GEOG 101 AMU Introduction to Geography American Military University Week 5 Lesson

GEOG 101 AMU Introduction to Geography American Military University Week 5 assistance is available at Domyclass

Lesson Overview

This realm was the scene of several of the world’s great ancient civilizations, based in its river valleys and basins. It currently makes the stage for political and economic dramas that we are all personally and professionally involved in. From Morocco on the shores of the Atlantic to the mountains of Afghanistan, and from the Horn of Africa to the steppes of inner Asia lies a vast geographic realm of enormous cultural complexity. It stands at the crossroads where Europe, Asia, and Africa meet, and is a part of all three. This is one of humankind’s primary source areas and deserves of close attention. The various aspects of cultural diffusion will be discussed in detail. We will take our first look at the great world religion of Islam.

Students will be able to:

Recognize the major geographic qualities of North Africa/Southwest Asia. (CO-2, CO-3)
Identify the major climate types associated with the realm. (CO-3)Describe the “Arab” and “Islamic” nature of this realm. (CO-2, CO-4, CO-8)
Relate the role of postulated culture hearths and early diffusion routes. (CO-1, CO-7)
Contrast expansion and relocation diffusion including the processes of contagious and hierarchical diffusion. (CO-2, CO-6, CO-7)
Relate the broad economic impact of oil to this realm. (CO-6, CO-7, CO-8)

In this lesson, we will discuss:

Characterize the Realm
Cultural Difussion
Cities of the Realm

The following activities and assessments need to be completed this week:

Reading:
- World Regional Geography: People, Places, Globalization – Chapter 8
Forum #5
Quiz 5
Assignment 2: Outline

The North African/Southwest Asia Realm

This lesson discusses the geographic realm of North Africa and Southwest Asia. This realm was the scene of several of the world’s great ancient civilizations, based in its river valleys and basins, and currently makes the stage for many political and economic conflicts. From Morocco on the shores of the Atlantic to the mountains of Afghanistan, and from the Horn of Africa to the steppes of inner Asia lies a vast geographic realm of enormous cultural complexity. It stands at the crossroads where Europe, Asia, and Africa meet, and is a part of all three. This is one of humankind’s primary source areas and deserves our close attention. The various aspects of cultural diffusion will be discussed in detail. We will also take our first look at the great world religion of Islam

Topics covered will include:

Physical Geography of the North African/Southwest Asian Realm
Regions of the North African/Southwest Asian Realm
The Cradle of Civilization
The Birthplace of Three Faiths
The Climate of the North African/Southwest Asian Realm
Natural Resources and Economies
Challenges Facing the Realm

Topics covered will include:

Physical Geography of the North African/Southwest Asian Realm
Regions of the North African/Southwest Asian Realm
The Cradle of Civilization
The Birthplace of Three Faiths
The Climate of the North African/Southwest Asian Realm
Natural Resources and Economies
Challenges Facing the Realm

Introduction

Southwest Asia

The realm’s second region includes Turkey, Iran, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula. Part of Turkey is located on the European continent. Across the Dardanelles, the small strait that separates Europe and Asia, lies the large city of Istanbul. Formerly known as Constantinople, this nearly two thousand-year-old metropolis has historically served as the gateway to Asia from Europe.

Turkestan

The third region of this geographic realm is known as Turkestan, or Central Asia. Turkish culture has historically impacted this region greatly, giving it its name; the suffix –stan means “land of,” and each nation in this region’s name denotes the predominant ethnic group in that nation. Afghanistan forms its southernmost point, and its largest country, Kazakhstan, forms its northern, western, and eastern extremes. Along with the other four Central Asian countries—Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Kazakhstan is part of the former Soviet Union.

Like most of its realm, Turkestan has many deserts. Its deserts are surrounded by expansive grassy steppes where there are few trees, and its mountainous regions include the Tian Shan, Hindu Kush, and the Pamir mountain ranges. Turkestan is a landlocked region that receives little rainfall; its chief body of water, the Aral Sea, was formerly the fourth-largest lake in the world. After decades of diverting water for irrigation by the Soviet Union, it is now a fraction of its previous size.

Ever since the division of labor that characterized early civilizations was first seen, religion has been the driving force in the lives of the people of North Africa and Southwest Asia. As can be expected from cultures that rose from the forces of the Earth, most early religions were polytheistic and honored deities that represented natural entities like the sky, the rain, and the sun. In Egypt, the Nile River itself was revered as a central element of the native religion.

However, the religions followed by the ancient people are no longer practiced today. Since the dawn of civilization, three other religions have emerged in this part of the world. Today, nearly two out of three people worldwide practice some form of one of these three religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Judaism was founded as the religion of the Hebrew people, who entered the Levant region from Egypt about 4,000 years ago. With no central leadership, the Hebrews conflicted with numerous native groups in the region but managed to endure, eventually uniting under a king named David and his son, Solomon.

