Deck 7: Southwest Asia and North Africa

Question 1

By what name is the region of Southeast Asia and North Africa most commonly known?

A) the Middle East
B) the Far East
C) the Holy Land
D) the Levant
E) the Maghreb

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What is a "qanat"?

A) an irrigation system, developed in Iran, that taps into groundwater through a series of gently sloping tunnels
B) a type of subsistence agriculture practiced on oases
C) a formal title given to the monarch (national leader, like a king or queen) in the country of Saudi Arabia
D) the practice of seasonally moving livestock to cooler, greener, high country pastures in the summer, then returning them to valley and lowlands for fall and winter grazing
E) water supplies stored underground during earlier and wetter climatic periods

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa is the Aswan High Dam located?

A) Israel
B) Saudi Arabia
C) Iran
D) Morocco
E) Egypt

Answer 3

E

Question 4

What is the oldest environmental problem in Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) deforestation
B) salinization
C) air pollution
D) water pollution
E) subsidence

Question 5

What countries comprise the Maghreb of Southwest Asia/North Africa?

A) Algeria, Libya, Egypt
B) Libya, Egypt, Tunisia
C) Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
D) Tunisia, Libya, Egypt
E) Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya

Question 6

By what name is the eastern Mediterranean region of Southwest Asia and North Africa known?

A) the Levant
B) Anatolia
C) the Maghreb
D) Middle East
E) Persia

Question 7

Which of the following resources presents the greatest challenge for survival in Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) petroleum
B) food
C) water
D) iron
E) human resources

Question 8

Why is the island of Socotra, off the southeast coast of Yemen, considered unique?

A) It is one of the largest islands in the world.
B) It is one of the smallest islands containing permanent habitation.
C) It contains one of the largest untouched tropical forest preserves in the world.
D) It possesses a unique biological habitat, containing hundreds of plant species found nowhere else on Earth.
E) It has the lowest elevation of any place on the Earth.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT one of the environmental problems facing North Africa/Southwest Asia?

A) deforestation
B) hurricanes
C) overgrazing
D) salinization
E) water shortages

Question 10

Which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa is most likely to experience earthquakes?

A) Tunisia
B) Libya
C) Saudi Arabia
D) Iraq
E) Turkey

Question 11

What do we call the countries Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia as a group?

A) Anatolia
B) the Levant
C) Middle East
D) Persia
E) the Maghreb

Question 12

Which of the following places is NOT located in the Fertile Crescent of North Africa and Southwest Asia?

A) eastern Turkey
B) Syria
C) Libya
D) Lebanon
E) northern Iraq

Question 13

From the perspective of which world region is Southwest Asia and North Africa the "Middle East"?

A) Europe
B) Australia and Oceania
C) East Asia
D) Sub-Saharan Africa
E) Latin America

Question 14

What is the chief problem associated with the use of groundwater in Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) Groundwater is highly polluted by agricultural chemical runoff.
B) Groundwater is being depleted faster than it can be replaced, so it is inherently unsustainable.
C) Groundwater in this region is often contaminated with crude oil.
D) Drilling wells is very expensive.
E) All of the choices are correct.

Question 15

By what name is the large peninsula of Turkey, located wholly in Asia, known?

A) Maghreb
B) Levant
C) Middle East
D) Anatolia
E) Persia

Question 16

What type of subsistence agriculture depends on the seasonal movement of livestock for their livelihood?

A) pastoralism
B) pastoral nomadism
C) plantation agriculture
D) shifting cultivation
E) slash-and-burn

Question 17

The kibbutz, a collectively worked settlement that produces grain, vegetable, and orchard crops, using irrigation, is associated with which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) Algeria
B) Iran
C) Iraq
D) Israel
E) Syria

Question 18

Which animal is most to blame for the loss of forests in Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) camels
B) horses
C) goats
D) cows
E) the gypsy moth

Question 19

Which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa has made efforts to preserve its famed "cedars" forestlands in recent years?

A) Libya
B) Lebanon
C) Turkey
D) Iran
E) Iraq

Question 20

Which of the following parts of Southwest Asia and North Africa does the Fertile Crescent NOT include?

A) Israel
B) Northern Syria
C) Iraq
D) Southern Iran
E) This is a trick question. All of the choices are part of the Fertile Crescent.

Question 21

What is the major problem that Southwest Asia and North Africa is most likely to face as a result of global climate change?

A) Warmer average temperatures will likely increase evaporation and lower moisture throughout the region.
B) Sea level changes will threaten farmlands in the Nile Delta.
C) Crop yields could decline.
D) Hydroelectric potential may decline.
E) All of the choices are correct.

