Middle East, The: Mosaic Of Peoples (An Overview)

foreign [Music] people live in the buried lands of the Middle East [Music] thank you [Music] some of the world's most ancient cities and civilizations had their Beginnings here here also people live in some of the world's newest Nations and cities and sometimes ancient and modern stand side by side oil has brought wealth only to some Middle Eastern Nations and people poverty is still a problem in many places Middle Eastern people are mainly Arabs but not all of them and though not all are Muslims more than 90 percent of them are and though the land they live in is divided into separate countries the people of the Middle East think of themselves not only in terms of nationalities but also in terms of groups that are defined by language and religion and custom by occupation and even ways of dressing this is one of the reasons the Middle East is quite different from other regions of the world now there is the past the people here live in the shadows of great ancient civilizations Egypt and the Nile Valley [Music] Babylon Sumer in the Cod between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern Iraq wave after wave of human migrations brought about the rise of other cultures phenicia Persia Persia became modern Iran oh [Music] the Greeks and Romans extended their influence here significant events in the histories of those people took place in the Middle East [Music] a great Arab Empire unified the Middle East for nearly 500 years over thousands of years many different peoples have given the Middle East a cultural variety like no other place on Earth different ethnic groups and subgroups make the Middle East a complex Mosaic of cultures Customs languages and religions [Music] the religious differences in the Middle East are brought to a focus in Jerusalem a city of holy shrines for Jews there is the Wailing War and just a short distance away from Muslims the mosque called The Dome of the Rock for Christians the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Stations of the Cross [Music] today the faith most people in the Middle East follow is Islam the religion of the Muslims each day Muslims pray five times basing their holiest city Mecca in Saudi Arabia and there in the center of the great Mosque of Mecca is the square building called the Kaaba the holiest sanctuary in the Islamic world during the last month of the Islamic year Muslims make pilgrimages here walking seven times around the Kaaba in prayer in mosques like the Blue Mosque in Isfahan Iran Muslims pray all across the Middle East [Music] mosques are frequently beautiful examples of Islamic architecture and decorative art over the centuries religious differences have been one cause of conflict in the Middle East but political differences are the main cause of the problems we've seen in our time foreign TS between the Israelis and Arabs are the result of a growing nationalism in the region military spending and the destruction from War cost many countries of the Middle East billions of dollars and thousands of lives for many children of the Middle East conflict has always been a part of their everyday lives yet there is one problem in the Middle East that is not between people from the spacecraft high in orbit this problem is easy to see Barbara Lois is a part of the Middle East the light area is Desert land the darker area is the fertile land along the rivers and seacoasts of the region eighty percent of all the Middle East is Desert and so even though the full region is about the size of the United States and Canada combined people can live on very little of the land that's the problem in Egypt for instance ninety percent of the people live on about three percent of the land and the cause of the problem is the lack of water in the most arid regions farming isn't possible but animals can graze there small groups of Nomads the Bedouins wander through the deserts with our herds seeking grass and water is the most important natural resource here in remote desert regions people draw water from Wells as they did in biblical times incredible drinking and cooking water raised from Wells by hand irrigation water raised the fields by simple water wheels a large proportion of the people are farmers earliest civilizations began in river valleys like those of the Niles and the Tigris and Euphrates foreign [Music] Dodges still are crowded along these rivers and on them huge cities like Cairo on the Nile have grown from smaller settlements people depend on the rivers for transportation and for irrigation dams all over the Middle East or river water for irrigation and for generating electricity the most spectacular project is Egypt's huge Aswan High Dam on the Nile it has tripled the amount of electricity available in the region irrigation water from the dam will expand agriculture into two million Acres of former desert land large desalination projects are making seawater usable for irrigation too adequate supplies of water would make great changes in the future of the Middle East today though the changes are being made by oil countries around the Persian Gulf have become some of the world's largest producers of oil Iran Iraq Saudi Arabia Kuwait United Arab Emirates a significant part of the world's supply of oil Lies Beneath the lands and Waters of the Middle East oil is deeply affecting many aspects of life here the oil-rich nations are attracting thousands of workers from other countries oil has brought enormous wealth that has triggered Industrial Development [Music] in Iran there are huge refineries where crude oil is made into gasoline diesel oil and other petrochemicals oil shipped to Egypt Suez Canal has brought huge revenues to the gulf countries Middle Eastern governments and people are using this oil money in various ways they've invested some of it in business industry and real estate in other countries some of the money pays for the products of the industrialized nations of the world much of it goes into Construction Office Buildings schools hospitals whole cities in most of the Arab countries