Study Guide

 

African Geography: Be able to locate each of the following physical and political features and explain their significance.

·  Sahara- World’s largest desert located in Northern Africa, historically has been a major trade route because of its location to the Mediterranean Sea as well as its proximity to both Europe and the Middle East. Egypt is ideally located with the Mediterranean Sea to the North, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the East, and the Nile River which is the world’s longest river.

·  One of the most populous areas of the Sahara region is Cairo, which is the most populated city in the Sahara region. The Sinai Peninsula, Suez Canal, and the Nile River are physical features that also provide a source for trade, transportation and irrigation for agriculture. These features make Egypt’s location ideal for developing a strong economy.

·  Rivers- The Nile River is the world’s longest river, it is used as a waterway for transporting people and goods.  It also a source of irrigation for agriculture.

·  Kalahari Desert- Is located in the southern region of Botswana.

·  Atlas Mountains- The Atlas Mountains are located in the southern region of Morocco and crosses into the northern region of Algeria.

·  Savanna- tropical grasslands with scattered trees are home to a variety of wildlife. The most famous savannah is the Serengeti.

·  Sahel- semi-arid land south of the Sahara. Some areas have rich natural resources such as gold, uranium and oil.

·  Tropical Rain Forest– can be found in equatorial Western Africa, which has a dense evergreen forest.

·  Unfortunately the forest has shrunk because of deforestation and poor farming practices.

·  The Great Lakes Region- with Lake Victoria, which is the largest, and Lake Tanganyika being the deepest in the region.  The Congo River is also part of this region, it feeds into Lake Victoria

 

Cultural Characteristics- Africa has many ethnic groups:

·  Arabs mostly live in North Africa, speak Arabic and practice the Islam faith.  They are usually divided into two groups- nomadic Bedouins and settled Arabs.  The Bedouins live in the deserts of Arabia, Negev, and Sinai. They move from one     place to another in search of food for themselves and their livestock. Their religion is a combination of polytheism, Judaism, and Christianity.

·  Ashanti- live in central Ghana. The family, especially the mother’s family is most important to the Ashanti. The mystical Golden Stool has been the center of Ashanti spiritual practice. It represents the unity of the Ashanti, and the power of their chiefs.

·  Swahili-live on the East African coast from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique. The Swahili people practice a strict form of Islam. Contact between the cultures of east and central Africa with the Middle Eastern cultures resulted in the development of the Swahili language as well.

·  Bantu- came from southwest Nigeria and spread east and south. The great Bantu migration influenced African culture through language, farming, use of iron tools and trade.

                                      

 

Environmental Policies

·  Egypt – Nile River-because of increased population it has led to heavy pollution. The Aswan High Dam has trapped silt making farmers depend on chemical fertilizer.

·  South Africa – Deforestation-cutting down too many trees. This can cause soil erosion; the government has taken steps to improve the environment.

·  Kenya-oil spills could destroy miles of coastline, threatening plant and animal species.

 

·  Nigeria- worried about damaging effects of oil production which can cause the destruction of native plants and animals.

·  Sudan- most important natural resources are water and rich farmland. Drought and over farming threaten Sudan’s water resources. Desertification can turn much of Sudan’s farmland into unusable desert.

 

 

Middle East

BE able to locate these physical features: Euphrates River, Jordan River, Tigris River, Suez Canal, Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Arabian Sea, Red Sea, and Gaza Strip.

Political Features: Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

 

Southwest Asia (Middle East) has an abundance of oil. Many Middle Eastern countries are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which determines the amount of oil to be extracted, stored and sold; as well as the sale price of oil. 

 

Compare and contrast: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

Similarities of all three:

·  Monotheistic-belief in one God

·  Originated in the Middle East

·  Jerusalem is a Holy City

·  Teaches about living a good life, and being a good person (Golden Rule), family values, 10 Commandments

·  Prayer (a form of communicating with God)

 

Differences we learned were based on the following ideas: (J, C, I in order)

Holiday: Yom Kippur, Easter, Ramadan

Key Figure: Abraham, Jesus, Muhammad

Sacred Text: Torah, Bible, Koran

 

The Modern State of Israel

Anti-semitism – This is hostility or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group. Examples:  pogroms  (mob attacks) , the Dreyfus Affair, and the Holocaust.

Zionists are those who believe Jews should have a homeland in Israel.  Israel is significant to the Jewish people because they believe it was promised to them by God through Abraham.  After the Holocaust of WWII, many Jewish people wanted to find safety in their promised land of Jerusalem. At this time, this area was governed by Great Britain and thousands of Palestinians lived there. The Jewish population grew from very small to 50,000 in 1930 to 650,000 in 1948 (40% of the population).  Britain could no longer govern the area peacefully due to conflicts between the Arab Palestinians and the European Jews so they turned to the United Nations for help in 1947.  The UN partitioned the area between the Jews and the Arab Palestinians and created two separate states.  The predominately European/Jewish/Zionist part was renamed Israel.  Thousands of Palestinians left Israel and went to UN refugee camps.  The Palestinians felt they had been treated unfairly.  Many were prepared to fight to get their land back.  The Jews accepted the decision, but the Palestinians the League of Arab states did not.  The Palestinians greatly outnumbered the Jews (1,300,000 to 600,000) but the Israelis were better prepared to fight.  Continued conflict is common and both sides are accused of terrorism.  The conflict over this land is referred to as the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

 

Persian Gulf conflict: Iraq invaded Kuwait in order to control their oil fields and planned next to invade Saudi Arabia.  The UN attacked the Iraqi forces and defeated them.  Iraq agreed to destroy any/all WMD’s, not to purchase or make any, and to allow UN weapons inspectors to search for them in the future.

