Title: Unit 4 Social, Economic, and Political Development of the Middle East
1Unit 4 --Social, Economic, and Political
Development of the Middle East
2Essential Questions
- What are the key conflicts in the region, and
what are the contributing factors? - What attempts have been made toward conflict
resolution in the Middle East? - How will the conflicts in the Middle East
continue to shape the future?
3Middle East of what? What is the Middle East?
Europe
Near East
Middle East
Far East
a.k.a. Southwest Asia, to be geographically
correct!
4Regional Overview -- Whats it like there?
5The Middle East as Cultural Hearth
- A Cultural Hearth is an ancient or original
starting place for many cultural traits and ideas
. . . - So what makes the Middle East a cultural hearth?
6What Important Concepts Began in the Middle East
and Spread?
- Agriculture
- Cities
- Writing
- Coined Money
- The Wheel
- Iron/Steel
- 3 World Religions
7Once upon a time . . . Abraham/ Ibrahim (4000
years ago) . . .
Speaking of 3 world religions . . .
- Wife (Sarah) doesnt bear heir . . .
- Concubine (Hagar) does bear heir (Ishmael) . . .
- Sarah does finally bear heir (Isaac) . . .
- Hagar and Ismael are sent away and become the
Arab people. . . - One Arab is Muhammad (b. 570AD) . . . He founds
Islam!
- Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and their descendants are
the Jews . . . - The Jews feel god/allah promised them the lands
of Israel . . . - One descendant, a Jew named Jesus (b. 1AD),
founds Christianity!
8The Moral of the Religious Story is . . .
- Jews, Christians, and Muslims (believers in
Islam) believe in the same god and Old Testament
stories, and claim the same land as holy! - Judaism is a small religion, since the Jews feel
they have a special deal with god . . .
Therefore, little efforts to convert others! - Christianity and Islam are 1 and 2 in the world
in number of followers (more than 1 billion
each), because they do seek to convert others! - Muslims see Jews and Christians as fellow people
of the book, not as heathens, so no conversion
necessary!
9The Holiest Spots . . .
- For Judaism . . .
- For Christianity . . .
- For Islam . . .
10The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem
2
11The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
4
12Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, and the Dome of
the Rock in . . . Jerusalem!
13Historical Overview of the Region to 1945
- Controlled by various groups prior to the Romans
(Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Persians,
Hittites, Phoenicians, etc.) - After Roman control came Byzantine control, Arab
control, then various Turkish groups (Seljuk,
then Ottoman until World War I) - Britain and France separately controlled much of
the region from the end of WWI to the end of WWII
14The Roman Empire
15The Ottoman Empire
16Between the World Wars
17Key Recent/Current Conflicts in the Region
- Lets blame the Ottoman collapse and other
ancient history for these recent or ongoing
events since WWII - Lebanon-Syria (Civil War/Occupation/Current
Crisis) - Afghanistan (Civil War, Soviet Invasion, Taliban
Control, Current Conflict) - Arab-Israeli (major wars 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973,
Lebanon-Israel 1982, Intifada 12,
Lebanon-Israel 2006) - Iraq (Iraq-Iran War, Iraq-Kuwait/Desert Storm,
Current Conflict)