Southwest Asia has several important landforms and waterways. It contains two large peninsulas, the Arabian Peninsula and Anatolian Peninsula. Key bodies of water include the Red Sea, Suez Canal, Black Sea, Bosporus and Dardanelle Straits, Arabian Sea, and Persian Gulf. The Jordan River and Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are also significant. Much of the region contains plains and deserts, but there are also highlands and mountain ranges like the Zagros and Elburz Mountains. A major resource is oil, with about half of global reserves located in Southwest Asia.

1. Southwest Asia: Landforms and Resources

2. Southwest Asia. It looks like this:

3. Southwest Asia encompasses the area we typically think of as the Middle-East. The place isn’t all a big desert, so let’s look at some of the landforms.

4. Peninsulas The biggest peninsula is the Arabian peninsula, which is dominated by Saudi Arabia

6. The other big one is the Anatolian Peninsula, which is modern-day Turkey.

8. Waterways Red Sea

9. Suez Canal Connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea, which makes it a very important waterway.

12. Black Sea Just above Turkey.

14. Bosporus and Dardanelle Straits Straits that connect the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. Very important location since they control sea access between the two seas as well as land access from Europe to the Middle East.

16. Turkey’s capital city of Istanbul (it was once Constantinople) is located on the Bosporus Strait.

19. Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf The Arabian Sea is north of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf is sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

20. They’re connected by the Straits of Hormuz

21. This area is very important because this is where all the Middle Eastern oil is shipped from.

22. Dead Sea We’ve looked at this one before, but one more time!

23. The saltiest lake is the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan. It has no outlet and a high evaporation rate, so the salt concentrates even more. It’s so salty (about nine times that of the ocean), it can’t support life. Its shores are also the lowest dry point on Earth: about 1,350 feet below sea level (you’re currently about 45 feet above sea level) And the salinity (saltiness) allows you to float without effort. Like these guys:

24. That’s because the water is so much denser than you that it makes you naturally buoyant. Just don’t get the water in your eyes. It’ll sting.

25. Jordan River Important water source that also serves as the boundary between Israel and Jordan. Flows into the Dead Sea.

26. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Twin rivers that run through modern-day Iraq.

27. The land in between the two rivers is very fertile and a lot of agriculture takes place there. Because of this, the area is known as the fertile crescent. Some of the earliest civilizations developed here because of its agricultural bounty.

28. Plains Most of the Arabian Peninsula is dry, sandy, and flat. There’s not much there. The wadis are dry riverbeds.

29. Highlands and mountains Iranian plateau The central area of Iran is on a plateau and surrounded by mountains. The area is laregly desert-like.

31. The bulk of the Anatolian Peninsula is also a plateau

32. Hejaz Mountains On the southwestern Arabian Peninsula Hindu Kush Mountains In eastern Afghanistan

33. Zagros Mountains On western edge of Iran Elburz Mountains Taurus Mountains Mountains Mountains

34. Resources Oil. Black gold. Texas Tea. There’s a lot of it in SW Asia… roughly half of the known oil reserves are in this region, which makes it rather important.