Our World

Notes 04-10-06

I. A Long Urban Legacy
A. City life began in Mesopotamia (Endu and Ur 3500 B.C.) and Egypt(Memphis and Thebes 2000 B.C.)
B. Rise of trade centers around 2000 B.C.
C. Centers of Islamic religious administration and advocation
- Ex: Baghdad, Cairo
- The original urban core of a traditional Islamic city is called a medina, has central mosque, bazaar
II. Signatures of Globalization
A. Urban centers have become focal points of economic growth (ex: Cairo, Algiers, Istanbul)
III. Migration streams
A. Rural-to-urban migration
B. Migration of low-wage workers from other regions to South West Asia and North Africa
C. Migration of workers from regions to other places (ex: Turkish guest workers to Germany)
IV. Shifting Demographic Patterns
A. Women in Tunisia, Iran, and Turkey are having fewer children
- Causes include delayed marriage, family planning initiatives, greater urbanization
B. High rates of natural increase in West Bank, Gaza, and Libya
C. Increasing population will strain cities, water supplies, and public services
V. Hearth of the Judeo-Christian Tradition
A. Jews and Christians trace their routs to the eastern Mediterranean
B. Monotheism- belief in one god
VI. The Emergence of Islam
A. Quran- Koran; believed by Muslims to be a book of revelations received by Muhammad from Allah (God), representing God’s highest religious and moral revelations
B. Islam means “submission to the will of God”
C. Five Pillars
- Repeat the basic creed to accept Islam (“There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet”)
- Pray five times daily facing Makkah (Mecca)
- Give charitable contributions
- Fast during month of Ramadan
- Make at least one Hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah
D. Theocratic state- one in which religious leaders (ayatollahs) guide policy; Iran is an example
VII. Major religious schism divided Islam early on, and still exists
A. Shiites- current name of group that favored passing power on within Muhammad’s own family
B. Sunnis- current name of group that favored passing power through the established clergy; emerged victorious
VIII. Ottoman Empire- Vast empire (Turks; included southeastern Europe and most of Southwestern Asia and North Africa, circa 1453)
IV. Modern Religious Diversity
A. Muslims majority in region, except for in Israel and Cyprus
- Sunni (73%); Shiites (23%) dominant in Iran, southern Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, and Bahran
B. Sufism in region’s margins, and Druze of Lebanon

posted by Anonymous @ 4/10/2006 10:07:00 PM