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NORTH AFRICA/SOUTHWEST ASIA I. Introduction a. Natural Environments in this realm are dominated by _ Drought _. b. The area is the source of several world religions, including _ Judaism _, _ Christianity _, and _ Islam _. c. The area is significant in that Arabian, North African and _ Asian _regions meet. d. Enormous _ oil _ reserves are located beneath certain portions of the realm. II. Hearths of Culture a. _ Mesopotamia _. i. Mesopotamia means "land between _ two _ rivers" the _ Tigris _ and _ Euphrates _. ii. This is the area in which people first learned to _ domesticated _ plants for agriculture. iii. The concept of _ writing _ was developed here. iv. Cities also developed around _ 6,000 _ years ago. v. This area became a principle _ trade _ route between peoples. b. Ancient _ Egypt _. i. Developed cities about _ 5,000 _ years ago. ii. Agriculture was more successful here than in Mesopotamia because the flooding the _ Nile _ was much more predictable than the Tigris and Euphrates. c. The _ Indus _ Valley. i. Located in _ Pakistan _ this valley was part of the cultural development going on in Mesopotamia and Egypt at the same time. d. Gifts of the _ River _ Valley Civilizations. i. Domestication of _ cereal _ crops and livestock. ii. _ Irrigation _ techniques, iii. _ Calendars e. _ Decline _ i. A decline occurs in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures, possibly due to _ climate _ changes associated with the ice age. ii. As a result other developing cultures, such as the _ Romans _, _ Persians _ and Greeks take over various parts of the area. iii. Because of isolation _ Arabia _ is not as impacted by the new comers. III. Stage for _ Islam _. a. In _ 611 _ Muhammad receives a revelation from _ Allah _ and begins developing the basis for Islam. b. Muhammad was in _ Mecca _ but moved to _ Medina _ because of problems with people in Mecca. c. The faith contains the "_ 5 _ Pillars of Islam" i. Repeated expressions of the basic _ creed _ ii. _ daily _ prayer iii. A _ month _ of daytime fasting iv. _ Almsgiving _ v. At least _ 1 _ pilgrimage to Mecca. d. The Arab-Islamic Empire i. In _ 632 _ the prophet Muhammad dies. ii. Holy book is the _ Qur’an _ iii. Islam spreads and by 9th century the religion is found _ Spain _ and _ Morocco _ on the west and eventually spreads to tropical Asia. iv. Capital of Islam is moved from Medina to _ Damascus _ and then to _ Baghdad _. v. During this time Arabs overshadowed the Europeans in Architecture, science, and _ Math _.(Europe was in the dark ages.) IV. Islam Divided a. Religious Succession i. After _ Muhammad’s _ death a split develops. 1. _ Shiites _ believe successor should be related to Muhammad ( Shi’s) . 2.
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This note was uploaded on 02/01/2011 for the course ISS 315 taught by Professor Hussain during the Fall '08 term at Michigan State University.

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