Research Report Narrative

Christopher Avalos

Professor Knapp

English 1A

10 March 2013

            Iran and Iraq are two countries located in the Middle Eastern Region of Asia. The article, “The Kindness of Strangers” by Robin Fox, focuses on Iraq, and how the people of the country are very much split up by different ethnicity and religions. The people of Iraq do not know of any such “Iraqi People” as us westerners may refer to them (Fox 4). This goes to show just how much diversity there is in the country and how the people feel about unity. Geography has helped to shape the culture of these nations, in a number of ways.

            Iraq and Iran are neighboring countries; however, there are many differences between the geography and culture of the two. Both are remnants of ancient empires,the Ottoman Empire, Persian Empire and the Babylonian Empire, to name a few.Iran shares borders with a number of countries such as Afghanistan, Armenia,Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan (IRAN). Iraq also shares a border with Turkey, along with other countries such as Jordan, Kuwait,Saudi Arabia and Syria. Both countries have coasts along the Persian Gulf. Iran also has a coastline along the Caspian Sea.

            Typically,when one thinks about the geography of either of these two countries, the first thing that would come to mind is nothing other than the desert. The summers  While it is true that a majority of these countries is full of desert, many regions in Iraq and Iran contain drastic variety. The border that both Iran and Iraq share is a very rugged, mountainous,terrain (IRAN). Iran and Iraq are also very well known for the Zagros Mountains, being the largest mountain ranges in those countries(IRAN). The mountainous regions of these countries do get very cold during the winter with the summers only mild (Briney). Iraq also consists of low elevation marshes along its southern Saudi Arabia border (Briney). Iran has a coastline along the Caspian Sea, and as such has a subtropical climate in that region (History of Iran).

Much of the Middle East, as we know,is abundant in oil reserves. Iran is also rich in natural gas, coal, chromium,copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc and sulfur. Iraq also has many natural gas sources along with sulfur and contains phosphates as well. In his article,Fox describes the only “rational” part of our involvement in Iraq as defending our oil interests (1). Many people believe the other aspects of this involvement were not for the better of these nations. Western influences conflict deeply with much of the culture of these people. The Americans had good intentions with where they were going, but I believe Iraq was not ready for these dramatic changes.

 Works Cited

1.     Briney, Amanda. "Geography Of Iraq." About.com Geography. About.com, 2013. Web. 10Mar. 2013.<http://geography.about.com/od/iraqmaps/a/Geography-Of-Iraq.htm>.

2.     Fox,Robin. "The Kindness of Strangers." Society 44.6 (2007): 164-70. Print.

3.     "History of Iran." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 June 2013. Web. 09Mar. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iran>.

4.     "IRAN." Map of Iran. Woolwine-Moen Group, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2013.<http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/ir.htm>.

5.     "Iraq-GEOGRAPHY." Iraq-GEOGRAPHY. Mongabay, 2010.Web. 09 Mar. 2013.<http://www.mongabay.com/history/iraq/iraq-geography.html>.