World Geography Exam 3 covers four realms: N. Africa and SW Asia (ch 7), Subsaharan Africa (ch 6), Central America (ch 4), and South America (ch 5).

• Understand history of SW Asia - empires in rule through time

Ottoman Empire, empire created by Turkish tribes in Anatolia (Asia Minor) that grew to be one of the most powerful states in the world during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Ottoman period spanned more than 600 years and came to an end only in 1922, when it was replaced by the Turkish Republic and various successor states in southeastern Europe and the Middle East. At its height the empire encompassed most of southeastern Europe to the gates of Vienna, including present-day Hungary, the Balkan region, Greece, and parts of Ukraine; portions of the Middle East now occupied by Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Egypt; North Africa as far west as Algeria; and large parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The term Ottoman is a dynastic appellation derived from Osman I (Arabic: ʿUthmān), the nomadic Turkmen chief who founded both the dynasty and the empire about 1300.

4A.4 Discuss the rise of the realm's indigenous civilizations, their legacies, and their fateful collision with European conquerors. Section to reference in textbook: Cultural Geography ( 199) Cultural Geography Mesoamerican Legacy Mesoamerican culture hearth as source of ideas, population expansion, and cultural progress. Hearth extended from present day Mexico city to Nicaragua. Unified a large, environmentally diverse area. In the low-lying tropical plains and Guatemalan highlands, the Maya Civilization arose over 3000 years ago. In Central Mexico's high plateau, the Aztecs centered on the largest city ever in per- Colombian times. Cultural Geography The Lowland Maya World's only major culture hearth in a lowland tropics area. Civilization of city state, Dynastic rule alongside a religious hierarchy. population of 2-3 million. Maya languages still in use today. Cultural achievement: Agriculture and animals domestication. Basic industry and trade. Intellectual pursuits in art and science. Cultural Geography, The Highland Aztecs Intermontane highland zone: the Valley of Mexico. Aztec state; First true urban center of Western Hemisphere: Teotihuacan: Capital of the Aztecs. Territorial expansion driven by need to extract taxes and tribute from other groups. Cultural achievements: Irrigation and terracing Agricultural domestication of a variety of crops. Cultural Geography, Spanish Conquest: Due to the Spanish Conquest, this brought in a new period of pandemics for the Aztec people. Due to this pandemic the Aztec were completely wiped out (1513) and also because of this pandemic the overall case of smallpox was common. In addition, more than 24,000 Aztecs died from smallpox during this time of the Spanish Conquest.

4A.5 Explain the realm's post-colonial political, cultural, and economic development. Section to reference in textbook: Political and Economic Fragmentation • Mainland vs. Rimland countries Today both the Rimland and the mainland of Middle America are caught in crises both economic and political. And their shared history of European exploitation has at least guided the region to these crises even if the foreign meddling is not wholly at fault for these problems. • Views on tourism in the region The role of tourism within the region has serious drawbacks. In addition, based off this information, the role of Caribbean tourism has some serious drawbacks. The invasion of poor communities by affluent tourists contributes to rising local resentment, which is further fueled by the glaring contrasts of shiny new hotels towering over substandard housing and luxury liners gliding past poverty stricken villages. At the same time, tourism can have the effect of debasing local culture, which often is adapted to suit visors tastes at hotel staged culture shows. In addition, the cruise industry tends to monopolize revenues ( accommodations, meals, entertainment) with relatively few dollars flowing into the local economy. Finally, even though tourism does generate income in the Caribbean, the intervention of island governments and multinational corporations can remove opportunities from local entrepreneurs in favor of large operators and major resorts.

4B.1 Discuss the basic human and physical geography of Mexico and its development opportunities in the NAFTA era. Section to reference in textbook: Mexico ( Regions, 211-212). Physio-graphic, demographic, economic, historical, and cultural criteria combine to revel a regionally diverse Mexico extending from the lengthy ridge of Baja California to the topical lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula, and from the economic dynamism of the U.S. borderland to the indigenous traditionalism of far southeastern Chiapas. The dry, far flung north stands in particularly sharp contrast to these southern regions. Border hugging, NAFTA driven economic development is still formative and discontinuous. This is also true in Yucatan, and to go from comparatively well off Merida and Cancun in the north to poverty mired Chiapas adjacent to southern Guatemala is to observe the entire range of Mexico's regional geography. • Maquiladora a factory in Mexico run by a foreign company and exporting its products to the country of that company.

