Middle East

Geography

• Ancient river valleys such as Mesopotamia à land between Tigris and Euphrates (Sumer)
• Sahara Desert à largest desert in the world, encompasses much of northern Africa
• Suez Canal à very important economic presence and trade route between Mediterranean Sea (Europe) and Red Sea (Asia, Africa, etc.), runs through northeast Egypt, finally completed in 1869
• Dardanelles Straits à 28 mile long strait between Europe and Asiatic Turkey
• Peninsulas à Arabian Peninsula, Sinai Peninsula, etc
• Oilà main export of middle east, contains around 65% of world’s oil reserves

Islam

• Koran: the holy book of Islam, thought by Muslims to be the word of Allah
• Five Pillars: 1) shahada- or confessing their faith 2) salat- or performing 5 prayers a day 3) saum- or fasting during the month of Ramadan 4) zakat-or paying of the alms tax 5) hajj- or a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in one’s life
• Golden Age of Muslim Culture: period of time when Muslims excelled in math and science
  • algebra
  • concept of zero
  • also saved hundreds of years of history by preserving historical texts and documents
• Ottoman Empire: now modern Turkey, an empire founded in 13th century, at it’s height expanded all the way from Balkan Peninsula to Middle East and North Africa after reign of Suleiman I
  • after Suleiman’s death power of empire slowly declined
• Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: “Ataturk” means “father of Turks”
  • as leader, he went through a series of reforms
  • abolished caliphate (symbol of the power of religious sultans), introduced western ideas, removed constitutional provision naming Islam as state religion

  Balfour Declaration: (1916-17) letter expressing British government’s approval of Zionism with establishment in Palestine of national home for Jewish people
• Islamic Fundamentalism: a religious and/or political belief of strict adherence to the Koran, often as the connotation of Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups
• Revolution in Iran: the White Revolution
  • led by Reza Shah Pahlavi – including land reforms, extension of women’s voting rights, and elimination of illiteracy
• Ayatollah Khomeini: leader of religious opposition to the shah—who was trying to westernize and modernize Iran and create a secular govt.
  • wanted to create an Islamic state again
• modernizers: Shah of Iran (1925-41), Nasser (1956-70)
  • Reza Shah Pahlavi wanted to westernize Iran and secularize government
  • Nasser known for leading Egyptian nationalist movement, removing monarchy from power and installing a republic
• Arab-Israeli conflict: long-standing conflict between Arabs and Jews over the control of historic Palestine, including many wars (Six-Day War of 1967 and (Arab-Israeli War of 1973)
• Camp David Accords: an attempt at peace over Arab-Israeli conflict in Middle East between Begin (Israeli prime minister) and al-Sadat (Jimmy Carter was there) – Israel is recognized
• Civil War in Lebanon [1970’s and 1980’s]: caused by many factors, mainly because of the rival religious groups in Lebanon (esp. Christians and Muslims). This and other domestic tensions, made worse by foreign influences, erupted into civil war from 1975-1990.
• Muslim World: a journal published internationally which research on Muslim societies and current aspects of Christian-Muslim relations
• Operation Desert Storm: multinational invasion of Kuwait which removed Iraqi troops from Kuwait and gave it back to the Kuwaiti government
• Oslo Accords: (1993) secret negotiations in Oslo, Norway – set stage for a gradual transfer of power to the Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli conflict