ABSTRACT
The present landscape of the Middle East, more than that of any other world region, illustrates the sharpest contrast between the works of nature and the works of man. Landscapes in the temperate zone are basically the product of natural variables and human factors. Mountainous areas may have been little affected by human activity while urban areas may seem little infl uenced by nature, but in general there is a clear interplay between the two. In the Middle East, there are vast areas, some mountainous but mainly comprising desert, in which any effect of human life is diffi cult to detect. In contrast, the valleys of the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates have been moulded by human action over millennia. Given this contrast, it is appropriate to separate considerations of physical geography from those of human geography.