4B.2 Label the seven republics of this region and their geographic dimensions. Section to reference in textbook: Central American Republics ( View Notes on Central American Republics) Guatemala: Historical geography: - Heart of Maya and significant Amerindian cultural influence. - Once part of Mexico; mestizos (ladinos) secured independence. • Guatemalan politics: - Military regimes have dominated. - Many died in 1960-1996 civil war between poor Amerindians and better-off Iadinos. • Economic potential: minerals and soil. Belize: History more like that of a Caribbean Islands: - British dependency • Changing demographics - Emigration of African Belizeans - Replaced by other Central American refugees - Hispanicized cultural geography • Spanish as Lingua Franca Economic transformation: - New crops & industries - Tourism & Ecotourism - Offshore banking offering financial haven for foreign money Honduras: • Still recovering from Category-5 Hurricane Mitch in 1998 - Pre-1998, economy was third poorest in the realm. • Potential for ecotourism • Hindered by poor infrastructure, lack of funds, and cocaine trafficking El Salvador: • Densely populated and homogeneously mestizo • Coffee republic - Large landholdings and subjugated peasant labor • Civil War effects: - Arms supplied by other states - Remittances sent by affluent emigres. Nicaragua: Triangle of land: - Core of the country on the Pacific side - Caribbean side home to remote Amerindian peoples • Difficulties: - political instability - Devastation of Hurricane Mitch - Accelerated population - Reliance on remittances and aid Costa Rica: Internal political stability: - Democratic tradition - Remote from regional strife • Concentrated on economic development: - Region's highest standard of living, literacy rate, and life expectancy - Agriculture and tourism • The Valle central - Main coffee-growing area in the tierra templada Panama: The Panama Canal: - Expansion to boost inter oceanic traffic (will especially benefit China) - Increases business in Panama • Panama's geographies: - Usual Central American culture, language, and topography - Territoriality small, but global - Trading exports and ultramodern port facilities • Panama City: financial center for canal revenues and drug industry • Countries labelled banana republics vs. coffee republics Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, and Panama. • Relative GDP of each country in realm Guatemala: ( $1,580) Belize: 4,893.93 USD ( 2013) Honduras: ($740) El Salvador: ($1,810) Nicaragua: ($410) Costa Rica: ($ 2,680) Panama: ($3,080) • Relative position of each country in relation to one another Guatemala: The westernmost Central America's republics, Guatemala has more land neighbors than any other. Straight line boundaries lying across the topical forest mark much of the border with Mexico, creating the box like region of Peten between Chiapas State on the west and Belize on the east; also to the east lie Honduras and El Salvador. Belize: Strictly speaking, Belize is not a Central American republic in the same tradition as the other six. Until 1981, this country, a wedge of land between northern Guatemala, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and the Caribbean Sea. Honduras: Honduras, directly in contrast with Guatemala, has a long Caribbean coastline and a relatively small widow on the Pacific. The country also occupies a critical place in the political geography of Central America, flanked as it is by Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala all continuing to grapple with the aftermath of years of internal conflict and, more recently, national; disaster. El Salvador: This is Central America's smallest country territoriality, smaller even than Belize, but with a population 20 times as large (6.5 million) it is the most densely peopled. El Salvador adjoins the Pacific in a narrow coastal plain backed by a chain of volcanic mountains, behind which lies the country's heartland. Unlike neighboring Guatemala, El Salvador has a far more homogeneous population ( 86 percent mestizo and just 1 percent indigenous). Nicaragua: This country is best approached by re-examining the map which underscores Nicaragua's position tucked away in the heart of Central America. Costa Rica: If there is one country that undergoes Middle America's variety and diversity it is Costa Rica because it differs significantly from its neighbors and from the norms of Central America as well. Bordered by two volatile countries ( Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the east). Panama: Panama owes its existence to the idea of a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to avoid the lengthy circumnavigation of south America.

4B.4 Hispaniola: Hispaniola consists of alternate series of mountain ranges, long valleys, and plains. The orientation of the land forms causes contrasts in climatic conditions and hinders north-south transportation. More than one-third of the island lies higher than 1,500 feet (457 meters), and it has the highest relief of the West Indies, reaching 10,417 feet (3,175 meters) at Duarte Peak in the Cordillera Central in the Dominican Republic. The most-elevated part of Haiti is the southwestern peninsula, which rises to Mount Selle at 8,773 feet (2,674 meters). In contrast to the highlands, the basin of Lake Enriquillo in southwestern Dominican Republic is quite low, the surface of the lake being about 150 feet (45 meters) below sea level. The main rivers are the Yaque del Norte (240 miles [386 km] long), the Yuna, and the Yaque del Sur in the Dominican Republic and the Artibonite in Haiti. The island's coastline, though much indented, has relatively few protected deep water anchorages. Hurricanes occasionally strike the island and can cause serious damage. Land use is largely determined by the nearly parallel systems of mountains and plains. In general, the mountains are forested and sparsely populated, but in some places (notably in Haiti) the great population pressure has brought about the deforestation of land for cultivation. Coffee growing is the chief agricultural activity in the highlands, occurring through most of the humid mountainous regions. Many crops, chiefly cacao, are grown on the populous northern plains, especially in the humid eastern section (Dominican Republic), La Vega Real ("The Royal Plain"). Tobacco is dominant in the upper Yaque plain, irrigated rice in the semiarid lower plains, and sugarcane and sisal along the northern coast, the Plaine du Nord, in the west (Haiti). The southern plains of the island are also productive (sugarcane, livestock pasture, and cotton), though irrigation is necessary in many areas.

4B.4 Puerto Rico: Despite these apparent advantages in the poverty plagued Caribbean, Puerto Rico has not thrived under U.S. administration. Long dependent on a single crop economy ( sugar), the island based its comparatively cheap labor, tax breaks for corporations, political stability, and special access to the U.S. market. Consequently, pharmaceuticals, electronic equipment, and apparel top today's list of exports, not sugar or bananas. The level of unemployment on the island in 2013 stood at more than 14 percent, the highest of any U.S. sub-national entity. Most residents receive federal support; another 21 percent work in the public sector, that is, in government. The private sector remains severely underdeveloped.

4B.3 Describe the general layout of the Caribbean Islands. Section to reference in textbook: The Caribbean Basin The Caribbean, long referred to as the West Indies, includes more than 7,000 islands; of those, 13 are independent island countries (shown in red on the map), and some are dependencies or overseas territories of other nations. In addition, that large number includes islets ( very small rocky islands); cay's (small, low islands composed largely of coral or sand) and a few inhabited reefs: See Belize. In geographical terms the Caribbean area includes the Caribbean Sea and all of the islands located to the southeast of the Gulf of Mexico, east of Central America and Mexico, and to the north of South America. Some of its counted cay's, islands, islets and inhabited reefs front the handful of countries that border the region. The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos are not considered a part of the Caribbean, however, we show them here because of their cultural, geographical and political associations with the Greater Antilles and other Caribbean Islands. At the beginning of the 15th century the population of the Caribbean was estimated to be nearly 900,000 indigenous people immediately before European contact. • Greater Antilles vs. Lesser Antilles The Greater Antilles are the four largest islands in the northwestern portion of the Caribbean Sea. This includes Cuba, Hispaniola (the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Jamaica and Puerto Rico. In total, the Greater Antilles make up almost 90% of the land in the West Indies. Cuba is the largest single island in the Caribbean. During the colonial period, the island of Hispaniola was known as Santo Domingo, named for the capital city of what is now the Dominican Republic. The Lesser Antilles include the smaller islands of the Caribbean to the south and east of the Great Antilles. It begins just off the coast of Puerto Rico with the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and extends south to Grenada. Trinidad and Tobago, just off the Venezuelan coast, are also included, as is the east-west chain of islands that stretches to Aruba.

