Contents
List of maps and diagrams / vii
Preface / xiii
1 Introductory / i
Part I Physical geography of the Middle East
2 Structure and land forms / 11
3 Climate / 4°
4 Soils and vegetation / 76
Part II Social geography of the Middle East
5 Peoples / 101
6 Human society in the Middle East / 128
7 Aspects of the historical geography of the Middle East / 154
1 Early political units in their geographical setting / 154
2 The political background a.d. 1800 to the present day / 170
8 General economic life / 204
9 Oil resources of the Middle East / 244
10 Demographic trends / 269
Part III Regional geography of the Middle East
11 Iran / 283
12 Asia Minor / 323
13 The Tigris-Euphrates lowlands / 363
14 The Eastern Mediterranean coastlands / 398
15 Cyprus / 449
16 The Arabian peninsula / 461
17 Egypt / 502
18 Libya / 539
19 The Sudan 565
Glossary of geographical terms / 595
Bibliography / 597
Index / 608
Maps and diagrams
1.1 The Middle East: countries and capital cities / 2
1.2 Middle East: annual rainfall / 4
1.3 The ‘Interface’ function of the Middle East / 6
2.1 Areas of tectonic activity / 12
2.2 Formation and evolution of tectonic plates / 13
2.3 Development of the Tethys embayment in Triassic-Jurassic Times / 14
2.4 Formation and movement of the tectonic plates comprising the Middle East area / 15
2.5 Subduction of the Arabian plate against the Iranian plates,
with formation of the Zagros-Makran ranges / 16
2.6 Structural elements of the Middle East / 18
2.7 Marine erosion surfaces at Beirut / 24
2.8 Middle East: generalized geology / 27
2.9 Middle East: drainage patterns / 3°
2.10 Thalweg of the river Zerqa (Jordan) / 31
2.11 One season’s flow in the river Zerqa 1960-1 / 32
2.12 A qanat or foggara / 36
3.1 Total insolation received at the surface, in g cal-cm2-annum / 41
3.2 Average wind maxima at 500 mbar level; velocities in km-h / 42
3.3 Average wind speeds at 200 mbar level (km/h) during February 1956,
showing jet development over the Mediterranean / 44
3.4 Atmospheric circulation (easterlies and westerlies) over India (km-h) during July 1955 / 44
3.5 Pressure conditions in summer / 46
3.6 Tracks of depressions and areas of cyclo- and frontogenesis over the Mediterranean / 49
3.7 Pressure conditions in winter / 53
3.8 Typical khamsin conditions at Alexandria, Egypt 1974 / 54
3.9 Variation in air mass, with characteristic alignment of fronts
and mass boundaries, during period 24-26 March 1945 / 58
3.10 Temperature range (annual) / 61
3.11 Water demand (actual and potential), Kuwait / 68
3.12 A rainfall phase at Jerusalem, 1850-1960, showing a tendency to aridity / 74
4.1 Soil types in an area of the UAE / 79
4.2 Soil types in an area of Jordan near Irbid / 83
4.3 Sketch of soil type distributions / 87
4.4 Former and Latter Rains (average year in the Levant) / 88
4.5 The Middle East: natural vegetation / 90
4.6 Cedars in the Lebanon / 96
5.1 Nomadism and lines of movement in the Middle East / 104
5.2 The Middle East: distribution of the B blood group gene / 106
5.3 The Middle East: language distribution / 110
5.4 Specimens of scripts in current use in the Middle East / 111
6.1 Tribal map of Arabia / 130
6.2 Classical grid remnants in ground plan of old Damascus / 141
6.3 Central Damascus, showing juxtaposition of traditional and modern city / 143
6.4 Tabriz: bazaar / 146
7.1 The Persian Empire c. 500 b.c. / 157
7.2 The Empire of Alexander the Great, and its division between Ptolemy and Seleucus / 159
7.3 The expansion of Islam / 161
7.4 Crusader states in the Levant / 164
7-5 The Ottoman Empire / 167
7.6 The Sykes-Picot Treaty of 1916 / 176
7-7 Russian expansion in Iran, and the Curzon Line / 184
7-8 Kurdish and Armenian territorial claims / 195
8.1 The Middle East: land use / 208
8.2 Subdivision of land holding in an Arab village of Palestine 1945 / 214
