Land Use Patterns Across Southwest Asia

Physical geography dictates how people use the land from Turkey to Yemen.

• Mountains (Anatolia, Zagros, Hindu Kush): Pastoral grazing, terrace farming in valleys.
• Deserts (Arabian, Syrian, Lut): Nomadic herding, oil/gas extraction, sparse settlement.
• Coastal Plains (Levant, Red Sea, Gulf): Intensive agriculture, historic port cities, tourism.
• River Valleys (Mesopotamia, Nile): Dense population, irrigation-based cropping, megacities.
• Urban Agglomerations: Istanbul (15.5M), Cairo (12.8M), Tehran (8.8M), Baghdad (6.6M) dominate economic activity.

Water scarcity and oil wealth are the twin forces reshaping land use today.