4B.4 Differentiate major geographic issues facing Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. Section to reference in textbook: The Greater Antilles ( 225) Cuba: In Cuba, there are three mountainous zones, of which the southeastern Sierra Maestra is the highest and most extensive. These highlands create considerable environmental diversity as reflected by extensive timber producing tropical forest and varied soils on which crops ranging from tobacco to coffee to rice to subtropical and tropical fruits are grown. Rice and beans are the staples, but Cuba is unable to meet its dietary needs and so must import food. The central and western savannas support livestock raising. Even through Cuba has only limited mineral reserves, its nickel deposits are extensive and have been mined for more than a century.

5A.1 Recognize the physio graphic diversity of the South American realm, as well as the cultural and economic contrasts and disparities between its many regions. Section to reference in textbook: Defining the Realm • Countries in and outside of Amazon Basin The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about 7,500,000 km 2 (2,900,000 sq mi), or roughly 40 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. • Relative size and shape of South American countries Brazil: 8,514,877 sq km Argentina: 2,766,890 sq km Peru: 1,285,220 sq km Colombia: 1,138,910 sq km Bolivia: 1,098,580 sq km Venezuela: 912,050 sq km Chile: 756,950 sq km Paraguay: 406,750 sq km Ecuador: 283,560 sq km Guyana: 214,999 sq km Uruguay: 176,220 sq km Suriname: 163,270 sq km

5A.3 Describe the broad aspects of South America's Historical Geography from the time of the Incas to the post-colonial era. Section to reference in textbook: States Ancient and Modern • Define altiplano the high tableland of central South America. • Core area of the Incan Empire One of the Inca civilization's most famous surviving archaeological sites is Machu Picchu (Peru), which was built as a retreat for an Incan emperor. The Incas called their empire Tawantinsuyu, the "Land of the Four Corners," and its official language was Quechua.

5A.6 Describe general patterns of South America's urbanization and spatial organization of its cities (city model) Section to reference in textbook: Urbanization The urban experience in the South and Middle American realms varies because of diverse historical, cultural, and economic influences. Nevertheless, there are a number of common threads that have prompted geographers to search for useful generalization. One is the model of the interurban spatial structure of the Latin American City model proposed by Ernst Griffin and Larry Ford. The idea behind the model is to create an idealized representation of reality, displaying as many key real world elements as possible. in the case of South America's cities, the basic spatial framework of city structure, which blends traditional elements of South and Middle American culture with modernization forces now reshaping the urban scene, is a composite of radical sectors and concentric zones. • Elite residential sector: an extension of the Central Business District (CBD), featuring offices, retail facilities, and housing of the upper and upper middle class. • Disamenity sector: It consists of undesirable land along highways, rail con corridors, riverbanks, and other low lying areas; people here are so poor that they are forced to live in the open. Thus the realm's cities present enormous contrasts between poverty and wealth, squalor and comfort harsh contrasts all too frequently observed in the urban landscape. • Informal sector: workers are undocumented and money transactions are beyond he control of the government.

5B.2 Describe the basic physical and human geography of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay as well as the changing role of their indigenous citizens. Section to reference in textbook: The Andean West • Language of the Inca state: Quechua • Physical features of Peru vs. Ecuador Peru: Large cliffs and ridges are found closer to the border of Peru, while the volcanoes are scattered across the country. The most popular and visited volcanoes in Ecuador include the Cotopaxi Volcano, which is an active volcano and is 5 897 meters in height, the Pichincha Volcano at 4,784 meters and the Chimborazo at 6,267 meters. The coastal region of the Ecuadorian geography has extremely fertile plains, basins and breathtaking valleys. Coastal lowlands are relatively flat and run into the rain forests. Ecuador: Ecuador can be divided into three types of terrain, namely: the Sierra, which is the central highlands, the jungles of the Oriente and the coastal plains, which are known as the Costa. Due to the various elevations of the land, Ecuador experiences a difference in climate between the coast and inland areas. The coast and the lowlands feature a lot of jungle and enjoy a tropical climate, whereas the higher inland elevations have a cooler climate. The Andes Mountains, for instance, are decorated by white snow caps - as are the number of volcanoes that are significant feature of the geography of Ecuador. The tropical Amazonian areas receive approximately 500 centimeters of rainfall a year and this enables the forest vegetation to thrive and remain dense and green.

5B.3 Describe the basic physical and human geography of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay as well as this region's progress toward economic integration. Section to reference in textbook: The Southern Cone • Reason for Argentinian war with Britain In March 1982, Argentinean scrap metal dealers landed on British sovereign territory - the island of St. Georgia in the South Atlantic - and raised the Argentine flag. This was the base for an old and defunct whaling station and the gesture seemed to be more for posturing as opposed to anything more sinister as the island had little importance - be it economic or strategic. However, it was British territory and what the Argentineans did was illegal under international law. A group of Royal Marine Commandos was dispatched to remove the 'invaders'. On April 2nd, 1982, a large Argentine military force landed on the Falkland Islands and occupied them. To the British, this was a flagrant violation of international law. Despite American intervention at a diplomatic level led by Secretary of State Al Haig, the Argentine military junta led by General Galtieri refused to take their men off the island. This led to a British military response. This would be the standard British explanation as to why the war stated - the illegal occupation of the Falklands by the Argentine military and the refusal of the Argentine government to remove their men sent there.