8-3 Locusts in the Middle East / 227
9-1 Types of oil-bearing structures / 246
9-2 Oilfields of the Gulf area / 249
9-3 Oilfields of the north and centre / 257
9-4 Oilfields in cibya / 258
9-5 Aramco concession changes: 1939-69 / 259
9.6 Concession pattern in Libya, 1969 / 261
9-7 The increase in average selling price of oil,
and the proportion received by Middle Eastern governments / 266
10.1 Sketch of population density, 1976 / 279
11.1 Iran: structure / 284
11.2 Iran: geographical units / 287
11.3 Variation in level of the Caspian Sea / 293
11.4 Iran: drainage pattern / 295
ii-5 Iran: summer and winter temperatures / 297
11.6 Crops and irrigation development (1976) / 307
11.7 Iran: major existing irrigation / 308
11.8 Mineral distribution in Iran / 310
11-9 Population distribution in Iran / 3i7
11.10 Communications in Iran / 319
12.1 Asia Minor: structure / 324
12.2 Turkey: geographical units / 325
12.3 Western Asia Minor / 329
12.4 Land use in Turkey / 341
12.5 Crop distribution in Turkey / 346
12.6 Turkey: minerals / 353
12.7 Turkey: railways / 357
12.8 Turkey: population (1970 estimates) / 358
12.9 Istanbul / 359
13.1 Geographical units / 364
13.2 The regimes of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers / 367
13.3 The lower valleys of the Euphrates-Tigris / 371
13.4 The upper valleys of the Euphrates-Tigris / 372
13.5 Iraq: land use / 377
13.6 Irrigation in Iraq / 384
13.7 Iraq: population density 1976 / 393
14.1 The northern Levant / 401
14.2 Geological sections in the Levant / 402
14.3 The southern Levant / 405
14.4 Percolation crests in Judaea, showing eastward diversion of
underground percolation / 409
14.5 The Levant: annual rainfall / 417
14.6 Syria: land use / 422
14.7 The Tabqa barrage scheme / 424
14.8 Altitude and land use in the Lebanon / and Anti-Lebanon / 426
14.9 Israel: land use / 430
14.10 Water supply in Israel / 433
14.11 The Damascus region / 443
14.12 Greater Beirut / 444
14.13 Haifa / 447
14.14 Tel Aviv-Jaffa / 447
15.1 Cyprus: (a) topography; (b) geology; (c) minerals; (d) villages
and nationality / 450
15.2 Cyprus: land use / 459
16.1 Generalized section east-west across / Arabia / 463
16.2 The geographical units of Arabia / 465
16.3 Foreign pilgrims to Mecca / 468
16.4 The Arabian peninsula: population densities (1970 estimates) per km2 / 470
16.5 The Yemen / 473
16.6 Altitude and land use in the Yemen / 475
16.7 Southern Yemen: land use / 477
16.8 The Abyan Irrigation Scheme / 478
16.9 Oman / 484
16.10 The eastern Emirates / 487
16.11 Abu Dhabi and Qatar / 489
16.12 Kuwait / 494
17.1 Egypt: geographical units / 503
17.2 Contributions to main Nile floods / 508
17.3 Irrigation works on the Nile / 512
17.4 The New Valley scheme; and planned New Towns / 515
17.5 Irrigation developments / 516
17.6 Egypt: major crops / 519
17.7 Egypt: land capability / 520
17.8 Egypt: land use and population growth / 523
17.9 Egypt: industry and minerals / 530
17.10 Egypt: population density 1976 / 532
17.11 Egypt: population change by governorate to 1965 / 534
17.12 Alexandria / 536
17.13 The Suez Canal / 537
18.1 Libya: physiography / 540
18.2 Libya: sketch of structural elements / 541
18.3 The Jefara of Tripolitania / 543
18.4 Northern Cyrenaica / 545
18.5 Water-tables in Libya / 548
18.6 Tripolitania: land use / 551
18.7 North Cyrenaica: land use / 552
18.8 Tauorga irrigation project: (a) water canals; (b) settlement lay-out / 555
18.9 Location of industry in Tripoli / 557
18.10 Location of industry in Benghazi / 560
19.1 The Sudan (including railways) / 568
19.2 The Sudan: (a) geographical regions; (b) soil types;
(c) rain-fall and drainage patterns; (d) degeneration of land / 570
19.3 Irrigation schemes in the Sudan / 580
19.4 The Sudan: population distribution (1970 estimate) / 585
19.5 Nomadism in the Sudan / 587 | 