The Hebrews practiced a religion that recognized only one god, known as Yahweh. The key sacred writing of the Jews was the Old Testament, which included their main rules for living. It detailed the proper worship of Yahweh and relation to other people, outlawing murder, theft, adultery, and the worship of other gods, among other things.

Judaism is the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, but the world’s only Jewish state, Israel, was very recently established in 1948. Israel shares a geographic location with the Jews’ ancestral home, from which they were forced to flee in the first century.

christianity

While Judaism accounts for less than one percent of the world’s population, a religion that developed directly from it remains the world’s most practiced. Like Judaism, Christianity’s belief structure revolves around the worship of one single, all knowing and all-powerful God. Its origins can be found in the Levant about 2,000 years ago with the prophet Jesus Christ. It circulated far and wide through the efforts of his early followers, most notably the missionary Paul, who spread Christianity throughout the Mediterranean region.

islam

But a different monotheistic religion would become the one to form the basis of nearly every aspect of life in all here regions of this geographic realm today. Islam, the most recent of the major religions to arise in this realm, transformed, unified, and energized a vast domain that now extends from Europe to Southeast Asia and from Russia to East Africa.

A man named Muhammad, who by the end of his lifetime had become both an important religious and political leader, was the founder of Islam. Born in the city of Mecca in modern-day Saudi Arabia, Muhammad married a wealthy widow and became a successful merchant in the deserts of Arabia. Then, at the age of 41, he had a religious awakening in which the archangel Gabriel, a central figure in both Judaism and Christianity, from the Saudi Arabian city of Medina to Jerusalem, a Levant city that is also sacred to Jews and Christians.

Shortly after Muhammad founded Islam, a faith whose name means “submission to God’s will.” During his lifetime, Muhammad’s followers were few. But after his death, their number began to grow. Unlike Christianity and Judaism, Islam did not disparage material wealth but rather encouraged it, and countries where Islam was widely practiced prospered economically. Military force also contributed to Islam’s spread throughout Southwest Asia and eventually North Africa as well.

Challenges Facing the Realm

The boundaries of the North Africa/Southwest Asia realm consist of volatile transition zones in several places in Africa and Asia. The African Transition Zone crosses Sudan, a country geographically split between North Africa and East Africa. This nation, as well as others in its proximity, have been the site of much religion-related conflict between Muslims and Christians Animists, the latter of whom form the predominant religious group in the Sub-Saharan African realm.

Political stability has been difficult in the African Transition Zone. The Berlin Conference of 1884 established political borders that culturally divided the regions but have remained intact for the most part since the end of colonialism. Political boundaries restrict movement and keep people divided and separated into national identities.

The African Transition Zone is also in transition from a rural, traditional agrarian culture to a modern technological society. Camel caravans that once transported goods and materials across wide expanses of desert terrain are being replaced with motor vehicles and aircraft. The many groups across this zone have been at odds with adapting to modern life while retaining their cultural traditions.

Conflict over water sources and supplies is a constant threat in this realm, where population growth rates are high by world standards. As mentioned previously, the arid climate of the realm has made water a valuable natural resource in most regions; its scarcity leads many to regard it as more precious than even oil. While all regions in the realm have been able to resourcefully obtain water for their purposes using different means, the concern that water shortages might lead to armed conflict between nations has endured.

The Middle East, as a region, lies at the heart of this realm. Israel, the realm’s only predominantly non-Islamic nation, lies at the center of the Middle East conflict. In 1948, a portion of the Palestine region of the Levant, a colonial possession of Great Britain, was appropriated as a Jewish state where survivors of the Holocaust in Europe could relocate.

The residents of the Palestine, who were mostly Muslims of Arab heritage, were not pleased. War very quickly ensued between the Palestinians and supporters of Israel. Numerous armed conflicts have erupted between the two parties during the last seven decades, with most Arab nations refusing to recognize the sovereignty of Israel. A solution is still sought for the violence, which rages today.

The broad commonalities and interrelationships across much of the realm were demonstrated in the recent diffusion of political uprisings against autocratic regimes. In the year 2011, many changes were seen in the human geography of the realm. Citizens began to speak out against conditions in their country and actively protest against their authoritarian governments.

North Africa, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula experienced the highest levels of protest. Political leaders that had been in power for years or even decades were challenged and removed from office. Democratic reforms were requested or demanded by citizens seeking more individual freedom. Overall, demonstrations, protests, and outright revolution involved millions of people desiring better futures for themselves and for their families.