6A.6: Describe the broad patterns of land tenure as well as subsistence and commercial agriculture before and after independence. Section to reference in textbook: Africans and Their Land • Land tenure definition: Land tenure is an institution, i.e., rules invented by societies to regulate behavior. Rules of tenure define how property rights to land are to be allocated within societies. They define how access is granted to rights to use, control, and transfer land, as well as associated responsibilities and restraints.

6A.7: Describe the major features of Subsaharan Africa's medical geography, including pandemics, epidemics, and the distribution of major diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. Section to reference in textbook: Environment and Health ( 299) 'Malaria remains Africa's deadliest disease to this day, but since 1980 AIDS has dominated the medical news form this part of the world. AIDS first erupted in Subsaharan Africa and quickly became a global pandemic; no geographic realm has been spared. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, the body's failure to protect itself against a virus. That virus, for want of a better name at the time researchers were trying to identify it, called the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This the disease is properly called HIV/AIDS. Since it was first recognized in the early 1980s, more than 70 million people worldwide have contracted HIV/ AIDS and about half that number have died of it, as many as 80% of them African. By the early 1990s, HIV/AIDS had spread most virulently in Equatorial and East Africa, and medical geographers referred to an AIDS Belt from DRCongo to Kenya. • Pandemic vs. Epidemic( 298) An epidemic (from Greek epi- upon + demos people) is a classification of a disease that appears as new cases in a given human population, during a given period, at a rate that substantially exceeds what is "expected," based on recent experience (the number of new cases in the population during a specified period of time is called the "incidence rate"). A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν (pan, "all") + + δῆμος (dēmos, "the people") is an epidemic that spreads across a large region (for example a continent), or even worldwide.

6B.1: Explain the environmental and human geography of this region, particularly South Africa. Section to reference in textbook: Southern Africa Countries located in southern Africa The southern region of Africa contains 15 countries, which include terrestrial and island nations. The countries belonging to southern Africa include Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Mauritius, Malawi, Madagascar, Seychelles, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa.

6B.2: Describe the human geography of East Africa and its development possibilities. Section to reference in textbook: East Africa East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia Great Lakes: - Water-filled elongated rift valleys and high-plateau basins - Western border of East Africa • Highlands: - Region's elevation tempers effects of its equatorial latitude • Diversity of cultures: - Historic mingling of tribal African peoples and non African arrivals at the coast East Africa: Madagascar • Island shares some similarities with the realm: ethic diversity, colonial interludes, political turmoil, pop. growth, economic troubles, crumbled infrastructure, and environmental destruction. • An island apart from Africa, with significant distinctions: - Ethnic mix was founded by Southeast Asians. - Island's staple crop is rice, not corn. - Unique zoo geographic realm: many animals are found exclusively on the island. • Countries in East Africa region Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion, Mayotte, and South Sudan. • Countries bordering Lake Victoria The countries of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, border the lake and control 49%, 45%, and 6% of the lake surface, respectively. Lake Victoria has a shoreline of approximately 3,500 km.

6B.3: Identify the basic geographic patterns of this region, especially the Congo. Section to reference in textbook: Equatorial Africa Equatorial Africa • Equatorial: location, climate, and environment • Western region exhibits low elevation tropics - Dominated by the bowl shaped Congo Basin • East is part of high elevation rift valley. • States of the region: - The Congo territorial giant - Atlantic coastal states - Transition zone states

6B.5: Describe the cultural and political forces shaping the geography of this region, especially the impact of the expanding Islamic Front. Section to reference in textbook: The African Transition Zone The African Transition Zone is unlike the other four regions of this realm. This is where Subsaharan African's cultures intersect with those of the Muslim world. This Islamic incursion into Subsaharan Africa has engulfed some countries in their entirely ( such as Senegal and Burkina Faso), and divides others into Muslim and non- Muslim sectors ( Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Chad). As elsewhere in the world where certain geographic realms meet and overlap, complications mark the African Transition Zone. In some areas, the transition from Muslim to non-Muslim society is spatially gradual, as is the case in Sierra Lone and Ivory Coast. In other places, the cultural divide is considerably sharper, as in eastern Ethiopia and former Sudan, where a traditional border between Christian/ animist African cultures and Islamic Africans communities is more abrupt. The southern border of the African Transition Zone, the religious frontier occasionally reared to as African's Islamic Front, is therefore neither static nor uninformed. • Location of the Islamic Front Syria Side note: The Islamic Front is a merger of seven rebel groups involved in the Syrian civil war that was announced on 22 November 2013.

7A.1: Discuss why we call this realm North Africa/Southwest Asia and not the Dry, Arab, or Islamic World or the Middle East. Section to reference in textbook: Naming this Pivotal Realm In addition, North Africa/Southeast Asia is a sprawling, geographically complex realm. In our era of high speed communications you will sometimes see it referred to as NASWA, the first letters of its regional deployment. And it is tempting to refer to it in other kinds of geographic shorthand, based on some of its dominant features. But such generalizations can be misleading, and some examples follow. • Countries found within this realm Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar, and Djibouti.

