A brief introductory presentation for a 7th grade World Geography class.

1. The Middle East
Just the Facts

2. Countries
 Afghanistan  Lebanon
 Algeria  Libya (Lib-ee-ya)
 Armenia  Morocco
 Azerbaijan (Az-er-by-jon)  Oman (O-mahn)
 Bahrain  Qatar (Cutter)
 Egypt  Saudi Arabia
 Georgia  Syria
 Iran  Tajikistan (Tahj-eek-ih-stan)
 Iraq  Tunisia (Too-nee-shia)
 Israel  Turkey
 Jordan  Turkmenistan
 Kazakhstan (Kahz-ack-stan)  United Arab Emirates (UAE)
 Kuwait  Uzbekistan (Ooze-beck-ih-stan)
 Kyrgyzstan (Ker-gi-stan)  Yemen

3. Area
The Middle East lies in three geographical regions.
North Africa
 The 5 countries are Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, & Tunisia
Southwest Asia
Central Asia
Its total area is 8,641,070 square miles.
This more than twice the size of the United States
which covers 3,794,000 square miles.

4. Geography
The Geography of the Middle East is quite varied.
Mountains
 Ismoli Somani Peak in Tajikistan is 24,590 feet above sea level
Deserts
 The Sahara desert is 3.5 million square miles
Bodies of Water
 The Dead sea lies 1,312 feet below sea level
 Other bodies of water include the Mediterranean Sea, the
Straight of Hormuz, the Straight of Gibraltar, The Bosporus
Straight, the Dardanelles Straight, and the Suez Canal which
connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

5. Climates
Though generally perceived by most to be
sweltering desert the Middle East has a variety of
climates which include:
Hot & Arid
 Such is found in the countries of Iraq and Iran as well as the
Sahara desert
Humid Subtropical
 Such as can be found in the country of Georgia
Temperate
 Along countries of the Mediterranean the weather can be
seasonal
Cold
 Such as can be found in the high mountain areas

6. Natural Resources
Though petroleum and Bauxite
natural gas are dominant Coal
natural resources in the
Middle East, there are Copper
many more natural Iron Ore
resources to be found. Lead
Manganese
Phosphates
Timber
Uranium
Zinc

7. Religions
The three major Religions of the Middle East are:
Islam
 Worship in a Mosques
 God is called Allah
 Holy book is the Quran
Judaism
 Worship in a Synagogue
 Holy book is the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh
Christianity
 Worship in a Church or Cathedral
 Holy book is the Holy Bible
All three Religions are monotheistic

8. Governments
The type of government structure differs by country but
all of these can be found in the Middle East:
Constitutional
 Turkmenistan, a former Soviet country which was once
Communist now has a Constitutional government under a
Parliamentary system.
Parliamentary
 Israel has a Parliamentary government
Monarchy
 Saudi Arabia is an example of an Absolute Monarchy

9. Languages
The most common languages found in the Middle East
are:
Arabic
 The dominant language in what are considered the Arabian
countries
Hebrew
 Hebrew is the language of Jewish people in Israel
Farsi
 Is spoken mostly in Iran
Turkic
 Spoken by those peoples in Turkey and the surrounding regions
English
 English is a second language to a portion of the population