The Middle East ~ Part 2

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Histories and Mysteries looks different (again). The tan brown was really bugging me so I decided to go with gray, black, and white. The fonts are also different because there was  some difficulties with the title of the blog on the mobile site. And you may or may not have noticed that I added a "Today in History" feature on the sidebar of my blog. I will probably only change it on the weekdays because I am apt to forget to change it on the weekends. I also condensed the labels for my posts because I had a lot of those before. I hope you like the new design.


The geographical map
of the Middle East


Today's article continues our study of geography. There are quite a few countries in the Middle East. I am going to do a short overview of the geography of the Middle East for this article, and next month I will post about the country of Israel. I did post a geography/history article over the Middle East, but that was more centered on modern history.

 But first there are three other types of maps that I forgot to write about. The geographical map only 
shows landforms such as mountain ranges, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc. Some of these maps will have a green coloring to separate deserts and plateaus from "regular" land, but other maps are just completely without color. The political map shows the countries on a particular continent. It may also include major cities and capitals. In the case of Canada and the United States, the states and provinces are also shown. Usually, each country will have a different color just for the visual aspect of it. Then there is the topographical map which shows the elevation of the land. That map will be a little more important when we get to studying the elevation of Jerusalem compared to the surrounding areas.


The topographical
map of somewhere
On one more note, when I refer to Middle East, I will only be mentioning the countries included in these directions: Turkey and Israel to the west, Iran to the east, the Arabian Sea to the south, and the Caucasus Mountains to the north. Some people decide to include Egypt and countries like Turkmenistan or Afghanistan. I have always grouped those countries separately. So below is the political map of the Middle East. The countries in tan/brown are not part of the Middle East, but the map I found (and edited) considered those countries a part of the Middle East. And below that map is a chart of the Middle East countries from my history textbooks.

 


I will be going through all of these countries eventually. It will be a while, but it will happen (I hope). This political map didn't label the surrounding landforms, so I will try to tell you what they are. Between Egypt and Israel is the Sinai Peninsula. Between Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Sudan is the Red Sea (where the Moses and Israelites crossed). Under Yemen and Oman is the Arabian Sea. Above the UAE (United Arab Emirates) is the Persian Gulf (the site of the Persian Gulf Wars). Above Egypt is the Mediterranean Sea. The Caspian Sea is above Iran, and the Black Sea is above Turkey. The way I was taught to remember the differences between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea is the fact that the Black Sea looks like a "B" lying on its back, and the Caspian Sea has a curve on the top like a "C." If you can't see, there are two straits between Turkey and mainland Europe. The Dardanelles is the left strait and the Bosporus is the right strait.

As of climate, the Middle East has a Mediterranean climate much like Southern California where I live. So that would mean hot summers and mild winters. Most of the Middle East besides the Fertile Crescent area is desert.

In the next geography article, I will discuss the country of Israel. I have been talking about the Fertile Crescent region in my past history articles which you can find by using the Labels section on the side tab.

Today's quote is about love (I can just hear all the "awws") for Valentine's Day and African American History Month in America. This quote is by Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most prominent civil rights leaders in the American 1960's: "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." There were a lot of reasons for King Jr. to be angry at segregation in America, yet he still advocated peaceful protests. Essentially, he fought hate with love. His actions not only showed respect to the government but also patriotism because he used legal methods to bring attention to his cause.

Happy Valentine's Day (if you celebrate it), and I'll see you next week!

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