revenues from oil are controlled by ruling families whose portraits often stand beside the projects they're financing Apartments hotels modern structures that draw on the traditions of the past oil has given the Middle East a new importance in world affairs but oil money is also bringing the influence of the western world into the Middle East and Western influences are changing traditional Eastern culture even more than before the Russian words on this sign outside of Factory in Afghanistan are a reminder that much of the Middle East must depend on technological assistance from other countries the Soviet Union has sent workers and technicians here to help in Afghanistan's industrialization cities of the centers of most of this industrial change but in rural areas many people continue to live in very traditional ways [Music] in many places people still spin wool into yarn as they've always done then they diet by hand to get it ready for weaving carpet weaving is done here in the courtyards of these sun-baked homes in Iran Iran is a nation with great oral wealth and modern cities and yet wool is hand woven into carpets as it has been for centuries [Music] the Weavers create the same patterns that they have for Generations [Music] Hebrews are the women as they always have been and the buyers and sellers in the markets are the men [Music] many women indulges have not had their lives touched by change [Music] but in the cities cultural patterns change more rapidly women now leave their homes to work in this textile plant in Yemen in Egypt these women are doing work only men did before and men are working at jobs that did not exist in the Middle East a few decades ago industrialization economic Improvement and movement of people away from The Villages are some of the reasons for the new growth of cities and oil is another reason oil wealth has transformed some fishing villages into modern cities but the increase in city population means that people in rural areas have to produce more food and yet Farms are very small and Farmers still often depend on simple hand methods yields are limited so people of the Middle East depend on the United States or the Soviet Union for wheat middle easterners are working to increase agricultural production on their available land using farm machinery as one help [Music] Farm machines have to be imported and they're expensive but now the oil countries can easily afford them and in some places the oil itself is being used to keep the desert from spreading over the small amount of Farmland available in Iran crude oil is sprayed over the sand to hold it down desert grasses and other plants can grow the vegetation holds the dunes in place even more so oil helps to protect existing farmland and irrigation makes food production possible on land that couldn't otherwise be farmed a large part of the people of the Middle East still live in rural areas and work in agriculture in spite of the significant movement away from the countryside one reason for this migration is that population in The Limited farming areas has been increasing rapidly as Farm people learn of opportunities for work in the cities they begin to leave The Villages where they have lived for Generations Village people's hope for better jobs and a better life for themselves and their families but they don't always find a better life in the cities are crowded and housing often poor and yet there is work especially in the underpopulated countries on the Persian Gulf many of these men are pakistanis who work in Dubai in some of the gulf countries foreign workers have become a majority of the population in the cities of the Middle East the growing contrast in Lifestyles is easy to see [Music] [Music] people still shop in open markets but now there's money for modern shops to be built and rented the prosperity from oil especially in the Gulf countries is changing the look of the cities and creating a new middle class cities or centers of communication news broadcasts reach out to the rural areas and Beyond National borders is Egypt's most influential newspaper yet a large percentage of Egyptians can't read or write educating all the people is a major goal of Middle Eastern governments today Elementary and secondary education is free and available to most children in the Middle East governments are also concerned with improving Medical Care for the people of the Middle East life has been improved in many ways but still to be settled are the problems of special groups of people the homelessness of the Palestinians is a basic issue in the arab-israeli conflict hundreds of thousands of them live in shabby refugee camps there is already a second generation of Palestinian refugees the Palestinians are the middle east's most difficult human problem a less serious human problem has to do with the better ones whose nomadic lifestyle makes it hard to identify them as citizens of any particular Nation most Middle Eastern governments have plans for settling their Bedouins into permanent communities in these permanent communities they'll have the advantage of modern education and medical care and also be available as a labor force the supply of workers is especially important for the Middle Eastern countries that are underpopulated for the Bedouin children adjustment may not be too difficult but for adults lifestyles are not easily given up outside their new houses some still build their tents though changes are taking place all around them many middle easterners still follow their age-old customs [Music] again this wedding ceremony in Afghanistan has been followed probably with little variation for Generations [Music] relationships among people all over the Middle East are very close families are linked together into larger groups by Blood Ties and marriage bonds most Middle Eastern people have strong family feelings and deep Traditions whether Jewish or Christian or Muslim it's possible that tradition may slow the forces of change slow or fast the Middle East is changing but middle easterners are determined to change it at their own pace [Music]