(West Asia) Also called Southwest Asia. The geographical region of southwest Asia. Located at the junction of Asia, Africa and Europe, between the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (inland lakes), it is known as the "land of five seas and three continents". Including Iranian Plateau, Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia Plain and Asia Minor Peninsula. Including Iran, Iraq and Georgia in Asia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Asia, Turkey in Asia, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen and Oman in Asia. The area is about 7 1.8 million square kilometers (including 60,000 square kilometers of Egypt in Sinai Peninsula and excluding 20,000 square kilometers of Turkey in Europe), accounting for about 1.6% of the total area of Asia.
Physical geographical characteristics
Since ancient times, the famous "Silk Road" has been the main road of east-west traffic. The Silk Road starts from Xi, China, goes out of Xinjiang along the Hexi Corridor, passes through Pakistan, and then goes from West Asia to Europe. Now, in addition to the land and international routes connecting the three continents, the Suez Canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea also connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The Northwest Strait is the only exit from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The Persian Gulf in the south is the main waterway for world oil transportation, while the the Strait of Hormuz and Mande Strait are the "throats" of offshore oil transportation lines. Therefore, West Asia is strategically located in a modern land, sea and air transportation hub connecting three continents and connecting two oceans and five seas.
Plateau-dominated topography: the Iranian plateau in the east of West Asia, the Armenian volcanic plateau in the west and the Anatolian plateau in Asia Minor are all inland plateaus, surrounded by folded mountains formed during the Alpine-Himalayan movement, with many tall mountain systems distributed on the edge. The Arabian Peninsula in the southwest is a platform plateau formed by Precambrian ancient land. The plain area is not large, mainly including Mesopotamia plain and Kula valley plain in Transcaucasia. In geological history, there have been many volcanic activities in the West Asia Plateau, forming a large area of lava platform. There are many volcanoes, and influenced by neotectonic movement, modern volcanoes and earthquakes are also quite frequent. The external force landform is mainly drought and sandstorm landform, and the desert is widely distributed.
The Tropic of Cancer, which has a dry climate, runs through the central part of this area, and most areas are controlled by subtropical high and dry northeast trade winds. At the same time, the southwest of the region is adjacent to arid North Africa, and the plateau edge is surrounded by tall mountains, with a dry climate, mostly tropical and subtropical desert climate. Less precipitation and strong evaporation. Most of the annual precipitation is below 250 mm, and the areas with more precipitation generally do not exceed 500 mm. Only mountainous areas and Mediterranean coastal areas are rich in precipitation. The east coast of the Mediterranean belongs to the Mediterranean climate, with rainy winters and dry summers. Arabian Peninsula is a world-famous arid climate zone with little precipitation. Limited by precipitation and topography, the inland river basin and no-flow area in this area are vast, with poor surface runoff and sparse river network. Except the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, most of them are short rivers, most of which originate from the mountainous areas on the edge of the plateau and are replenished by glacial snowmelt water. The amount of river water is small, and the seasonal changes are significant.
Desert and semi-desert landscape The natural vegetation in West Asia is mainly tropical and subtropical desert and semi-desert (desert grassland), with sparse vegetation, few species and obvious drought resistance. The developed roots, succulent stems and needle-like leaves are mostly short-padded shrubs, and there are many short-lived annual plants and perennial pseudo-short-lived plants. Forests are mainly distributed in windy and rainy mountainous areas. Most of the earth's surface is bare, and oases rich in aquatic plants are mostly distributed in coastal lowlands and areas with sufficient water along arid riverbeds. The date palm forest growing on oases is its special landscape.
Abundant oil resources West Asia is extremely rich in oil resources, accounting for more than half of the world's total oil reserves. The coast, seabed and two river basins of the Persian Gulf are world-famous oil fields, and the Persian Gulf is a huge oil belt centered on it. West Asia has large oil reserves, shallow burial, good oil quality and easy exploitation. The formation of petroleum is closely related to its geological structure. The Persian Gulf region and the two river basins belong to the marginal depression zone of the Neofold Mountain System in geological structure, and the oil storage structure is good. At the same time, the long-term warm marine environment provides suitable growth conditions for a large number of marine life. After the remains of marine life sink to the bottom of the sea, they become the source of organic matter that produces oil, and gradually become oil through complex biochemical processes. Other mineral deposits include chromium, copper, antimony, manganese, iron and apatite.
