Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:45, 9 June 2010

Western Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly coterminous with the Middle East - which describes geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than location within Asia. Due to this perceived Eurocentrism, international organizations such as the United Nations, have replaced Middle East and Near East with Western Asia. This region and Europe are collectively referred to as Western Eurasia.

Geography

Western Asia is located directly south of Eastern Europe.

Climate

Western Asia is primarily arid and semi-arid, and can be subject to drought; nonetheless, there exists vast expanses of forests and fertile valleys. The region consists of grasslands, rangelands, deserts, and mountains. Water shortages are a problem in many parts of West Asia, with rapidly growing populations increasing demands for water, while salinization and pollution threaten water supplies. Major rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates, provide sources for irrigation water to support agriculture.

There are two wind phenomena in Western Asia: the sharqi and the shamal. The sharqi (or sharki) is a wind that comes from the south and southeast. It is seasonal, lasting from April to early June, and comes again between late September and November. The winds are dry and dusty, with occasional gusts up to 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour) and often kick up violent sand and dust storms that can carry sand a few thousand meters high, and can close down airports for short periods of time. These winds can last for a full day at the beginning and end of the season, and for several days during the middle of the season. The shamal is a summer northwesterly wind blowing over Iraq and the Persian Gulf states (including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), often strong during the day, but decreasing at night. This weather effect occurs anywhere from once to several times a year.

Topography

While Western Asia mainly contains areas with low relief, Turkey, Iran, and Yemen include mountainous terrain. The Anatolian Plateau is sandwiched between the Pontus Mountains and Taurus Mountains in Turkey. Mount Ararat in Turkey rises to 5,165 meters. The Zagros Mountains are located in Iran, in areas along its border with Iraq. The Central Plateau of Iran is divided into two drainage basins. The northern basin is Dasht-e Kavir (Great Salt Desert), and Dasht-e-Lut is the southern basin.

In Yemen, elevations exceed 3,700 meters in many areas, and highland areas extend north along the Red Sea coast and north into Lebanon. A fault-zone also exists along the Red Sea, with continental rifting creating trough-like topography with areas located well-below sea level. The Dead Sea, located on the border between the West Bank, Israel, and Jordan, is situated at 418 m (1371 ft) below sea level, making it the lowest point on the surface of the Earth.

A large lowland belt is located on the Arabian Peninsula, from central Iraq, through Saudi Arabia, and to Oman and the Arabian Sea. The Euphrates and Tigris rivers cut through the lowland belt in Iraq and flow into the Persian Gulf. Rub'al KhāLī, one of the world's largest sand deserts, spans the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula in Saudi Arabia, parts of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Jebel al Akhdar is a small range of mountains located in northeastern Oman, bordering the Gulf of Oman.

Geology

Three major tectonic plates converge on Western Asia, including the African, Eurasian, and Arabian plates. The boundaries between the tectonic plates make up the Azores-Gibraltar Ridge, extending across North Africa, the Red Sea, and into Iran. The Arabian Plate is moving northward into the Anatolian plate (Turkey) at the East Anatolian Fault, and the boundary between the Aegean and Anatolian plate in eastern Turkey is also seismically active.

Water resources

Several major aquifers provide water to large portions of Western Asia. In Saudi Arabia, two large aquifers of Palaeozoic and Triassic origins are located beneath the Jabal Tuwayq mountains and areas west to the Red Sea. Cretaceous and Eocene-origin aquifers are located beneath large portions of central and eastern Saudi Arabia, including Wasia and Biyadh which contain amounts of both fresh water and saline water. The Nubian aquifer system underlies large areas of North Africa. The Great Manmade River project in Libya utilizes an extensive network of pipelines to transport water from the Nubian aquifer to its population centers. Groundwater recharge for these deep rock aquifers is on the order of thousands of years, thus the aquifers are essentially non-renewable resources. Flood or furrow irrigation, as well as sprinkler methods, are extensively used for irrigation, covering nearly 90,000 km² across Western Asia for agriculture.

Countries in Western Asia

The countries and territories of Western Asia according to the UN Subregion, listed below:

•  Armenia
•  Azerbaijan (partially in Europe)
•  Bahrain
•  Cyprus
•  Georgia (partially in Europe)
•  Iraq
•  Israel
•  Jordan
•  Kuwait
•  Lebanon
•  Oman
• Palestine
•  Qatar
•  Saudi Arabia
•  Syria
•  Turkey (partially in Europe)
•  United Arab Emirates
•  Yemen

Though not included in the UN subregion of Western Asia, Iran is commonly included within Western Asia, and sometimes Afghanistan and Egypt (which has some territory in Asia) are included in a broader definition of "Western Asia". It should also be noted that Afghanistan can be considered Central Asian, South Asian, or West Asian.

