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South West Asia
vocab
Question | Answer |
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Golan Heights | a hilly plateau overlooking the Fordan River and the Sea of Galilee; a sraategic lovation that has been the site of conflict in Southwest Asia for decades |
Wadi | a riverved that remains dry except during the rainy seasons |
Tigirs River | one of the most inportant rivers of Southwest Asis; it supported seceral ancient river valley civilizatons and flows through parts of Turkey Syria and Iraq |
Euphrates River | a river of Soutwest Asia which supported several ancient civilizations and flows through parts of Turkey Syria and Iraq and empties into the Persian Gulf |
Dead Sea | a landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan that is so salty that almost nothing can live in its waters; it is 1,349 feet below sea level making it the lowest place on the exposed crust of the earth |
Rub al-Khali | also known as the Empy Quarter; one of the largest sandy deserts in the world, covering about 250,000 square miles; located on the Arabian Peninsula |
Oasis | a place where water from an aquifer has reached the surface; it supports vegetation and wildlife |
Saltflat | flat land made of chemical salts that remain afer winds evaporate the mositure in the soil |
Dripirragation | the practice of using small pipes that slowly drip water just above ground to conserve water to use for crops |
Desalanizaton | an expansion of dry conditions to moist areas that are next to deserts |
Fossil Water | water pumped from underground aquifers |
Crude Oil | petroleum that has not been processed |
Refinery | a place where curde oil is converted into useful products |
Mecca | the holiest city of Islam located in Saudi Arabia where people make pilgrimages to fulfill Islamic religious duty |
Islam | a monotheistic religion based on the teachings of the prophet Muhannad and the biggest cultural and religious influence in North Africa |
Muhammad | the founder and a prophet of Islam who lived part of his life in the city of Mecca |
Masque | place of worship |
Theocratic | a form of government in which religious leaders control the government relying on religious law and consultation with religious scholars |
OPEC | the Organization of Peroleum Exporting Countries a group established in 1960 by some oil-producing nations to coordinate policies on selling petroleum products |
Western Wall | for Jews the hliest site in Jerusalem the only rmaining portion of the Second Temple built in 538B.C. and destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans |
Dome of the Rock | a shrine in Jerusalem located on the Temple Mount which houses the spot where Muslims believe Muhammad rose into heaven and where Jews blieve Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac to God |
Zionism | a movement that began in the 19th century to create and support a Juwish homeland in Plaestine |
Palestine Liberation Organization | a group formed in the 1960's to regain the Arab land in Israel for Plaestinian Arabs |
Kurds | an ethnic group in Southwestern Asia that has occupied Kurdistan located in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran for about a thousand years and who have been involved in clashes with these three countries over land claims for most of the 20th century |
Mesopotamia | a region in Southwest Asia between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers which was the location of some of the earliest civlizations in the world part of the cultural hearth known as the Fertile Crescent |
Sunni | one of the two main branches of Islam comprising about 83% of all Muslims including those in Turkey,Iraq and Afghanistan |
Shi'ite | one of the two main branches of Islam includin most Iranians and some populations of Irq and Afghanistan |
Taliban | a strict Muslim group in Afghanistan taht has imposed rigid rules on Society includin prscrived clothing styles for both men and women in public places, and rgulations on television, music, and videos |
Guest Workers | a largely unskelled laborer often an immigran from South and East Asia brought in to the oil-booming countries to fill job openings that the region's native peoples find culturally or economically unacceptable |
Stateless Nation | a nation of people that does not have a territory to leaglly occupy lik the Plestinians Kurds and Basques |
Palestinians | a displaced group of Arabs who lived or still live in the area formerly called Palestine and now called Israel |
West Bank | in Israel a strip of land on the wst side of the Jordan River originally controlled by Jordan which is part of the land set aside for Arab Palestinians |
Gaza Strip | a territory alon the Mediterranean Sea just northeast of the Sinai Peninsula part of the land set aside for Palestinians which was occupied by Isral in 1967 |
Strategic Commadity | a resource so inportant that nations will go to war to ensure its steady supply |
Human Resources | the skills and talents of employed people |