World Geography Lesson Activities Student Answer Sheet
The Middle East and North Africa The Lesson Activities will help you meet these educational goals: Inquiry Skills—You will analyze societal issues, trends, and events; apply reasoning that requires spatial and environmental perspectives; evaluate change and continuity over time; and identify and analyze real-world public problems.
Directions Please save this document before you begin working on the assignment. Type your answers directly in the document. ______
Self-Checked Activities
Read the instructions for the following activities and type in your responses. At the end of the lesson, click the link to open the Student Answer Sheet. Use the answers or sample responses to evaluate your work.
1. The Tuareg of the Sahara The Tuareg are a Berber community of traditionally nomadic peoples. They make their homes in the Sahara desert of North Africa. Review this brief description of their lifestyle, and compare it to your own day-to-day life. In the table below, describe 6-10 details about the Tuareg community’s way of life that are in clear contrast to your family’s way of life.
Sample answer: Answers will vary depending on your lifestyle, but here are some sample points of comparison you might have noted.
My Family The Tuareg lives in a fertile and green live in a dry, sandy, and remote suburban community desert buys clothes at the mall or a make and dye their own clothes department store lives in a neighborhood with experience some violence due to police protection and little ongoing rebellions against national violence governments travels in cars, buses, or trains use camels and donkeys (as well as trucks) to travel and trade with others lives in the same house all year move their home to different areas based on the season uses street signs and maps to use texture, taste, and color of sand navigate around town to navigate through the desert
1 © 2013 EDMENTUM, INC. gets water from a city-run water carry water with them in bottles and and sewer system tanks and uses wells and desert oases as water sources lives in a modern wood and stone live in tents made of straw mats home
2. Holy Land Because of its location and significance to different peoples, Jerusalem has been a disputed city for hundreds of years. Review this map and information about Jerusalem, including its disputed status among Israelis and Palestinians. Using this resource, what you have read in the tutorial, and other information you have learned about Jerusalem over the years, answer the following questions:
a. What is the holy significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people? What is its significance to Muslims?
Sample answer: Jerusalem is considered sacred to the Jewish people because King Solomon made it the Jewish capital in the 10th century BCE. He also built a temple in the city to mark its importance. In addition, the story of King David’s struggle to capture Jerusalem and build a temple there is deeply significant to Judaism.
Muslims consider Jerusalem their third holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. The Prophet Muhammed is said to have taken a nocturnal journey to Jerusalem and ascended to heaven at the site of the Dome of the Rock in the city. Another part of the city’s significance to Muslims traces back to its importance to prophets and other religious figures before Muhammed, such as Abraham, David, Solomon, and Jesus.
b. How has territorial control of the city changed since the creation of the state of Israel? How have Israelis and Palestinians attempted to maintain or gain control of the city?
Sample answer: When the modern state of Israel was established, Jerusalem was considered an international city. One section came under Israeli control and another section existed as an Arab municipality under Jordanian rule. In 1967, Israel fought Jordan and other Arab nations to annex East Jerusalem and control the entire city. Israeli control of East Jerusalem is illegal under international law. Over the years, Palestinians have sought to create and expand neighborhoods in the area of East Jerusalem. At the same time, Israel has built and expanded new settlements into the areas that they claim as part of a unified Jerusalem.
3. Religion Three major world religions trace their origins to the Middle East and North African region. While each religion has many distinct beliefs, they also have quite a few characteristics in common. Using information from the tutorial and this online resource, as well as your own knowledge of the topic, compare and contrast Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Identify the religion or religions that apply to each characteristic listed in the table below. Then add
2 three more characteristics that you find helpful in identifying similarities or differences among two or more of the religions.
Sample answer: Answers will vary for the additional characteristics but should highlight similarities and differences among the three religions.
Characteristic Religion makes a pilgrimage to Mecca Islam
believes in only one God Judaism, Christianity, Islam
views Jerusalem as a holy city Judaism, Christianity, Islam
studies the Old Testament Judaism, Christianity focuses study on the biblical stories of Jesus Christianity considers the Western Wall in Jerusalem to Judaism be a holy site
4. Sharia Law As noted in the lesson, sharia law has a significant impact on the Middle East and North Africa. It affects both the daily lives of devout Muslims and the official policies and laws of various Islamic countries in the region. Read this resource on sharia to better understand what it is and how it affects residents of the Middle East and North Africa.
Write a half-page to full-page essay discussing your understanding of sharia law by answering three questions: What actions could result in physical punishment for a Muslim under sharia law? How do certain Islamic countries practice a duel legal system? What is life like for women living under sharia law in Saudi Arabia? Give at least one example not included in the tutorial.
Sample answer: Answers will vary but should include the following ideas in response to the three questions above. Your response should include some discussion of hadd offenses like adultery, theft, and drinking alcohol which can result in flogging, stoning or amputation under strict interpretation of the Quran. Your answer should mention an official government’s secular system of law and enforcement coexisting with an optional sharia court system where Muslims can choose to bring familial or financial disputes. Your answer could mention that women must be completely covered in public and are under the guardianship of male relatives who must approve activities such as marriage or divorce for the women.
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