 

Invasion of Afghanistan: Al- Qaeda, a terrorist organization that assumed responsibility for the 911 attacks, is based largely in Afghanistan and is led by Osama Bin Laden.  The US and British troops invaded Afghanistan to find him.

 

Invasion of Iraq: It was believed that Iraq violated the agreements made at the conclusion of the Persian Gulf War, that they had ties to terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction. The US invaded the country without the support of the UN. 

 

Describe the ways government systems distribute power: unitary, confederation, and federal.

·  Unitary- Central government has absolute power

·  Confederation- States voluntarily joined by a central government.  States haves more power.

·  Federation- States joined by a central government that provides for their common needs.  Participation is not voluntary and states are subordinate to the federal government.

 

Explain how governments determine citizen participation: autocratic, oligarchic, and democratic.

·  Autocratic:   In an autocracy, one person holds supreme power.  The individual cannot be restricted by an institution or group.  In some autocratic governments leaders have held elections in order to conceal their power. The powerful ruler holds control without the consent of the citizens.  Often in an autocracy, a strong police or military enforces harsh and strict laws on the people.

·  Oligarchic:  In an oligarchy, a small group of privileged people have political power.  Sometimes this is based on family status, wealth, position in the military, or race.  The members of this small group often enact laws that strengthen their status and control.

·  Democratic:  In a democracy, citizens hold the power and are free to participate in the government. There are two types of democracies: direct democracy and representative democracy.

 

Describe the two predominant forms of democratic governments: parliamentary and presidential.

·  Parliamentary- a system of government where executive power lies within the cabinet which is made up of members of the legislature (parliament).  The Prime Minister is chosen by the legislature  who is individually and collectively responsible to the legislature.  So long as they have majority vote they may remain in office. 

·  Presidential- a system of government where the president is constitutionally independent of the legislature. All executive power lies with the president.   

 

Compare the parliamentary democracy of the State of Israel, the monarchy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the theocracy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, distinguishing the form of leadership and the role of the citizen in terms of voting rights and personal freedoms.

 

	Type of Government	Legislative (What do they do?  What are they called?) makes laws	Judicial (What do they do?  What are they called?) interpret laws	Executive (What do they do?  What are they called?) enforces laws	Personal Freedoms (Who can vote?  Can they choose their religion?  Other rules?	Who can participate?  Autocratic, Oligarchic or Democratic?)
Israel	Parliamentary Democracy	Knesset (appoints pres)	Supreme Court	Prime Minister (people vote for)	Many: freedom of religion, universal suffrage	Democractic
Iran	Theocratic Republic	Islamic Consultative Council	Council of Guardians/ Shariah Courts	Ayatollah	Universal suffrage; freedom of religion	Autocratic
Saudi Arabia	Monarchy	Consultative Assembly	Sharia Courts	King	Must practice Islam; only men can vote	Autocratic right now but oligarchic after current king dies b/c the emirs (500 princes) will vote for the next king

 

  

 

Economic Systems: describe the organization of each country’s economy.  Every country has an economic system.  Each answers the economic questions of (1) what to produce, (2) how to produce, and (3) for whom to produce. Every country has a scarcity of productive resources (natural resources, labor resources, and capital resources).  There are not enough of these resources to provide all the goods and services that citizens want that live in the country.  This is the definition of scarcity.  Because of this scarcity, a country needs an economic system to determine how these resources will be used.

 

Types of pure economic systems:

Traditional Economies:  In this type of economic system, economic decisions are based primarily on custom and tradition.  For example, most tribal societies have jobs that are based on what their ancestors did. 

 

Command Economies:  In a command system, the government usually owns most of the property, and governmental planning groups make the basic economic decisions.  These groups often determine such things as the prices of goods and services and the wages of workers.  This type of economy has not been very successful.

 

Market Economies :  There are many names that describe a market economy including capitalism and free enterprise.  In a market system most of the resources are owned by private citizens.  Citizens own their own businesses and can keep the profits earned from them.  The questions of what, how, and whom are not answered by the government.  People have the freedom to make choices on what job they do, what products they will make, and what price they will charge.

Most countries have a mixed economy located on a continuum between pure market and pure command (Mixed)

 

Compare and contrast the economic systems in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

           Israel

·  Imports: grain, oil, military technologies, raw diamonds

·  Exports: high-tech equipment, cut diamonds,  crops

·  Services: insurance, banking, tourism

                      

                   Saudi Arabia

· Imports: food products

· Exports: petroleum products

· Oil funds the country’s education, defense, transportation, health and housing. 

· Lacks human capital so must import workers

 

Turkey

·  Economy is largely based on farming.

·  Clothing and textiles are major industry.

 

 

Compare and contrast different types of trade barriers such as tariffs, quotas, and embargos. (Know definitions for all economic terms)

 

Know currencies of Iran (Rial), Saudi Arabia (Riyal), Turkey (Lira), and Israel (Shekel).

 

Productive Resources:

·  Natural resources – These are present without human intervention.   Natural

·  resources can be renewable or non-renewable.

·  Capital resources-  Goods people produce and use to make other goods and  services.

·  Human or labor resources- The quantity and quality of human effort directed toward producing goods and services

 

Factors that influence economic growth (therefore increasing the GDP and standard of living)

 

• Investment in physical and human capital
• Incentives to save, invest, and increase productivity
• Low inflation
• Political stability
• Economic freedom
• Free trade

 

Factors that effect the GDP: Consumption + Investment + Net Exports + Government Spending (definitions of each on handout)- examples practiced in class

 

Study the trade barriers:  quota, embargo, standards, subsidies, tariffs- definitions and examples on handouts