Notes








... Geography
Features : Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Arabian Gulf, Indian Ocean, Caucasus
Cities : Constantinople, Damascus, Baghdad, Baku, Aden, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Karbala, Yathrib, Quds, Najaf, Medina, Hormuz, Riyadh, Makkah
Climate Zones : irrigated plain, irrigated mountains, arid plain, arid mountains



... Historical landscapes : Hijaz, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Yemen, Anatolia, Lebanon, Khorasan, Najd, Baluchistan, Caucasus, Oman, Kurdistan
... Modern States : Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, UAE, Yemen

Religions : Judaism, holy book : Torah; law : Talmud
Christianity, holy book : bible (old, new testament); in Near East Orthodox communities headed by patriarchs; others reunited with Catholicism (Maronites in Lebanon)
Islam : holy book Koran/Qur'an, law : Sharia
Major branches : Sunni, Shia (believers in Ali and his descendants being the legitimate Caliphs), Wahhabi (Saudi Arabia)
Druzes (minority in Lebanon, Syria, Israel)
Yazidis (minority in Kurdistan)
Baha'i (minority in Iran; considerable emigrant community)
Zoroastrianism (in Iran close to extinction; important emigrant community in Mumbai
Other historical religions originating here : Mithraism, Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity

Important Dynasties : Abbasid Dynasty, Ayyubid Dynasty, Byzantine Empire, Fatimid Dynasty, Il-Khanate, Ottoman Dynasty, Mamluk Dynasty, Qajar Dynasty, Sadavid Dynasty, Sassanid Dynasty, Umayyad Dynasty (where ? which order ?)
Titles : Caliph, Emir, Sultan, Sheykh, Imam, Ayatollah, Malik, Rais



Establish the chronological order of these maps. Any idea which point in time they show ?

Important Eras : Caliphate, Muslim Agricultural Revolution, Seljuk Empire, Crusades, Mongol Conquest, Ottoman Period, European Domination, Era of Oil, Modernization, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Tanzimat Era

COUNTRY POPULATION
1800 1900 1950 2000 2009
Turkey 005,604,000 011,900,000 020,947,000 065,311,000 073,914,000
Iran n.d. 009,860,000 016,267,000 065,619,000 066,429,000
Iraq n.d. 002,060,000 005,198,000 022,676,000 030,747,000
Saudi Arabia n.d. 001,503,000 003,916,000 022,023,000 027,601,000



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on December 11th 2009

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