MENA in the Past
The name for the area Mesopotamia sits in between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Fertile Crescent
Meaning "sunset" in Arabic this is the term used for the North African region as a whole.
Maghrib
The first country to experience the Arab Spring after a street vendor set himself on fire in 2011.
Tunisia
The most famous stateless nation of people in the MENA.
Kurds
Finger-lickin good Libyan cuisine we saw in Parts Unknown
Uncle Kentaki
Much of MENA spent the 20th century balancing between Islamist-rule and _____ rule in which the state is governed by the absence of religion.
Secular
Driving economic force across the MENA region that often leads to global concerns about political stability.
Oil and gas
Longtime dictator killed by his own people after a NATO-led no-fly zone inhibited his ability to suppress Arab Spring protests that spread from Benghazi to Tripoli in just a matter of months.
Muammar Gaddafi
The most common ethnic identity across the MENA
Arab
Iranian-directed film taking place in real life Iraq just months after the US-led invasion in 2003.
Turtles Can Fly
One of the wonders of the Ancient World, this site that appears in the Bible as well marked the peaked of one of the region's earliest civilizations as an architectural and botanical achievement.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
A common regime type in MENA that's relatively uncommon in the rest of the world.
Monarchy
Of the five countries of North Africa this one experienced the least of the turmoil from the Arab Spring largely because of reforms made earlier in the decade by the longstanding Alaouite Dynasty
Morocco
The indigenous peoples of North Africa are collectively referred to by this name, of which one of our readings focused on this social construct as defined by the Europeans.
Berbers
Temporary host of sorts to the Bedouin-tent of brutal dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a trip to the UN in the 2000s.
Donald Trump
This Egyptian leader was a nationalist figure not just for his country after it gained independence but also amongst his fellow Arabs in the MENA until his death by heart attack in 1970.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
The more common of the two sects across the MENA when it comes to Islam.
Sunni
Algeria.
1975's _____ encouraged by the country's king saw hundreds of thousands line up in support along the border with the Spanish Sahara (only to turn around and subjugate the area themselves in the coming decades).
Green March
Life is Waiting portrays the experiences of this group of people in Western Sahara.
Sahrawi
Ancient city-state located in modern-day Tunis that Rome famously burned to the ground and salted the earth, leading to their rise in the region over the Phoenicians and others.
Carthage
Of the five North African states this is the only one at risk of permanent division due to a civil war that last from its Arab Spring until 2020.
Libya
Revolution swept this central plaza of Cairo in 2011 but also saw mass protests in 2013 against the presidency of Morsi.
Tahrir Square
This organization, extremist in some states and a political party in others, came to power in Egypt after the 2011 Revolution but took a hardline stance against Christian minorities and non-religious rule to the point the military took power two years later.
Muslim Brotherhood
Name of the University our friend Dr. Dessouky teaches at in Cairo
6th of October