Table of Contents

Sub-Saharan Africa North Africa & Southwest Asia

MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES

1. A plateau continent that is physiographically unique

2. Comprised of dozens of nations and hundreds of ethnic groups

3. A realm of subsistence farmers

4. Inefficient state boundaries represent colonial legacies

5. Dislocated peoples and refugees

6. Raw materials and resource potential

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. No linear mountain backbone

2. Rift valleys

3. Great Lakes

4. Plateau continent

CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. European colonial objectives

a. A port along the West African coast

b. A water route to South Asia and Southeast Asia

c. 1500’s - looking for resources; Slaves

d. 1850 - industrial revolution occurs in Europe

i. Increased demand for mineral resources

ii. Need to expand agricultural production

2. Berlin Conference (1884)

a. 14 States divided up Africa without consideration of cultures

b. Results of superimposed boundaries

i. African peoples were divided.

ii. Unified regions were ripped apart.

iii. Hostile societies were thrown together.

iv. Hinterlands were disrupted.

v. Migration routes were closed off.

c. When independence returned to Africa after 1950, the realm had already acquired a legacy of political fragmentation.

3. Colonial policies

a. Great Britain: “Indirect Rule” (Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe)

Indigenous power structures were left intact to some degree and local rulers were made representatives of the crown.

b. France: “Assimilationist” (Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, etc.)

Enforced a direct rule, which propagated the French culture through language, laws, education and dress (acculturation)

c. Portugal: “Exploitation” (Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique)

First to enslave and colonize and one of the last to grant independence

Maintained rigid control; raw resource oriented

d. Belgium: “Paternalistic” (Rwanda, Zaire, Burundi)

Treated Africans as though they where children who needed to be tutored in western ways; did not try to make them Belgium

Raw resource oriented; ignored the development of natives

4. Legacy of colonialism

a. Several hundred languages are spoken.

b. Antagonism between tribes (e.g., Rwanda)

c. Low level of development is linked to colonization

DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

1. Population distribution

2. Urbanization

3. African languages

a. Lingua franca

b. Multilingualism

4. Religions

a. Christianity

b. Islam

c. Tribal religions

ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS

Low level of development is linked to colonization

1. Transportation facilities - The movement of goods is from the interior to coastal outlets.

2. Communication within Africa is impeded by desert, dense forest, and lack of navigable rivers in certain regions.

3. Dual economy remains intact; most states rely on a single crop or mineral and are vulnerable to world markets.

POLITICAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Southern Africa

a. 10 countries

b. 6 landlocked states

c. Northern zone marks limit of Congo basin

d. Plateau country

e. Rich in natural resources

f. Agricultural diversity

2. East Africa

a. Lies astride the equator

b. Mainly highlands

c. Cooler and generally drier conditions

d. Ethnic diversity

3. Equatorial Africa

a. Astride the equator

b. Mainly lowland country

c. Vast areas of rainforest

d. Environment is a mixed blessing?

e. Delineated from Nigeria by physiographic as well as cultural breaks

f. The Adamawa Highland coincides with the border between British-influenced Nigeria and French-acculturated Cameroon.

g. Dominated by Congo River and Basin

h. Equatorial rainforest

i. Impeded in transportation and communication

j. French is predominant in most states except Sao Tome and Principe

k. The most underdeveloped region in this realm

l. Resources

m. Copper (Democratic Republic of Congo)

n. Timber, oil (Gabon, Cameroon)

o. Gold, manganese and uranium

4. West Africa

Elephants of Cameroon

African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) joined the endangered species list in 1988. Concern for their survival arose after increasing ivory prices provoked unprecedented poaching during the 1970s. In little more than a decade, poachers killed more than half of Africa's elephants. This site is about a conservation program designed to help preserve this important species in Africa.

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NORTH AFRICA & Southwest Asia

MAJOR GEOGRAPHIC QUALITIES

1. Located at the crossroads of three continents

2. Economy is prone to follow the fortunes of the oil industry

3. Petroleum resources and location assure global role for region

4. Significant to three of the world’s religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

5. Rise and diffusion of Islamic fundamentalism

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Located at the crossroads of three continents

2. Deforestation and overgrazing

3. Salinization: buildup of toxic salts in the soil, a side effect of irrigation, which has been used in this region for centuries; fresh water contains small amounts of dissolved salts; irrigation puts this water and salt on farmlands; lack of rainfall means there’s no way to flush out the salts; gradually salts become concentrated, ruining fields; especially a problem in Iraq, central Iran

4. Five basic land forms

a. Maghreb: translation from Arabic is “western island” (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia); Atlas mountains on Mediterranean east coast are related to Alps in Europe; topography varies from mountains to sand

b. Levant: Eastern Mediterranean region, including Lebanon; mountains within 20 miles of the Ocean; Arabian Peninsula is a plateau, sloping eastward; rugged highlands in Oman and Yemen; drifting dune fields elsewhere

c. Anatolia: Iranian and Anatolian plateaus (Iran, Turkey); the large peninsula of Turkey, also sometimes called Asia Minor; average height 3,000–5,000 feet, prone to earthquakes; Elburz Mountains in northern Iran are >18,000 feet

d. Mesopotamia: land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq

e. Jordan River Valley straddles borderlands of Israel, Jordan, Syria and drains into the Dead Sea

CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Religion

a. Hearth of the Judeo-Christian tradition

b. The emergence of Islam

c. Modern Jewish state

d. Diffusion of Islam along trade and military routes

e. Modern religious diversity

2. Colonialism — Most countries in the region were independent of European colonization by the 1950s but the legacy remained

a. French — Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Syria and Lebanon

b. British — Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Aden (Yemen), Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq

c. Italy — Libya

d. Spain — Morocco

e. Persia (Iran) and Turkey were never directly colonized

3. Conflict

DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

1. Physiological density: the number of people relative to the amount of farmable land

2. One of the world’s earliest hearths of domestication

3. Pastoral nomadism: a traditional form of subsistence agriculture in which practitioners depend on the regular and systematic seasonal movement of livestock for a large part of their livelihood

4. Oasis life

5. Long urban legacy with the most common form being the medina or walled urban core

6. Population clusters found around water sources

ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS

1. Region has 68% of the world’s proven oil supplies and only 7% of its population

2. Oil is unevenly distributed

3. OPEC can no longer control prices globally, but it still influences the price and availability

4. Location has resulted in global interest throughout history

POLITICAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Egypt

2. Sudan

3. Libya

4. Algeria

5. Morocco

6. Western Sahara

7. Iraq

8. Syria

9. Jordan

10. Lebanon

11. Israel

12. The Palestinian Territories

13. Saudi Arabia

14. Kuwait

15. Bahrain

16. Qatar

17. UAE

18. Oman

19. Yemen

20. Turkey

21. Iran

The Ottoman Kilafa

This site contains a general history of the Ottoman Empire, starting with the Turkish Caliphs. It contains interesting information about the Caliphs as far back as the 1200s. Additionally, there are maps, information about modern Turkey, Islamic "Unitarians" (Wahhabis) and other links. The site is organized and presented from an Islamic perspective.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

OPEC is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the stability and prosperity of the petroleum market, as enshrined in the OPEC Statute. It has eleven members. An organization like OPEC is also known as a cartel because it regulates prices and output.

Saudi Arabia Ministry of Information

This is an extensive site containing information released by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Information, and containing a broad range of topics, from tourism to history to current events. The pages on Islam are interesting and provide good insight into concerns of the region. Similarly, the issues section has good information on many topics brought out in the text, such as cultural nationalism and globalization.

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