7A.2: Explain the term "culture hearth" and briefly trace the rise and fall of the realm's two culture hearths. Section to reference in textbook: Hearths of Culture A culture hearth is the crucibles of civilization, the sources of ideas, innovations, and ideologies that transformed regions and realms. In addition, this geographic realm occupies a pivotal part of the world: here Africa, the score of humankind, meets Eurasia, cubicle of human cultures. Two million years ago, the ancestors of our species walked from East Africa into North Africa and Arabia and then spreed all across Asia. Less than one hundred thousand years ago, Homo sapiens crossed these lands on there way to Europe, Australia, and, eventually, the Americas. Today this realm is a cauldron of religious and political activity as well as turmoil complicated by foreign interventions; weakened by conflict; empowered and enriched by oil in some places; and plagued by poverty in many others. • Mesopotamia vs. Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent is a boomerang-shaped region that extends from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It is a rich food-growing area in a part of the world where most of the land is too dry for farming. Some of the best farmland of the Fertile Crescent is on a narrow strip of land between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. The two rivers travel in the same direction for thousands of miles before they combine to drain into the Persian Gulf. The Greeks called this area Mesopotamia, which means "between the rivers." Very little rain falls in Mesopotamia, but water and nutrients from the river soak into the land, creating an environment filled with plants and the animals that feed on the vegetation. Many different civilizations flourished in this small region. The Sumerians slowly developed one of the first civilizations in the southeastern region of Mesopotamia as long as 7,500 years ago. The Sumerian civilization lasted more than three thousand years, but in time the Sumerians lost their influence. The Babylonians formed a centralized government under King Hammurabi from about 1770BCE to about 1595BCE. Various other cultures dominated part or all of the Fertile Crescent including Amorites, the Kassites, (c. 1531-1155BCE) the Hittites (c. 1370 - 1205BCE) and the Assyrians (c.890-600BCE). Mesopotamia was later controlled by the Persians of modern day Iran, the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the Romans, and the Ottoman Turks. The land between the Tigris and Euphrates has been part of the modern nation of Iraq since 1932.

7A.4: Analyze Islam's basic Sunni/Shi'ite split and its evolution into modern times, including the rise of fundamentalism (revivalism) in recent years. Section to reference in textbook: Islam Divided (347) • Which religion dominates which region throughout the realm? Islam

7A .5: Describe the geography of oil, its huge concentration in North Africa/Southwest Asia, and the enormous impact it has made in this realm. Section to reference in textbook: The Power and Peril of Oil ( 349, 352,353) As is true of every natural resource found across the plant, oil has completely transformed cultural landscapes in certain parts of the North Africa/ Southwest Asia realm and left others virtually unchanged. For hundreds of millions of this realm's inhabitants, a patch of tillable soil and a source of water still means more to daily life than all the oil in OPEC. In addition, the countryside in Arab as well as non Arab regions in this part of the world continues to carry the imprints of centuries of cultural tradition, not decades of oil driven modernization. Nonetheless, oil and natural gas their location, production, transportation, and sale have produced massive changes that include: 1. Urban Transformation 2. Variable income 3. Infrastructure 4.Industrialization 5. Regional Disparities 6. Foreign Investment 7. Foreign Involvement 8. Intra Realm Migration 9. Migration from other realms 10. Diffusion of Revivalism

7B.1: Identify basic geography of Egypt and Sudan, particularly forces that have divided Sudan. Section to reference in textbook: Egypt and the Lower Nile Basin ( 365) Sudan is almost twice the size of Egypt but with barely 40 percent of the population, and lies centered on the confluence of the White Nile ( From Uganda) and the Blue Nile ( form Ethiopia). Almost all of Sudan is desert, with irrigated agriculture along the banks of the White Nile and the Blue Nile. For several years former Sudan become independent in 1956, the economy was typical of the energy poor global periphery, exchanging sheep, cotton, and sugar for oil, with Saudi Arabia the main trading partner. Moreover, former Sudan's decades of civil war between north and south following the end of colonial rule had impoverished the Islamic regime in Khartoum. • Population distribution in Lower Nile Basin This region in many ways constitutes the heart of the realm as a whole. Egypt ( together with Iran and Turkey) is one of the realm's three most populous countries. it is the historic focus of this part of the world and a major political and cultural force. Also included is Sudan, the truncated, northern portion of the much larger former Sudan that split apart in 2011.

7B.3: Describe the physical geography of the crescent of countries between Israel and Iraq, and the conflicts that plague this region. Section to reference in textbook: The Middle East: Crucible of Conflict ( 374, 378) The Middle East: Crucible of Conflict Iraq's Enduring Importance Territory, Arab population, energy, and agricultural resources • Nearly landlocked, but for a small Gulf outlet: - 1990, tried to annex Kuwait • Geopolitical bonds with six neighbors and the world The Middle East: Crucible of Conflict Other countries Syria, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan. ( View pages 377-398). • Major rivers of the region: Persian Gulf, Mediterranean, Gulf of Aqaba, and the Red Sea.

7B.4: Discuss physical geography of Saudi Arabia and smaller, oil-rich countries on its perimeter. Section to reference in textbook: The Arabian Peninsula Saudi Arabia itself has only 29.7 million residents ( plus about 11 million expatriate workers, 2 million of whom are undocumented). It is a very vast territory but we can see the Kingdom's importance in Figure 7A-8: The Arabian Peninsula contains the world's largest concentration of known petroleum reserves. Saudi Arabia occupies most of this area and may posses as much as one-fifth of the world's liquid oil deposits, second only to reserve leader Venezuela. In addition, the Saudis have good reason to invest in their economic future. Today, 70 percent of the population is under the age of 30, and unemployment among these young people may run as high as 40%. In order to accelerate the generation of the millions of jobs that will be needed, the Saudi royal rules are spending their country's oil money on six new economic cities that by 2020 will create 1.3 million new jobs. • Location of Rub al Khali Rubʿ al-Khali, ( Arabic: "Empty Quarter") also spelled Al-Rabʿ al-Khali, vast desert region in the southern Arabian Peninsula, constituting the largest portion of the Arabian Desert. It covers an area of about 250,000 square miles (650,000 square km) in a structural basin lying mainly in southeastern Saudi Arabia, with lesser portions in Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

7B.2: Indicate physical and human geography of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and surrounding countries. Section to reference in textbook: The Maghreb and Its Neighbors ( 370, 372) Morocco, mountainous country of western North Africa that lies directly across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain. The traditional domain of indigenous peoples now collectively known as Berbers (self-name Imazighen; singular, Amazigh), Morocco has been subject to extensive migration and has long been the location of urban communities that were originally settled by peoples from outside the region. Controlled by Carthage from an early date, the region was later the westernmost province of the Roman Empire. Following the Arab conquest of the late 7th century ce, the broader area of North Africa came to be known as the Maghrib (Arabic: "the West"), and the majority of its people accepted Islam.

