood or solar energy, that can or will be replenished naturally in the course of time

• With the population growing and the demand for clean energy increasing, many Middle Eastern countries are looking to renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind.

ethnicity: belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition: such as , history, religion, language, and bloodline.

• Historically, the region has been a crossroad of different cultures. While some ethnic groups have been present in the region for thousands of years, others have arrived fairly recently through immigration due to the recent wealth from oil. The five largest ethnic groups in the region are Arabs, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Persians, and Anatolian Turks.

OPEC: an abbreviation for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which is a union of oil producing countries that regulate the amount of oil each country is able to produce.

• Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq are members of OPEC because they have a lot of oil and want to have a vote in controlling their oil.

cultural landscape: is a place that is the combined effort of nature and humans

diverse/diversity: Different. Different races, religions, languages, life experiences, preferences.

• The Middle East has diverse languages, people, and religions. In this region it has led to conflicts because, they have been fighting for rights and resources.

Arab Spring: A series of uprisings against unlimited governments in the Middle East and North Africa in 2010-2011.

• Beginning in 2011, many predominantly Arab countries began protesting their corrupt, unlimited governments and demanded freedom and people power (democracy). This became known as the Arab Spring.

dictators: One person who has all the authority in a government.

• Tunisia - Zine el Abidine Ben Ali; Libya - Muammmar Gadhafi; Yemen- Ali Abdullah Saleh; and Syria- Bashar Assad are examples of dictators in this region.

revolt(ed)/revolution: To overthrow, or replace, the current government

• The Arab Spring is a wave of revolution to sweep across the Middle East in an attempt to overthrow their dictators and bring about more democratic governments.

oasis: a fertile spot in a desert where water is found.

• The location of oases has been very importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas; caravans must travel through (via) oases so that supplies of water and food can be replenished to nearby towns.

embargo: an official ban on (refusal to) trade with a specific country.

• Oil embargoes have been used agains various countries in the Middle East. Currently, there is an embargo on the country of Qatar.