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Map Collections
Regional Maps
- The Middle East (Small | Large)
- The Persian Gulf
- Strait of Hormuz (Small | Large)
- Gulf of Bahrain (Small | Large)
- Head of Gulf
Ethnographic and Cultural
Maps of the Gulf coast, using such sources as Razmara's Geographical Dictionary of Iran, British Naval Intelligence Geographical Handbook Series, Soviet Atlas Narodov Mira, etc. These will depict languages, religions, etc;
- Languages:
- Religion:
- Ethnicity:
- Ethnic Groups in the Middle East Small | Large
- Ethnic groups in Iraq Small | Large
- Ethnic Groups in Central Iraq Small | Large
- Ethnic Groups in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003 Small | Large
- Ethnic Groups in Baghdad, Iraq in 2006 Small | Large
- Ethnic Groups in Baghdad, Iraq in early 2007 Small | Large
- Ethnic Groups in Baghdad, Iraq in late 2007 Small | Large
- Ethnic groups in Pakistan and Baluchistan Small | Large
- Culture:
Political
Maps treating territorial fluctuations of all the Gulf countries, boundaries and boundary disputes on land and at sea, containing visual and textual historical data;
- Iran:
- Iraq:
- Provinces of Iraq, 1958 Small | Large
- Provinces of Iraq, 1970 Small | Large
- Provinces of Iraq, 1990 Small | Large
- Provinces of Iraq, 2005 Small | Large
"Gerrymandering has been one of the more common
features of the Iraqi provincial boundaries. For
various political and ethnic expedients, Iraqi
provinces have been carved up over and over again,
most recently, after the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). In
this instance, the Shi’a dominated province of Karbala
was nearly wiped off the map in favor of the Sunni
dominate province of Anbar, which now encompasses
nearly a third of the entire landmass of Iraq.
Likewise, the Kurdish provinces in the north were
carved up and large chunks of incorporated into Sunni
dominated neighboring provinces.
This has had an unintended and amusing impact on the
recent Iraqi elections: Only the Anbar province could
muster the two-thirds majority needed to reject the
new Iraqi Constitution. Provinces of Mosul (enlarged
and renamed Ninewa), Samarra (enlarged and renamed
Salahaddin) had too many non-Sunni Arab territories
and peoples added to them by Saddam to be able to
muster a veto vote. Three provinces with two-thirds
majority were needed to reject the Constitution; only
Anbar managed that. As such, the Constitution passed
over the objections of an overwhelming majority of the
Sunni Arabs.
The historic names of many provinces have also been changed—sometimes comically--to suit the Sunni political and historic vendettas. Thus Kirkuk became T'amim ("Socialism"), Diwania became Qadisiyyah (after the 7th century battle of the same name between the Muslim Arabs and the Persian Imperial troops that opened up Iraq to Arab settlement and Islamic influence that Arabized and Islamicized the country )."
- Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq: 1974-1991 Small | Large
- Liberated Areas of Iraqi Kurdistan: 1992-2003 Small | Large
- De Facto Federated Iraqi Kurdistan: 2003-2005 Small | Large
- Persian Gulf Administrative Units Small | Large
- Shia Crescent at the Core of the Middle East Small | Large
Economy
- Oil Resources of the Middle East in the context of its Religions
Small | Large
There is a very strong correlation between
distribution of the Shias in the Middle East and the
Caucasus and the those of oil and natural gas
resources. This is true from the Republic of
Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.
Even the Saudi oil deposits are primarily found under
the Shia-inhabited districts of Hasa, Qatif, and Hofuf (reconfigured into "Eastern Province" in modern Saudi Arabia), and the Saudi continental shelf extending from there into the Gulf .
The same is likewise true of Iraq. Three-quarters of
all oil deposits in that state are within the
Shia-inhabited areas, with the rest largely in the
Kurdish north.
Other Map Collections
- Rulers of the Middle East over the last 5,000 years
- An interactive PBS Map of the Middle East
Click on "Historic Political Borders" tab to see how the configuration of the Middle East has changed over time.
- University of Texas Austin - Map Collection
An excellent collection of maps of the Middle East.
- UN Cartographic Section
Over 100 maps, including 13 of the Middle East and 6 of Gulf states (PDF format)
- The Library of US Congress map collection is an
extremely valuable site for the maps of early modern
Middle East and the Gulf as well as the modern ones.
The digital maps on this site are listed in
alphabetical order. Use the “Next page” button at the
bottom of each page to advance forward. Use “Previous
page” button to return. Click on the “Zoom In” choice
circles followed by a click on the map above it to get
to the resolution that you need. For downloading, use
the “Navigator View” box on the upper right hand side
to choose the frame that you like to download. All
users must credit the Library of Congress for these
maps if included in their presentations.
- The Harvard Map Collection is the oldest map
collection in America with ca. 400,000 maps, over
6,000 atlases, and several thousand reference books. Topographic maps, nautical charts and thematic maps provide an excellent research collection representing all chronological periods and notable map makers, many of them digitally available on their web site, including historical images and the Harvard Geospatial Library.
- Shortcut to Persian Gulf maps and atlases
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