Algeria, large, predominantly Muslim country of North Africa. From the Mediterranean coast, along which most of its people live, Algeria extends southward deep into the heart of the Sahara, a forbidding desert where the Earth's hottest surface temperatures have been recorded and which constitutes more than four-fifths of the country's area. The Sahara and its extreme climate dominate the country. The contemporary Algerian novelist Assia Djebar has highlighted the environs, calling her country "a dream of sand." Tunisia: located in North Africa. Most of the country lies in the Sahara desert, and much of its population is concentrated along the coast and its immediate hinterland, where Tripoli (Ṭarābulus), the de facto capital, and Banghāzī, another major city, are located.Libya comprises three historical regions—Tripolitania in the northwest, Cyrenaica in the east, and Fezzan in the southwest. The Ottoman authorities recognized them as separate provinces. Under Italian rule, they were unified to form a single colony, which gave way to independent Libya. For much of Libya's early history, both Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were more closely linked with neighboring territories than with one other.

• Prominent physical features in Chile

Chile is a land of extremes, with soaring snow-capped peaks, glaciers, fjords, volcanoes, fertile valleys and the world's driest desert. Andes Mountains. ... Volcanoes. ... Central Valley. ... Atacama Desert. ... Archipelagos.

• Oil revenues impact on farms and exports

Discovery of significant oil reserves and overnight Transformation from imports to exports : - Foreign investors overlooked human rights violations by the regime based in Khartoum. - Oil wealth brought forced relocation's, wealth to a few. - Oil fueled an independence movement and eventual split.

6B.4: Discuss turmoil-plagued West Africa's basic geography, particularly challenges facing Nigeria.Section to reference in textbook: West Africa West Africa • Colonial Legacies: - Mostly British and French, with one Portuguese - Little interaction and no economic interdependence - Cultural divisions between coastal and interior peoples • Divided environment - Interior steppes and deserts - Forested coasts • Parallel political boundaries divide coastal states • Realm's most populous region West Africa: Coast and Interior Ivory Coast • President for life excesses • End of stability: - Declining economic prosperity - Regional political strife: • North South Cultural Divisions fueled tensions and violence. • Cultural mix of other African nationals descend into disorder. • French expatriate communities were assaulted, and many fled. • 2010 contested election revived civil war, but now has subsided • Colonial powers dominating West Africa the main colonial powers that are dominating West Africa are associated with that of Great Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Spain.

History of Liberia's establishment The founding of Liberia in the early 1800s was motivated by the domestic politics of slavery and race in the United States as well as by U.S. foreign policy interests. In 1816, a group of white Americans founded the American Colonization Society (ACS) to deal with the "problem" of the growing number of free blacks in the United States by resettling them in Africa. The resulting state of Liberia would become the second (after Haiti) black republic in the world at that time. Despite protests by the affected British companies, London was the first to extend recognition to the new republic, signing a treaty of commerce and friendship with Monrovia in 1848. Because of fears of the impact this might have on the issue of slavery in the United States, Washington did not recognize the nation it had played a role in creating. In the meantime, a mass exodus of African-Americans to Liberia never materialized. Though President Abraham Lincoln was open to promoting the idea, several abolitionists in his cabinet opposed it, some for moral considerations and others for the more practical reason of retaining sufficient labor and military forces for the future. The United States finally established diplomatic relations with Liberia in 1862, and continued to maintain strong ties until the 1990s.

4A.3 Describe Middle America's major environmental features and dangers as well as the vertical organization of climates in highland zones. Section to reference in textbook: Physical Geography ( 197) Physical Geography A land Bridge Panama's isthmus Narrow 65 km ( 40 mi) strip of land that bends to the East-West orientation Land Bridge: link two continents. Crucial role in diffusion of animals and humans across the plant. The Central American Republics: A Land Bridge Volcanic highland belt flanked by lowlands on both coasts; Provides fertile volcanic soil Biodiversity hot spot in Costa Rica and Panama. Has a high than usual concentration of natural plant and animal species. Threat of deforestation Physical Geography: Island Chains Approximately 7000 islands in the Caribbean. A large archipelago or island chain, including: Great Antilles: Four large islands Lesser Antilles: Remaining smaller islands. The crests of tops pf ocean floor mountain chain formed out of tectonic plate collisions. Physically Geography: Dangerous Landscapes Tectonic hazards: Volcanoes and earthquakes Ex: Jan 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake Killed more than 200,000 people Left 1.5 people homeless Physically Geography: Dangerous Landscapes Extreme weather: Hurricanes Key conditions: warm ocean water evaporating into rapidly rising moist air Season lasting from June to December, with peak in August & September. Generated from the coast of west Africa and carried by the trade winds.

Major causes of tropical deforestation in Central America The single biggest direct cause of tropical deforestation is conversion to cropland and pasture, mostly for subsistence, which is growing crops or raising livestock to meet daily needs. The conversion to agricultural land usually results from multiple direct factors. For example, countries build roads into remote areas to improve overland transportation of goods. The road development itself causes a limited amount of deforestation. But roads also provide entry to previously inaccessible—and often unclaimed—land. Logging, both legal and illegal, often follows road expansion (and in some cases is the reason for the road expansion). When loggers have harvested an area's valuable timber, they move on. The roads and the logged areas become a magnet for settlers—farmers and ranchers who slash and burn the remaining forest for cropland or cattle pasture, completing the deforestation chain that began with road building.

