Key Stage 3 geography · Locational knowledge

KS3 Middle East geography: a guide for parents

The Middle East is the region where Africa, Europe and Asia meet, and at Key Stage 3 children learn to place it on a world map, describe its deserts, mountains, seas and rivers, and name its main countries and cities. They also learn why water, oil and trade routes shape life there. It is a topic about location and landscape, and it builds on primary work on continents, latitude and the tropics.

The Middle East: location and landscapes, explained

The National Curriculum lists the Middle East as one of four places for pupils to focus on when extending their knowledge of the world’s countries, using world maps. As with the others, the emphasis is on environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, and countries and major cities. The Middle East is not an official region with a single agreed boundary, so schools draw it a little differently. Most include countries such as Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, and many add Egypt. Which countries and cities pupils learn is the school’s choice.

Most of the region lies in south-west Asia, with Egypt in north-east Africa and part of Turkey in Europe. The Tropic of Cancer crosses it, and much of the land is hot desert: the Arabian Desert, the Syrian Desert and the Rub’ al Khali, or Empty Quarter, one of the largest areas of continuous sand in the world. There is more variety than the name suggests. The Zagros and Taurus mountains are high and often snow-covered in winter, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise in Turkey and flow through Iraq to the Gulf, and the Nile runs through Egypt. The Dead Sea, on the border of Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, lies more than 400 metres below sea level, the lowest land surface on Earth. The Mediterranean coasts have milder, wetter winters.

Several seas and narrow waterways make the region a crossroads. The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, so ships between Europe and Asia do not have to sail around Africa. The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Oil and natural gas are found in several countries in and around the Gulf, which have a large share of the world’s known reserves, but they are spread unevenly: some countries in the region have little oil, and not all oil-rich countries are alike. Water is a more common challenge. With very little rain, many countries rely on rivers that cross borders, on underground water and, in the Gulf states, on desalination, which removes salt from sea water.

People speak Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Kurdish and many other languages, and the region is the birthplace of several major world religions. Most people now live in cities such as Cairo, Istanbul, Tehran, Baghdad, Riyadh and Dubai, though large areas of desert are almost empty. Capitals are worth learning carefully, because they are not always the biggest or best-known city. Istanbul is Turkey’s largest city but Ankara is the capital, and Dubai is the best-known city of the United Arab Emirates but Abu Dhabi is the capital.

Words your child will hear

Peninsula: A piece of land almost surrounded by water, such as the Arabian Peninsula.
Strait: A narrow stretch of water linking two larger bodies of water, such as the Strait of Hormuz.
Desalination: Removing salt from sea water to make water fit to drink or to use on crops.
Oasis: A place in a desert where water is found, so plants can grow and people can live.
Aquifer: Rock underground that holds water, which people can pump up through wells.
Canal: An artificial waterway built to move ships or water, such as the Suez Canal.
Crossroads: A place where routes, people and ideas meet. The Middle East lies between Africa, Europe and Asia.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 3 says:

Pupils should be taught to extend their locational knowledge and deepen their spatial awareness of the world’s countries, using maps of the world to focus on Africa, Russia, Asia (including China and India), and the Middle East, focusing on their environmental regions, including polar and hot deserts, key physical and human characteristics, countries and major cities
Pupils should consolidate and extend their knowledge of the world’s major countries and their physical and human features.
Pupils will continue to enrich their locational knowledge and spatial and environmental understanding.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: describing where a country is

Using an atlas, describe the location of Saudi Arabia and what kind of environment it has.

Start with the big picture: say which continent and region it is in. Saudi Arabia is in south-west Asia and takes up most of the Arabian Peninsula.
Add the seas. The Red Sea lies to the west and the Persian Gulf to the east, so it has coasts on two sides.
Name the neighbours using compass points. Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait lie to the north; Qatar and the United Arab Emirates lie to the east, with the island of Bahrain just off the east coast; Oman is to the south-east and Yemen to the south.
Give the latitude. The country lies between roughly 16° and 32° north, and the Tropic of Cancer crosses it. That puts it in the zone where the world’s great hot deserts are found.
Finish with the environment and key places. Most of the land is hot desert, including the Rub’ al Khali in the south, with very little rain. The capital, Riyadh, is inland, while Jeddah is a major port on the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia is in south-west Asia, on the Arabian Peninsula, between the Red Sea to the west and the Persian Gulf to the east. It borders Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait to the north, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to the east and Oman and Yemen to the south. It lies on the Tropic of Cancer, and most of it is hot desert. The capital, Riyadh, is inland and the main Red Sea port is Jeddah.

Common mistakes and how to help

Believing the whole Middle East is sand desert

Pictures of dunes are common. But there are high, snowy mountains in Turkey and Iran, fertile river valleys in Iraq and Egypt, and green Mediterranean coasts.

What helps: Compare a relief map and a rainfall map of the region. Ask where people live and why they cluster near rivers, coasts and oases.

Assuming everyone in the region speaks Arabic or shares the same background

The region is often described as one thing. In fact, Iran’s main language is Persian, Turkey’s is Turkish and Israel’s is Hebrew, and there are Kurdish and many other communities.

What helps: Look at a language map. Describe the region as made up of many countries and peoples, and be specific about which one you mean.

Thinking the Middle East is a country, or has fixed borders

“Middle East” is a name for a region that has been used for just over a century and is drawn differently depending on who is using it. The name describes the region as seen from Europe, which it lies to the east of.

What helps: Compare how two atlases or two sources define it. It is a good way to see that regions are ideas that people draw on maps.

Thinking all countries in the region are rich in oil

Oil and gas are huge in some places, which is why they are so well known. Others, such as Jordan and Lebanon, have very little and must rely on other sources of income.

What helps: Mark the main oil and gas fields on a map and compare them with the political map. Count how many countries have little or none.

How to help at home

Find the crossroads. On an atlas, use a piece of string to compare a sea route from London to Mumbai through the Suez Canal with the route around the southern tip of Africa. Which is shorter?
Capital or biggest city? Make cards for ten countries in the region. Write the capital on one side and the biggest city on the other, and quiz each other on the pairs that are different.
Where does the water come from? Talk about where your own tap water comes from, then ask where a desert country gets its water. Find the Tigris, Euphrates and Nile on the map and trace where they flow.
Pack for a journey. Choose a city, such as Riyadh in July or a Turkish mountain town in January, and ask what to pack and why. Use the latitude and relief to justify the answer.

Builds on

Key Stage 2: Countries of Europe and Russia
Key Stage 2: North America: countries and features
Key Stage 2: South America: countries and features
Key Stage 2: Counties and cities of the UK
Key Stage 2: UK regions, mountains and rivers
Key Stage 2: UK land use and change
Key Stage 2: Latitude, longitude and hemispheres
Key Stage 2: Tropics and polar circles
Key Stage 2: Prime Meridian and time zones