Map Masters
This country takes up most of the Arabian Peninsula.
What is Saudi Arabia?
The Rub’ al Khali is better known by this nickname.
What is the Empty Quarter?
This resource helped cities like Dubai grow rapidly.
What is oil?
Islam was founded in this city.
What is Mecca?
Raising animals for food and products.
What is pastoralism?
Why do most people live in river valleys rather than deserts?
Access to water/farming.
This mountain range runs through Iran and helps create rain shadows.
What are the Zagros Mountains?
This process removes salt from seawater.
What is desalination?
This canal links the Mediterranean and Red Sea.
What is the Suez Canal?
The split between Sunni and Shia began over disagreement about this.
Who should succeed Muhammad?
A communal farm or settlement in Israel.
What is a kibbutz?
How do mountains contribute to desert formation?
Rain shadow effect.
This narrow waterway is a major oil chokepoint between the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
What is the Strait of Hormuz?
A dry streambed that fills after heavy rain is called this.
What is a wadi?
Why is the Strait of Hormuz important?
It is a major route for oil transportation.
This is Islamic law based on the Quran and Muhammad’s teachings.
What is Shari’ah?
A hot, dry desert wind.
What are simooms?
Why has the Middle East been called a crossroads?
Between Europe, Asia, and Africa.
This river system is called the birthplace of civilization.
What are the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers?
Why is water considered more valuable than oil in some parts of the Middle East?
What is scarcity/limited freshwater?
What is a major risk of depending too heavily on oil?
Economic problems if oil demand drops.
This branch of Islam is prominent in Oman and distinct from Sunni and Shia.
What is Ibadhism?
Seasonal winds bringing moist air from oceans.
What are monsoons?
How does geography shape conflict in the Middle East?
Resources, borders, chokepoints, water.
This peninsula connects Africa and Asia.
What is the Sinai Peninsula?
Daily Double: Explain why water scarcity can lead to conflict.
Competition over limited resources.
If the Strait of Hormuz closed, what might happen globally?
Oil prices rise/trade disruptions.
Why is calligraphy important in Islamic art?
Religious beliefs encouraged focus on writing/design over human images.
A strategic narrow waterway between two larger bodies of water.
What is a chokepoint?
Explain how physical geography influences settlement, trade, and politics.
(Open-ended synthesis question)