Peninsulas, mountains, rivers, seas, and deserts are all important features of North Africa/Southwest Asia. The region is made up of the northern part of Africa and
the extremely southwestern part of Asia. The southwestern part of Asia is made up of the Arabian and Anatolian peninsulas and a small part of continental Asia.
This part of the region is very rugged with several mountain ranges in the north, a lot of seismic (vibrations of the earth, including earthquakes) activity, and a very dry desert on the Arabian Peninsula. In North Africa, the areas around water are fertile plains and the rest is part of the Sahara Desert. The Sahara Desert is the third largest desert in the world (after Antarctica and the Arctic).

Climate in North Africa/Southwest Asia is really easy to remember. Those places near water generally have a Mediterranean climate. Further inland, those areas
adjacent to the Mediterranean climates are usually steppe (P-10-25 inches of rain a year, V-grasslands, few trees, T-can be cold or hot). Much of Turkey,
Iran, and Afghanistan are steppe. The remainder of the region is a desert climate (P-less than 10 inches a year, V-from scrub plants and cactus to almost
nothing, T-can be cold or hot). About 50% of the region is desert. You might think that means a lot of sand but it doesn’t. Less than 10% of the land in the
desert is sand. The rest of the desert is rocky and gravelly.

North Africa/Southwest Asia holds around 60% of the world’s petroleum reserves (used to make oil, gas, plastic, and other things). For that reason, several countries
in the region are very wealthy. In addition to fossil fuels, some minerals are found in abundance in the Mideast. These include: iron ore (steel), copper (pipes, wiring, computer parts), lead (car batteries, firearms, radiation shielding), manganese (steel), and zinc (deodorant, paint, and dandruff shampoo). Phosphate, which is used to make fertilizer (something that makes plants grow), is found in many parts of the region, especially Morocco.