Module 1: The Middle East

Question 1

M1.1

Answer 1

.

Question 2

What is the single most pervasive unifying factor in the Middle East?

Answer 2

ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
- the original core which consisted of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia

Question 3

What are the four ‘contemporary aspects’ that dominate the world’s perception of the area?

Answer 3

1. Petroleum resources
2. Political tensions from Arab-Israeli confrontations
3. Rivalry of leaders and states
4. Extremists amongst Muslims, Jews, Christians

Question 4

What is the ‘core’ of the Middle East?

Answer 4

Fertile Crescent
- the arc of fertile land that extends from the Mediterranean around the Syrian Desert to the Gulf

Question 5

The significance of the location of the Middle East derives from…

Answer 5

its irregular shape
- seas penetrate deeply into the land and alternate with peninsulas and land bridges around Syrian-Mesopotian core

Question 6

The Middle East is often known as

Answer 6

the “cradle of civilization”

Question 7

Levant

Answer 7

“east”, “Near East”,

During the Renaissance, the Italians (who were the most active European traders with Mediterranean lands), referred to them as “Levant” which meant the “rising” (of the sun).

European languages had designated the lands near the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean later.

Question 8

What increased European imperialism?

Answer 8

contacts between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as a consequence of voyages of discovery and increased commercial ties.

Question 9

Explain the name “Middle East” in history.

Answer 9

In 1902, Captain Alfred T. Maham employed it for an indefinite area around the Gulf.

The National Geographic Society entitled its map to the area in the early 1960s as “Lands of the Eastern Mediterranean.”

In an effort to avoid the implication of a Eurocentric perspective, some specialists favor “Southwest Asia,” more as “Swasia.”

However, the term “Middle East” is used because of the region’s central location, its function as a tricontinental hub, and its role as a strategic bridge.

Question 10

Why might North Africa be included?

Answer 10

linked with the Near East, meaning that North Africa is also Arab and Muslim.

Question 11

Maghrib

Answer 11

northwestern Africa

Question 12

Mashriq

Answer 12

lands east of Libya.

Question 13

Differentiate the Maghrib and the Mashriqs.

Answer 13

Mashriq had more relations with Turks and Persians, given the Byzantine and Ottoman cnotrol stronger in Mashriq than in Maghrib. Meanwhile, Christian influence was much less applicable in Mashriq.

Question 14

Why can Central Asia not be included in the Middle East?

Answer 14

Conquest of central Asia by Russia
- five new independent states of Kazakhstan, Kyrghystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, cannot be in the Middle East region.

Question 15

What have been the focal points of imperial power in the region?

Answer 15

• Mesopotamia
• Asia Minor
• Nile Valley
• Iranian Plateau

Question 16

M1.2

Answer 16

.

Question 17

What does MENA stand for?

Answer 17

Middle East and North Africa

Question 18

What factors have impacted water supplies in the region?

Answer 18

• rapid population and economic growth
• shared water supplies across borders
• effects of climate change

Question 19

Where do seven of the countries exist that face absolute water scarcity?

Answer 19

Arabian Peninsula
- known for its desert climates and minimal precipitation

Question 20

Explain “sustainable consumption”

Answer 20

where there is more consumption on a certain area than the time that it gets replenished by rain

Question 21

What is desalination?

Answer 21

the process of separating salt from seawater