ABSTRACT

This chapter points that sequential development, its traces in the modern Middle East, and its significant impact on contemporary human and political affairs, which deals with the historical-political geography of the region. Evolving over thousands of years and over a wide range of physical and cultural environments, the region's cultural mosaic and political patterns are exceedingly complex. Certain sites and towns settled in ancient times had religious motivations or gained religious importance for later groups. Infrastructural features—basic facilities supporting other development, including irrigation systems, caravan routes, and hillside terracing to facilitate farming—have evolved over centuries. Settlements and human activities have long correlated with patterns of natural resources, notably those of water, fertile soils, metallic ore deposits, and, more recently, oil. The strategic significance of Middle East seas, straits, coastal plains, mountain passes, river valleys, and major trade and invasion routes was displayed in ancient times and persists into the twenty-first century.