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MIDDLE EAST HISTORY “An Overview”The Middle East is an extremely important region in the world of the 21st Century. It has been a key region for several thousand years! Even though its history dates back to ancient times, this region remains very relevant today?CROSSROADSThe Middle East is located at the junction of 3 continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. Traders from all 3 continents have traveled land routes through this region since Old Testament days. (Remember Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers to people traveling in a ‘caravan’ to Egypt.) Merchants, caravan leaders, thieves, and armies were well acquainted with this exotic but hot, dry, and rugged land.Large bodies of water that border the Middle East have also made this region accessible by boat. The Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea to the west, the Black and Caspian Seas to the north, and the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean to the south provide important shipping lanes for modern day trading. Maybe the most important shipping lane in the world passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel that connects the Arabian Sea to the Persian Gulf. Through this small passage passes a large portion of the world’s daily supply of crude oil. CRADLE OF CIVILIZATIONThanks to the life-giving waters of the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers, along with fertile soil and favorable temperatures, the first known civilizations developed in Egypt and in modern day Iraq. In Iraq along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers is found the Fertile Crescent, possibly the very first cradle of civilization. Egyptology, the study of the ancient Egyptian civilization, has been a consistent fascination for history lovers. Pyramids, pharaohs, mummies, King Tut, and Hieroglyphics make for an interesting study of the ancient world as does the study of Babylon and the Sumerians. The Sumerians are thought to have developed the first organized city government among a host of other accomplishments.RELIGIONProbably no place on earth is as important to the history of world religions as the Middle East. Out of this region grew 3 great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Conflict caused by conflicting beliefs began long ago with disagreement serious enough for European Christian ‘Crusaders” to go to war in order to free the Holy Land, particularly Jerusalem, from Muslim (Islamic) control. Conflict continues to the present day as Israel seeks to protect her territory from those who would replace the Jews with Muslim Palestinians. Religious conflict played a key role in the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11, 2 wars fought in Iraq, the American military presence in Afghanistan, the rise and fall of ISIS, and the deaths of many American soldiers. CULTURES The Middle East, like other areas of the world, is home to several distinct cultures and ethnic groups. The Arab culture is the predominate culture of the region that we are specifically studying as the Middle East. Almost 100% of the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula and as much as 90% of the people living near the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea are Arabs who speak the Arabic language and practice Islam almost exclusively. Persians, also practitioners of Islam, are predominate in Iran and the eastern portion of the region. The Kurdish people are an important ethnic minority who live in parts of Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. There are also the Egyptian people who appear to us to be very similar to Arabs. However, there are differences in customs, languages, and ethnicity, but like the Arabs, Persians, and a majority of Kurds, Egyptians are staunchly Muslim. The Jewish people who live in Israel form yet another very distinct group of people with a culture far different from that of the rest of the Middle East. Israel is the ONLY significant portion of the Middle East where Judaism, not Islam, is the predominate religion. OILOil, sometimes called ‘black gold’, is a much sought after and necessary commodity for all of the developed nations of the world. Because oil is not plentiful everywhere that it is needed, crude oil has generally brought high prices on the international market. Fortunately for most of the countries of the Middle East, oil is plentiful. Hence, the economies of much of the region are driven by the drilling, pumping, and shipping of crude oil. Oil money has made many Middle Eastern government officials and ruling families very wealthy, but that wealth in some countries has not filtered down to ordinary citizens. Recent protests in Iran brought on by food shortages and high unemployment suggest that the government, not the people, benefit most from these oil resources. Furthermore, oil revenues have surely been instrumental in financing Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, and Hamas. Jihad, holy war to Muslims, and oil revenues have joined forces in intensifying the importance of this region to the rest of the world. The Middle East is an area that Americans need to study in order to be well informed citizens who develop intelligent opinions and take appropriate political positions on the issues that bring that region and our country together on the international stage. Questions:1. What natural-physical geographic factors made the Middle East a perfect setting for the development of the world’s first civilizations?2. Why has the Middle East been known throughout history as a ‘Crossroads’?3. Why is a portion of the Middle East known as the Holy Land?4. What is an ‘ETHNIC GROUP’? List the main ethnic groups that currently call the Middle East home. ................
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