Complex human and geographical features: West Asia is not only the junction of Asia, Europe and Africa, but also one of the birthplaces of ancient human civilization. The birthplace of world and regional religions such as Islam, Christianity and Judaism. In modern history, colonialist and imperialist powers carved it up for many times, which made the ethnic, language, religion, territory and border issues in this area quite complicated. Over the years, it has become the fuse of political turmoil between two ethnic groups or between two ethnic groups, or between ethnic groups within a country, and it has been further complicated by the intervention and control of external pressure. The origin, development process and trend of a series of problems in West Asia are all related to it.
More than 220 million residents (1990). It is one of the regions with the fastest population growth after the war. The average annual natural growth rate of population was 25.8‰ in 1950s, 27.5‰ in 1960s, 29.2‰ in 1970s and over 30‰ in 1980s. Far more than the average level of developing countries, but West Asia is still one of the most sparsely populated areas in the world, with an average population density of 22 people per square kilometer, and the population distribution is extremely uneven, especially in the Mediterranean coast and the two rivers and plains. The desert area is sparsely populated. There are a large number of foreign workers in West Asia, concentrated in several oil exporting countries in the Persian Gulf, accounting for about 80% of the total labor force, which has become a labor market with world significance. The population urbanization is progressing rapidly, rising from 22% of 1950 to over 50%. Kuwait (93%) and other oil-producing countries are as high as 80 ~ 90%. Megacities with a population of one million have increased from 1 to 13, and Tehran (6 million people) has developed into a megacity. There is a great difference between urban and rural areas, and rural areas still live a backward nomadic life. Arabs account for more than 1/2, which is one of the main gathering areas of Arabs in the world. It is concentrated in south-central China: Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia Plain and Mediterranean countries. The peninsula in Asia Minor is mostly Turks, the Iranian plateau is mostly Persians, and Israel is mainly inhabited by Jews in the world (about 83%). Cyprus is mainly composed of Greeks and Turks, and Azerbaijanis, Georgians and Armenians live in Transcaucasia.
The characteristics of economic development can be divided into two economic types according to their economic characteristics, namely, oil exporting countries and non-oil exporting countries. Oil exporting countries include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran and Oman. Oil is the economic lifeline of all countries, and the proportion of oil industry in gross national product, national income and export value is absolutely dominant. Construction, transportation, processing and commerce are all based on oil production. After the war, the economy developed very rapidly, and the per capita gross national product ranked first in the world. A single economic structure is often influenced by the international market, especially the energy market. To this end, countries are adjusting their economic development strategies and gradually diversifying their development. Labor resources are insufficient, and a large number of foreign workers and technicians enter from abroad every year, becoming an important labor market in the world. State-owned enterprises are dominant, and various economic components coexist. The economies of non-oil exporting countries are mainly agriculture and animal husbandry. Mining and processing industries are relatively weak, giving full play to their geographical advantages, and making considerable profits and income from oil in transportation, processing and service provision. Of course, the level of development varies greatly among countries. West Asia has a long history of agricultural development. Affected by climate, irrigated agriculture plays an important role. The main food crops are wheat, barley and beans, followed by millet and rice. Cash crops such as cotton, tobacco and sugar beet. Animal products and dried and fresh fruits are important export products, such as jujube, hazelnut, pistachio, pomegranate, olive, purple lamb and Ankara goat. Cultivated land is concentrated in coastal areas, river valleys and oases, and grassland pastures in mountainous areas and plateaus are mainly animal husbandry. The self-sufficiency rate of agricultural products is low, and it has become one of the main import areas of agricultural and livestock products in the world.
North Africa
North Africa
North Africa, the northern part of the African continent, is traditionally a vast area north of the Sahara Desert. It covers an area of 8.37 million square kilometers. Population10.50 billion (199 1), more than 70% are Arabs. Arab culture and Islam are important human characteristics in North Africa. Egypt, Sudan and Libya are sometimes called Northeast Africa, and most of them belong to the Sahara Desert. Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are called Northwest Africa or Maghreb, and the Atlas Mountains run diagonally across the north. Mineral resources include oil, phosphate and natural gas. Agricultural products include cotton, gum Arabic, cork, olives, figs, dates and so on. Produce camels. Including the following countries and regions:
Algeria
Egypt
Libya
the Sudan
Tunisia
Western Sahara
Morocco (including Ceuta, a seaport city in northern Morocco; Melilla Melilla, a port city in northeast Morocco, has been occupied by Spain since 1497).
Canary Islands (Spain)
Azores (Portugal)