Mauritania and Mail Mauritania: Contains a minuscule population even in this company: less than 4 million in a territory the size of Texas and New Mexico combined, half of it concentrated in and around the Atlantic coastal capital, it concentrated in and around the Atlantic coastal capital, Nouakchott, base of a small fishing fleet. Overwhelmingly Muslims and experiencing its first democratic presidential election as recently in 2007, Mauritania has been infamous for tolerating slavery despite its official abolition in 1981; following that unprecedented election, its parliament voted to impose prison terms on slave owners continuing the practice. Despite that breakthrough, democracy was short lived, and in 2008 the military sized power. Mail: Most of Mali, in West Africa, lies in the Sahara. A landlocked country four-fifths the size of Alaska, it is bordered by Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, and the Côte d'Ivoire. The only fertile area is in the south, where the Niger and Senegal rivers provide water for irrigation. Caravan routes have passed through Mali since A.D. 300. The Malinke empire ruled regions of Mali from the 12th to the 16th century, and the Songhai empire reigned over the Timbuktu-Gao region in the 15th century. Morocco conquered Timbuktu in 1591 and ruled over it for two centuries. Subjugated by France by the end of the 19th century, the land became a colony in 1904 (named French Sudan in 1920) and in 1946 became part of the French Union. On June 20, 1960, it became independent and, under the name of Sudanese Republic, was joined with the Republic of Senegal in the Mali federation. However, Senegal seceded from the federation on Aug. 20, 1960, and the Sudanese Republic then changed its name to the Republic of Mali on Sept. 22.

Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad Niger: As Mail, the Niger River is the lifeline of this nation of 17.5 million. In addition, Niamey, the capital lies on its banks in the far southwestern tail of this goldfish shaped country. In addition, Niger, in West Africa's Sahara region, is four-fifths the size of Alaska. It is surrounded by Mali, Algeria, Libya, Chad, Nigeria, Benin, and Burkina Faso. The Niger River in the southwest flows through the country's only fertile area. Elsewhere the land is semiarid. Burkina Faso: Burkina Faso is situated on an extensive plateau, which is slightly inclined toward the south. The lateritic (red, leached, iron-bearing) layer of rock that covers the underlying crystalline rocks is deeply incised by the country's three principal rivers—the Black Volta (Mouhoun), the Red Volta (Nazinon), and the White Volta (Nakambé)—all of which converge in Ghana to the south to form the Volta River. The Oti, another tributary of the Volta, rises in southeastern Burkina Faso. Great seasonal variation occurs in the flow of the rivers, and some rivers become dry beds during the dry season. In the southwest there are sandstone plateaus bordered by the Banfora Escarpment, which is about 500 feet (150 meters) high and faces southeast. Much of the soil in the country is infertile. Chad ( 374): Chad lies east of Niger and, as figure 7B-1 indicates, is also bisected by the wide African Transition Zone. Here, animist south are strong, and the map shows its capital, N' N'Djamena, lies directly on the Islamic Front. Since 2000, this country of 12.5 million has been in upheaval, the crisis in Sudan's Darfur provinces spilling across the border into its eastern territorial margin, the south experiencing an oil among rebel factions trying to overthrow the government.

Term for people of Dutch ancestry in South South Africans descended from Dutch settlers are called Afrikaners. In Dutch, the word "Afrikaners" translates to "Africans". Most of the Afrikaner's ancestors settled in South Africa in the 17th century, and the group has its own culture and language called Afrikaans.

Physical features of Botswana Contrasts: subsistence farming and diamonds. Serve aid problem. Botswana is also dominated by the semi-arid Kalahari Desert, which spills across the country from South Africa to the south and Namibia to the west. ... salt pans and deltas. ... the mighty okavango. ... chobe national park.

• Territorial disputes Political Split: North and South Sudan - North has a larger territory and is Islamic. - Followed six decades of conflict. - Most oilfields in the South; export pipelines are in the North.

Prominent physical landscape features THE POWER AND PERIL OF OIL: THE GEOGRAPHY OF OIL'S IMPACT 1. Urban Transformation - Most visible manifestation is urban modernization. - Glass skyscrapers are engineering marvels. 2. Variable Income ( upper middle class) - Fluctuating petroleum prices create states with vacillating income levels. - Many oil exporters stay in upper-middle-income category. THE POWER AND PERIL OF OIL: THE GEOGRAPHY OF OIL'S IMPACT 3. Infrastructure - Money available for transportation and governance structures. - Stark differences between oil-haves and oil-have-nots. - Spending creates an image of comfort and affluence. 4. Industrialization - Some far-sighted governments are investing oil revenues back into the economy. - Building industries that will outlast oil exports: • Manufacturing and high technology THE POWER AND PERIL OF OIL: THE GEOGRAPHY OF OIL'S IMPACT 5. Regional Dispensaries - Strong contrasts within and among countries 6. Foreign Investment - Realm's governments and private entrepreneurs have invested oil wealth in other countries: • Creates a network of international links between economies and Islamic communities abroad 7. Foreign Investments - Oil industry relies on foreign input and exports: • To some, this is a very unwelcome by-product.

4A.1 Recognize the fragmented nature of the Middle American realm and how it relates to the region's geographic and cultural diversity. Section to reference in textbook: Defining the Realm Middle America may be a small geographic realm by global standards, but comparatively it is densely peopled. Its population passed the 200 million milestone in 2011, more than half of its residing in Mexico alone, and the rate of natural increase remains above the world average. What Middle America lacks in size it makes up in physio graphic and cultural diversity. This is a realm of soaring volcanoes and spectacular shorelines, of tropical forest and barren deserts, of windswept plateaus and scenic islands. it holds the architectural and technological legacies of ancient indigenous civilizations.

