Our World

4-12 Class notes

The Geography of Fossil Fuels
-Oil unevenly distributed in the area
-Saudi Arabia, Iran, U.A.E., Libya, Algeria, contribute significantly to oil production, while Morocco, and Sudan have few developed petroleum reserves.
-This region has 7% of the worlds population; hold 68% of the worlds proven reserves

Regional Economic Patterns
-HIGHER INCOME OIL EXPORTERS
-Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, U.A.E.
-Cultural landscape reshaped b/c of oil wealth
-Not all benefit-rural Shiite Muslims and foreign workers.
LOWER INCOME OIL EXPORTERS
-Algeria: Oil and Natural gas are its top exports, but political instability remains a problem
-Iran: Has huge oil reserves, but long war Iraq (1980-90) and withdrawal form world trade under fundamentalist government have lowered living standards
PROSPERING WITHOUT OIL
-Israel has highest living standard in the region
-Turkey has diversified economy, ahs seen growth
-Economic reforms in Tunisia
-Lebanon has potential for prosperity through tourism and telecommunications
REGIONAL PATTERNS OF POVERTY
-Sudan’s economy ruined by civil war
-Morocco is poorer than Algeria or Tunisia and suffers from brain drain
-Brain Drain- phenomenon in which some of brightest young people leave for better jobs in Western Europe
-Egypt’s prospects unclear, with growth in the 1990s, but large gaps between rich and poor
-Yemen is poorest country in the Arabian peninsula

Issues of Social Development
Varied Regional Patterns
-Israel has high living standard; but Jewish majority doing much better than Muslim minority
-Saudi Arabia has lower figures of social well-being than might be expected

A Woman’s Changing World
- World largest female workforce population
-In some countries of the region, women not allowed to work outside of the home or drive
-In Iran, womens roles changing
-Libya sees modernizing womens role as high priority

Global Economic Relationships
Changing global linkages
-Oil is the major export of the region
-Oil makes up 70% of regions exports
-OPEC still influences cost and availability of petroleum
-Israeli exports include cut diamonds, electronics, and machinery parts
-Turkey exports include textiles, food products, and manufactured goods.
-Tourism includes religious and historical sites, other activities

Regional Connections
In your packet

Global Economic Relationships
The geography of tourism
-ancient historical sites and globally significant religious localities are large dew
-Tourist hotels and condos on the Mediterranean
-Ecotourism- tourism is a large part of the regional economy in Turkey, Israel, and Egypt
-Impacts to visual landscape, physical environment, and archaeological sites

CONCLUSIONS
-Southwest Asia and North Africa played critical in world history and globalization
-Important culture hearth and religious center
-oil plays world role
-political conflicts disrupt economic development
-tension between modern ways and fundamentalist traditions

posted by Anonymous @ 4/12/2006 05:32:00 PM