Question 22

How is Saudi Arabia expanding its farm acreage?

A) by digging extensive deep-water irrigation wells
B) by importing water from Turkey
C) by perfecting the technology to remove the salt from ocean water at a low cost
D) by developing a qanat system
E) through fertigation, a technique that combines fertilization and irrigation

Question 23

Which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa has the highest total fertility rate?

A) Egypt
B) Tunisia
C) Algeria
D) Yemen
E) Turkey

Question 24

The Maghreb does not include

A) the Atlas Mountains.
B) the Egyptian Desert.
C) Morocco.
D) Algeria.
E) a shoreline along the Mediterranean Sea.

Question 25

What is "dryland" agriculture?

A) agriculture in dry areas, made possible by irrigation
B) agriculture that depends largely on seasonal precipitation to support farming
C) agriculture that relies on special, hybridized crops that require almost no water
D) agriculture that occurs on oases in land that is otherwise desert
E) agriculture that occurs in desert lands, inside a greenhouse with a controlled environment

Question 26

Into which category of agriculture does pastoral nomadism fall?

A) subsistence agriculture
B) commercial agriculture
C) plantation agriculture
D) intensive agriculture
E) specialized agriculture

Question 27

In which contemporary country of Southwest Asia and North Africa is Mesopotamia located?

A) Iraq
B) Iran
C) Syria
D) Turkey
E) Lebanon

Question 28

Which two bodies of water mark the traditional boundaries of Mesopotamia?

A) Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea
B) Blue Nile and White Nile
C) Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea
D) Red Sea and Persian Gulf
E) Tigris River and Euphrates River

Question 29

In which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa are the flood plains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers located?

A) Iraq
B) Israel
C) Iran
D) Jordan
E) Syria

Question 30

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the pattern of domestication in Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) Experimentation with wild cattle, sheep, and goats 10,000 years ago led to pastoral nomadism, and later to domestication of wheat and barley and the establishment of farm settlements.
B) Experimentation with wild wheat and barley 10,000 years ago was accompanied simultaneously by domestication of cattle, sheep, and goats, which eventually led to establishing farming villages.
C) Experimentation with wild wheat and barley 5,000 years ago was accompanied simultaneously by domestication of cattle, sheep, and goats, which led to the establishment of farming villages.
D) Experimentation with wild wheat and barley 5,000 years ago was accompanied simultaneously by domestication of cattle, sheep, and goats. Farming villages and pastoral nomadism developed together.
E) Experimentation with wild wheat and barley 10,000 years ago led to farm settlements and domestication of cattle, sheep, and goats.

Question 31

In which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa is the delta of the Nile River located?

A) Sudan
B) Egypt
C) Libya
D) Algeria
E) Tunisia

Question 32

Which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa has the highest population density?

A) Algeria
B) Bahrain
C) Libya
D) Yemen
E) Saudi Arabia

Question 33

Which river in Southwest Asia and North Africa plays a significant role in the hydropolitics of the Middle East peace process?

A) Blue Nile
B) Jordan
C) Tigris
D) Euphrates
E) upper Nile

Question 34

Which of the following countries of Southwest Asia and North Africa experiences earthquakes with the greatest frequency?

A) Libya
B) Egypt
C) Morocco
D) Turkey
E) Yemen

Question 35

Pastoral nomadism in Southwest Asia and North Africa

A) is increasing in importance.
B) is common in arid areas.
C) has been supplanted by transhumance.
D) developed separately from sedentary agriculture.
E) is an Islamic practice.

Question 36

Egypt lies

A) south of Sudan.
B) west of Libya.
C) north of Iraq.
D) on the banks of the Mediterranean Sea
E) in the westernmost part of North Africa

Question 37

Which of the following cities in Southwest Asia and North Africa receives the highest amounts of annual precipitation?

A) Cairo, Egypt
B) Istanbul, Turkey
C) Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
D) Tehran, Iran
E) Baghdad, Iraq

Question 38

What happens in domestication?

A) Plants are purposefully selected and bred for their desirable characteristics.
B) Animals are purposefully selected and bred for their desirable characteristics.
C) Plants and animals are genetically engineered for their desirable characteristics.
D) Plants and animals are purposefully selected and bred for their desirable characteristics.
E) Plants and animals are purposefully selected and cloned for their desirable characteristics.

Question 39

Which two bodies of water were connected by the construction of the Suez Canal?

