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115
PENNSVALLEY
Lesson 60:
Natural Resources and Economy
of Southwest Asia (Middle East)
Without question,
OIL
is themost dominant natural resourceof Southwest Asia.Natural gas isalso
an important raw material. Countries surrounding the Persian Gulf region are extremely rich in oil.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UnitedArabEmirates, Iraq, and Iranare the largest producers of oil. It has been
reported that 65 percent of theworld’s oil supply is located in this region.Presently, about one third of
the oil produced in the world comes from this area. Recently, oil and
natural gas
also have been
discovered in theCaspianSea region.
We would not want you to think that all countries have high oil production in this region. Israel,
Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey have very little to no oil. However, where there is oil, there are
oil
refining
and
petrochemical
industries, both of which can be found in these countries.
Southwest Asiahas fewermetallic resources thanother regionsof theworld.Thenotableexception
isTurkey,wherechromium isamajor resourcemined.Chromium isused inavarietyofmetal products.
Its best known use is as an alloy in preventing corrosion inmetals, such as
steel
.Saudi Arabiamines
gold, silver, ironore,
and
copper
. Several places have smaller amounts of copper and iron ore.
While freshwater is in short supply in this region, several countries have taken advantage of their
rivers to build dams to produce
hydroelectricity
.Turkey, Georgia, Syria, and Iraq produce this kind of
power.Howwould you like towork inaqanat?These tunnels arehanddug toallow freshwater to flow
through them.They can bring irrigationwater to crops and fields up to 40miles away.
Southwest Asia is located close to many saltwater shipping routes. Turkey is in a very strategic
location.Thecountryhasdevelopeda large
shipping
industry.Shipping isnot anatural resource itself,
but the many jobs generated from shipping are service oriented. Several nations have large
fishing
industries, such as Iran, Oman, Yemen, and Turkey. The Caspian Sea yields a unique product from
sturgeon known as
caviar
, or fish eggs.TheCaspianSea is theworld’s largest saltwater lake.
Moving products and goods requires good roads and railroads as well. Turkey has the best
developed
road
and
railroadnetworks
inSouthwest Asia.
This region has an active
tourist
industry, although the flow of tourists has been lowered because
of terrorism. Some tourists travel for religious reasons.They are expected tomake at least one trip to
a holy city of their faith. Jerusalem, Israel is a holy city for all threemajor religions that emerged in the
region. Many Jews (Judaism), Christians (Christianity), and Muslims (Islam) visit Jerusalem. Mecca,
Saudi Arabia, also is a holy city for people of the Islamic faith.
TheMiddle East does not havemuch rich, fertile soil.Remember, much of the northern portion of
the region ismountainous.Much of the central and southern areas of this region are deserts and too
dry. However, one big exception is an area known as the Fertile Crescent. This arc-shaped region
follows theTigris-EuphratesRiver plainnorthwest through Iraq. It swings throughSyriaandarcs along
the Jordan River (border of Israel and Jordan). Finally, the crescent crosses Asia into Africa along
Egypt’sNileRiver plain.
Despite thepoor farming conditions, about onehalf of thepeoplemake their livingby
subsistence
farming
. A variety of crops are raised, usually with the help of irrigation. Another form of subsistence
farming is the herds of sheep, goats, and camels kept by farming families.However, other people live
the “oldway” as
nomadic herders
.They travel with their tents from place to placewith their herds of
animals; and they use all parts of the animals.
Southwest Asia