Relative area and population of each country in this realm Central America, southernmost region of North America, lying between Mexico and South America and comprising Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize. (Geologists and physical geographers sometimes extend the northern boundary to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico.) Relative Location of each city: Belmopan, Belize: 17° 15' N / 88° 46' W Guatemala City, Guatemala: 14° 36' N / 90° 32' W Managua, Nicaragua: 12° 8' N / 86° 15' W Panama City, Panama: 8° 58' N / 79° 32' W San Jose, Costa Rica: 9° 55' N / 84° 4' W San Salvador, El Salvador: 13° 41' N / 89° 11' W Tegucigalpa, Honduras: 14° 4' N / 87° 12' W

4B.4 Jamaica

Smaller than Connecticut and with 2.7 million people, Jamaica has experienced a steadily declining national income over the past few decades despite its relatively slow population growth. Tourism has become the largest source of income, but the markets of bauxite( Aluminum ore), of which this island is a major exporter, have dwindled. And like other Caribbean countries, Jamaica has difficulty making money from its sugar exports. Jamaican farmers also produce crops ranging form bananas to tobacco, but the country faces the disadvantages on world markets common to those in the global periphery. Meanwhile, Jamaica must import all its oil and much of its food because the densely populated coastal flatland's suffer from overuse and shrinking harvests.

Origins of Blue and White Nile Rivers White Nile River, Arabic Baḥr al-Abyaḍ , section of the Nile between Malakal, South Sudan, and Khartoum, Sudan. It is formed by the confluence of the Mountain Nile (Baḥr al-Jabal) and the Sobat River above Malakal, and it flows for about 500 miles (800 km) northeast and north past Al-Rank, Kūstī (railway bridge), Al-Duwaym, and Jabal al-Awliyāʾ (irrigation dam) to join the Blue Nile at Khartoum and form the Nile proper. This wide and shallow section of the river runs placidly along a small slope and is frequently fringed with swamps. The total length of the White Nile, including its major tributary, the Mountain Nile, is 1,295 miles (2,084 km). Blue Nile River, Arabic Al-Nīl Al-Azraq or Al-Baḥr Al-Azraq, Amharic Abāy, headstream of the Nile River and source of almost 70 percent of its floodwater at Khartoum. It reputedly rises as the Abāy from a spring 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) above sea level, near Lake Tana in northwestern Ethiopia. The river flows into and out of the lake, runs through a series of rapids, and then drops into a gorge. It flows through a deep canyon southeast and west around the Choke Mountains and then turns northwest through Sudan to join the White Nile at Khartoum. Its length is about 907 miles (1,460 km). By far the greater part of the Blue Nile's waters come from such tributaries as the Dinder and Rahad rivers, which rise in the Ethiopian highlands. The Al-Ruṣayriṣ and Sannār dams in Sudan irrigate 1,000,000 acres (400,000 hectares) in the plain of Al-Jazīrah (Gezira) between the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers; the Sannār Dam also produces hydroelectric power. • Nile River control projects Some claim that Ancient Egypt has a natural historical right on the Nile River, and principles of its acquired rights have been a focal point of negotiations with upstream states. The fact that this right exists means that any perceived reduction of the Nile water supply to Egypt is tampering with its national security and thus could trigger potential conflict.There have been occasions when Egypt has threatened to go to war over Nile water. Sudan also has hydraulic potential and has created four dams in the last century. This has resulted in the development so far of 18,000 km² of irrigated land, making Sudan the second most extensive user of the Nile, after Egypt. While Egypt is highly dependent on the Nile, there are factors that may lead to the necessity of conflict over the distribution of the Nile's water supply. For example, Egypt has such an agriculturally-dependent economy. Further, Egypt is already dependent on virtual water imports, a strategy which may lead that country to attempt future water conflicts.Ethiopia's tributaries supply about 86 percent of the waters of the Nile. Egypt has historically threatened war on Ethiopia and Tanzania over the Nile river. Egypt armed Somali separatist rebels in Ethiopia during and since the Somalia invasion of Ethiopia in the 1970s. Over the years, the involved states have put agreements and treaties into place so that conflict can be controlled

• Countries that Nile River flow through and the direction of flow The Nile is an "international" river as its water resources are shared by eleven countries, namely, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt. In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan. • Location of Darfur Province Western Sudan Chad

4A.2 Identify the realm's geographic contents, its boundaries, and the rational underlying its regional subdivisions. Section to reference in textbook: Geographical Features In North America, the term Anglo( as a geographic appellation) was offensive to many Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanics, Quebecers, and others. In Middle ( and South) America, millions of people of indigenous American, African, Asian, and European ancestries do not fit under the Latin rubric. In addition, in this age of globalization and migration, many border areas are becoming transition zones, as is happening along the U.S. Mexican boundary.

• Isthmus definition a narrow strip of land with sea on either side, forming a link between two larger areas of land.

7B.6: Restate the geographical issues faced by the five countries of former Soviet Central Asia plus conflict-ridden Afghanistan. Section to reference in textbook: Turkestan: The Six States of Central Asia ( 392-398) Fractious Afghanistan Afghanistan, the southernmost country in this region, exists because the British and Russians, competing for hegemony in this area during the nineteenth century, agreed to tolerate it as a cushion, or buffer state, between them. This is how Afghanistan acquired the narrow extension leading from its main territory eastward to the Chinese border-the Vakhan Corridor. As the colonialists delimited it, Afghanistan adjoined the domain if the Turkmen, Uzbek's, and Tajik's to the north, Persia ( now Iran) to the west, and the western flank of British India ( now Pakistan) to the east.

• Location of Vakhan Corridor Afghanistan