A) Black Sea and the Persian Gulf
B) Black Sea and Red Sea
C) Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea
D) Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea
E) Persian Gulf and Red Sea

Question 40

In which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa would you be MOST likely to find dryland agriculture?

A) Iraq
B) Israel
C) Turkey
D) Saudi Arabia
E) Egypt

Question 41

The majority of Egypt's 80 million people live within ________ miles of the Nile River.

A) 5
B) 10
C) 25
D) 50
E) 20

Question 42

Many of the immigrants who have left Morocco and Algeria have moved to this European country.

A) United States
B) Egypt
C) Italy
D) France
E) Germany

Question 43

Why do most people migrate within and emigrate from Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) to take advantage of job opportunities
B) to escape environmental disasters
C) to escape political conflict
D) to escape ethnic tensions
E) to take advantage of educational opportunities

Question 44

What country of Southwest Asia and North Africa has seen hundreds of thousands of its people leave the country since 2003?

A) Iran
B) Egypt
C) Turkey
D) Saudi Arabia
E) Iraq

Question 45

What is the main factor that determines where people live in Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) a plentiful supply of raw materials for industry
B) a plentiful supply of water
C) a region that can be easily defended from attack
D) location near a major trade route
E) location near a railroad

Question 46

Which of the following is NOT one of the recent migration patterns found in Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) rural to urban migration
B) urban to rural migration
C) the movement of workers to labor-poor countries
D) the movement of laborers out of the region altogether
E) the movement of people to the countries that dominated them during their periods of colonization

Question 47

What is brain drain?

A) the common name given to an illness caused by exposure to toxic residues from petroleum refining that results in short-term memory loss
B) This occurs when highly centralized governments actively recruit the best and the brightest individuals for jobs in the national capital, leaving few behind in the villages.
C) This occurs when bright young people migrate to foreign lands in search of better jobs.
D) This is a rock group from the United Arab Emirates.
E) The common name given to the practice of providing scholarships to students in North Africa/Southwest Asia, which enables them to study abroad and gain a better education than that available in their home region. These scholars later return to share their new-found knowledge with their own students.

Question 48

What is the dominant factor in the location of the population settlements in North Africa and Southwest Asia?

A) water
B) rugged terrain
C) temperatures
D) oil
E) government policies

Question 49

Why is the region of Southwest Asia and North Africa considered a culture hearth?

A) It was an early center for agriculture.
B) It was an early center for several great civilizations.
C) It was the center for three major world religions.
D) A and C above
E) A, B, and C above

Question 50

Which of the following countries of Southwest Asia and North Africa is the most highly urbanized?

A) Morocco
B) Syria
C) Western Sahara
D) Israel
E) Yemen

Question 51

In which of the following countries of Southwest Asia and North Africa does the total fertility rate average between 2 and 2.2 children per family?

A) Tunisia, Iran, Turkey
B) Jordan and Libya
C) Saudi Arabia and Yemen
D) Iraq
E) All of the choices are correct.

Question 52

Which city in Southwest Asia and North Africa contains the Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Western Wall?

A) Tehran
B) Jerusalem
C) Baghdad
D) Mecca
E) Istanbul

Question 53

In which of the following countries of North Africa and Southwest Asia is the total fertility rate (TFR)less than 3?

A) Jordan
B) Iraq
C) Saudi Arabia
D) Yemen and Western Sahara
E) Tunisia and Turkey

Question 54

Which group of people was displaced by the creation of Israel?

A) Coptic Christians
B) al-Qaeda
C) Kurds
D) Palestinians
E) Ottoman Turks

Question 55

What part of Southwest Asia and North Africa is the least densely populated?

A) Saudi Arabia's interior
B) Levant coastline
C) Nile River Valley
D) Algeria's Mediterranean coast
E) Turkey's coastline

Question 56

What is physiological density?

A) a population statistic that relates the number of people in a country to the amount land in that country
B) a population statistic that relates the number of people in a country to the number of farmers
C) a population statistic that relates the number of people in a country to the amount of arable land
D) a population statistic that relates the number of people in a country to the number of doctors
E) a population statistic that relates the number of people in a country to the amount of food harvested

Question 57

What world region has been a "particularly powerful draw" as a destination of migration for people in Southwest Asia and North Africa who are looking for opportunity?

A) North America
B) Australia and Oceania
C) East Asia
D) Europe
E) the Russian Domain

Question 58

What is a medina?