Territory and region data

Country, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (2009)	Density (per km²)	Capital	Nominal GDP (2009)	Per capita (2009)	Currency	Government	Official languages
Anatolia:
Turkey	783,562	72,561,312	95	Ankara	$1.028 trillion	$13,920 (2008 est.)	Turkish lira	Parliamentary Democracy	Turkish
Arabian Peninsula:
Bahrain	665	791,000	1,189	Manama	$19.4 billion	$24,500	Bahraini Dinar	Constitutional monarchy	Arabic
Kuwait	17,820	3,100,000	174	Kuwait City	$114.9 billion	$37,000	Kuwaiti dinar	Constitutional Hereditary	Arabic
Oman	212,460	3,200,000	15	Muscat	$52.3 billion	$16,300	Omani Rial	Absolute monarchy	Arabic
Qatar	11,437	1,409,000	123	Doha	$92.5 billion	$65,600	Qatari Riyal	Monarchy	Arabic
Saudi Arabia	1,960,582	28,686,633	15	Riyadh	$379.5 billion	$13,200	Riyal	Absolute monarchy	Arabic
United Arab Emirates	82,880	6,888,888	8	Abu Dhabi	$228.6 billion	$33,200	UAE dirham	Federal Constitutional Monarchy	Arabic
Yemen	527,970	23,580,000	45	Sanaá	$26.2 billion	$1,100	Yemeni rial	Republic	Arabic
Caucasus:
Armenia	29,800	3,245,900	109	Yerevan	$8.7 billion	$2,700	Armenian dram	Presidential republic	Armenian
Azerbaijan	86,600	8,922,000	103	Baku	$43.0 billion	$4,900	Azerbaijani manat	Presidential republic	Azerbaijani
Georgia	69,700	4,385,841	63	Tbilisi	$11.0 billion	$2,500	Georgian lari	Presidential democratic republic	Georgian
Levant:
Cyprus	9,250	801,622	90	Nicosia	$23.2 billion	$28,900	Euro	Republic	Greek, Turkish
Iraq	438,317	31,234,000	71	Baghdad	$70.1 billion	$2,200	Iraqi dinar	Parliamentary democracy	Arabic, Kurdish
Israel	20,770	7,509,000	361	Jerusalem	$194.5 billion	$26,100	Israeli new sheqel	Parliamentary democracy	Hebrew, Arabic
Jordan	92,300	6,318,677	68	Amman	$22.5 billion	$3,600	Jordanian dinar	Constitutional monarchy	Arabic
Lebanon	10,452	4,224,000	404	Beirut	$52.6 billion	$13,700	Lebanese pound	Parliamentary democracy	Arabic
Palestinian territories not sovereign	6,220	4,148,000	667	Jerusalem declared	$6.6 billion	$1,600	Dinar, pound sheqel	Presidential republic	Arabic
Syria	185,180	21,906,00	118	Damascus	$54.4 billion	$2,500	Syrian pound	Presidential republic	Arabic

Territories sometimes included

Country, with flag	Area (km²)	Population	Density (per km²)	Capital	GDP (Total)	Per capita	Currency	Government	Official languages
UN Subregion of Southern Asia, (Iranian Plateau):
Iran	1,648,195	74,196,000	45	Tehran	$331.8 billion	$4,500	Iranian rial	Islamic Republic (a Theocratic Republic)	Persian
Afghanistan	647,500	31,889,923	49	Kabul	$13.3 billion	$400	Afghani	Islamic Republic	Persian, Pashto
UN Subregion of Northern Africa:
Egypt	1,001,449	77,498,000	77	Cairo	$188.0 billion	$2,400	Egyptian pound	Semi-presidential republic (democracy)	Arabic
Sources: The World Factbook, United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 15 July 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica. Notes: The figures for Turkey includes Eastern Thrace, which is not a part of Anatolia.

Use in ethnicity statistics

The Canadian government uses "West Asian" in its statistics.

See also

• Middle East
• WikiProject Western Asia

Other subregions of Asia

• Central Asia
• East Asia
• North Asia
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia

References

Sources

• Middle East, West Asia, National Geographic Style Manual, National Geographic Society

Citations

1. National Geographic Style Manual
2. United Nations Cartographic Section Web Site, United Nations Statistics Division
3. "Chapter 7: Middle East and Arid Asia". IPCC Special Report on The Regional Impacts of Climate Change: An Assessment of Vulnerability. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 1997.
4. Taru Bahl, M H Syed, ed. (2003). Encyclopaedia of the Muslim World. New Delhi: Anmol Publications. p. 20. ISBN 9788126114191. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
5. Sweeney, Jerry J., William R. Walter. "Preliminary Definition of Geophysical Regions for the Middle East and North Africa" (PDF). Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
6. "ASTER Image Gallery: The Dead Sea". NASA.
7. ^ Beaumont (1988), p. 22
8. Muehlberger, Bill. "The Arabian Plate". NASA, Johnson Space Center.
9. ^ Beaumont (1988), p. 86
10. Beaumont (1988), p. 85
11. "Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)".
12. The 2007 Middle East & Central Asia Politics, Economics,and Society Conference University of Utah.
13. "Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East & Central Asia" May 2006, International Monetary Fund.
14. CIA world factbook, Afghanistan - Geography (Location: Southern Asia)
15. Center for South Asia Studies: University of California, Berkeley
16. Center for South Asia Outreach UW-Madison
17. Department of South Asia Studies: University of Pennsylvania
18. South Asia: Data, Projects, and Research
19. MAPS SHOWING GEOLOGY, OIL AND GAS FIELDS AND GEOLOGICAL PROVINCES OF SOUTH ASIA Includes Afghanistan and Bhutan
20. Afghanistan-Tajikistan Bridge Links Central, South Asia Refers to Afghanistan as South Asian and Tajikistan as Central Asian
21. University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies: The South Asia Center http://jsis.washington.edu/advise/catalog/soasia-b.html
22. Syracruse University: The South Asia Center http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan/programs/sac/
23. Center for South Asian Studies
24. http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/catalog/one-subject.php?subject_id=6550 this sources admits in certain contexts that Tibet and Afghanistan are South Asian
25. Organization - Center for South Asian Studies - Oscar
26. University of Hawaii at Manoa | South Asia Collection
27. Rutgers, SAS South Asian Studies: - Home
28. Ethnic Origin (247), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census
29. Statistics Canada: Population Groups (28) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census
30. http://www.google.com/search?q=west+asian+site%3Astatcan.ca

Template:Countries of Western Asia

• Asia
• Western Asia
• Regions of Asia