Chapter 4 North Africa and Southwest Asia Today

Section 1 North Africa

In Egypt, the river is the Nile. At the mouth of the river will begin Mediterranean Sea. Between these two water forms is a soil rich triangle piece of land called a delta. In the spring, the nile rivers rise and carry a rich soil called silt. Libya, like Egypt is a desert. It has a few tropical green areas called oasis, they are fed by collected underground water. The underground water is stored in an underground cave made of rock. The underground cave is called aquifers. Libyas government used to be ruled by a dictator, a person forcefully taking position of the government Dictators use terrorism on citizens. Terrorism is violent act against civilians to grab attention and make them obey. Religion also affects government. In Algeria, Muslims of different tribes oppose the governments policies because the policies were nonreligious or secular. Morocco's government is a constitutional monarchy. That means kings and queens stay royal, but the government is run by elected officials.

Section 2 Southwest Asia: Turkey and Israel

Turkey is closely tied to Europe, but is mainly Islam. Muslim people pray in mosques. In Israel people work on farm settlements together. The shared property is a kibbutz. A moshav is another kind of Israeli settlement. They share in farming, production, and selling but can own their own private properties also.

Section 3 Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Arabia

Few of the people in Syria are nomadic desert people, people following a traditional way of life. Saudi Arabia is the largest country in Southwest Asia. It is dry, so the water comes from seasonal wadis, dry riverbeds filled by rare downpours of rain. Saudi Arabia needs a lot of income, so they use a process called desalinization to take salt out of seawater to sell. Since the holy city of Muslims is located in Saudi Arabia Muslims in Saudi Arabia are required to go on hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Section 4 Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan

Iraq is an alluvial plain, land between 2 rivers with rich, fertile soil left by the river floods. When Iraq's leader refused to cooperate with the UN, they put an embargo on trade. This means they cant trade with other countries. Iran was once a powerful Persian empires ruled by shahs. 1979 officially ended the monarchy , now it is an Islamic republic, government based on Muslim religious leaders.