A) the temporary settlements of families engaged in pastoral nomadism in Southwest Asia and North Africa
B) the name for capital city in Southwest Asia and North Africa
C) A mound built on the outskirts of Islamic cities in Southwest Asia and North Africa; it is a burial ground.
D) The walled urban core of an Islamic city; it is dominated by a central mosque.
E) the erosional materials left behind in Southwest Asia and North Africa after ancient lakes and rivers dried up

Question 59

Which ethnic group of Southwest Asia and North Africa is an example of a nation without a state?

A) Turks
B) Persians
C) Yemenis
D) Kurds
E) Omanis

Question 60

What is the approximate population of Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) 100 million
B) 200 million
C) 400 million
D) half a billion
E) 700 million

Question 61

The island of Cyprus is a subject of conflict by which pair of countries?

A) Greece and Turkey
B) Israel and Lebanon
C) Iran and Iraq
D) Israel and Palestine
E) Syria and Jordan

Question 62

Which religion holds the Dome of the Rock sacred?

A) Judaism
B) Christianity
C) Islam
D) Sufism
E) Coptic Christians

Question 63

Which country in Southwest Asia and North Africa has taken steps to join the European Union?

A) Iraq
B) Israel
C) Lebanon
D) Sudan
E) Turkey

Question 64

What was the goal of the Balfour Declaration?

A) It ended the 10-year war between Iran and Iraq (1980-1990).
B) It established Palestine as a homeland for the Jewish people.
C) It launched "Desert Storm," the U.S. war against Iraq in 1991.
D) It created the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
E) It ended Algeria's War of Independence against France.

Question 65

Which of the following religions arose in North Africa/Southwest Asia

A) Animism
B) Buddhism and Hinduism
C) Hinduism and Sikhism
D) Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
E) Shinto

Question 66

What religion was the first monotheistic religion of Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) Judaism
B) Islam
C) Christianity
D) Bahai
E) Buddhism

Question 67

People making a hajj (pilgrimage)to Makkah and Medinah must travel to which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) Saudi Arabia
B) Israel
C) Egypt
D) Jordan
E) Iraq

Question 68

What is the largest problem preventing Sudan from taking advantage of recently discovered oil in the nation?

A) the depth of the petroleum reserves
B) civil war
C) the declining price of oil worldwide
D) an inadequate transportation infrastructure in the country
E) the world trade embargo against Sudan

Question 69

In what year did Islam originate in the region of North Africa and Southwest Asia?

A) 346 CE
B) 622 CE
C) 1022 CE
D) 1289 CE
E) 1492 CE

Question 70

What religion has had the greatest impact on urban function and design in Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) Christianity
B) Judaism
C) Sufism
D) Islam
E) Buddhism

Question 71

In which city of Southwest Asia and North Africa are there important religious sites for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam?

A) Istanbul, Turkey
B) Baghdad, Iraq
C) Jerusalem, Israel
D) Makkah, Saudi Arabia
E) Damascus, Syria

Question 72

What is the official language of Israel?

A) Yiddish
B) English
C) Arabic
D) Hebrew
E) Persian

Question 73

What is the Hajj?

A) the pilgrimage to the Holy Land that many Christians make during their lifetime
B) the pilgrimage to Muhammed's birthplace (Makkah) that every Muslim is supposed to make during his or her lifetime
C) the pilgrimage to the Western Wall in Jerusalem that many Jews make during their lifetime
D) the month-long fast that Muslims must undertake each year
E) the sacred book of Islam

Question 74

What country of Southwest Asia and North Africa is officially an Islamic theocracy?

A) Iran
B) Israel
C) Saudi Arabia
D) Syria
E) All of the choices are correct.

Question 75

What is the third-most common religion in Israel?

A) Christianity
B) Islam
C) Judaism
D) Sufism
E) Buddhism

Question 76

Islam

A) began within a few decades of the death of Jesus.
B) originated in present-day Saudi Arabia.
C) holds that Jesus was a false prophet.
D) says that there will be many more true prophets in the future.
E) has never had a foothold in Europe.

Question 77

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were from which country of Southwest Asia and North Africa?

A) Iraq
B) Iran
C) Saudi Arabia
D) Kurdistan
E) Palestine

Question 78

Which of the following is NOT one of the five pillars of Islam?

A) accepting that Muhammed was a prophet
B) praying five times a day
C) making charitable contributions
D) making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem
E) fasting during the month of Ramadan

Question 79

You would be most likely to see a Shiite Muslim in which country?

A) Morocco
B) Iran
C) Egypt
D) Turkey
E) Cyprus

Question 80

Which part of Southwest Asia and North Africa was the last to be converted to Islam?

A) Saudi Arabia
B) Mesopotamia
C) Northern Egypt
D) Algeria
E) Yemen