| School: Emerson Middle School | Teacher: Mosher |
A great place to start is the MiddleEast Information Network. Use the other links below to locate informationrelated to a particular topic area. If you fail to find what you are lookingfor, use asearch enginefor further research.
The Cradle of Civilization.
Check out the WestAsia and Middle East timeline for starters.
Visit Babylon580 BC.
Religions of the Middle East
Islam - Introductionto Islam; Islam 101; IslamicTexts and Resources; any one of these sources will provide a fairlycomprehensive introduction to one of the world's fastest growing religions.
Judaism - Judaism 101- this isa very detailed online encyclopedia of information about Judaism. Thereare over fifty pages relating to all aspects of the faith.
Christianity- another comprehensive page which deals with both historical and presentday Christianity.
Zoroastrianism- Frequently Asked Questions will answer many of your questions!
Bahai - Bahai world.
The Crusades
We have found two good sites for your study of The Crusades. Startat The Crusadesand the Contributions of Islam, which provides many links to Crusaderesources. This link to TheCrusades might be a simpler starting point for you. See what you think.
The Ottoman Empire
If you are lookingfor information on Suleiman the Magnificent you need to investigate sitesabout the Ottoman Empire. Try this link to TheOttomans first. Next, look at this TurkishNews link which has a good essay on the empire. If you need maps ofthe empire click here.The quality of the maps you will find here is excellent. One thing to beaware of is that Suleiman is sometimes spelled Suleyman.
The History of Oil
Here are three sites for all of you oil seekers. TheHistory of Oil & the Oil Industry provides a good introductionto questions such as "where does oil come from?" Go to the bottom of themain page for a pictorial history of the oil industry. Another interestingoil site is OilHistory.com, thoughit deals entirely with the American oil industry rather than with the MiddleEast connection. The main oil organization in the world is The Organizationof the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. Click hereto visit their website.
Modern Egypt
Arab World Online has a great overviewof the state of ModernEgypt. Another excellent resource for this topic is the CIAWorld Factbook. There are many other sites which deal with modern Egypt.Try Yahoo'slisting for the country to see what else you can find.
Palestinian/Israeli Conflict
This is a topic where you need to think carefully about the informationyou find on the Internet. Many sites which deal with the conflict are writtenby people and groups which sympathise with one side or the other. This site from The University of Michigan will give you a good understandingof the situation between Israelis and Palestinians during the twentieth century. The CNN news site has an excellent Strugglefor Peace section which deals with the current peace process and the background to the dispute.
Flora/Fauna of the Middle East
This topic is a little tougher to research on the Internet. One placewhich is definitely worth a visit is ArabianWildlife, which is a online magazine. It has detailed, illustratedarticles about many animals. There is also an archive of back issues. Wortha visit! Also, take a look atArabnet.If you click on the individual country links here, and go to the geographyarea of each country, you will find good, but brief information on flora 
andfauna.
Holidays/Cultural Customs of the Middle East
There are so many sites devoted to Jewish Holidays that the easiestthing to do here is to visit Yahoo'slisting. From here you can access pages on Hannukah, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanahand all the other holidays. Try the same approach for Christian Holidaysby clicking here.The names and dates of Islamic Holidays can be found here.More information about the most important Islamic Holidays is at IslamicHolidays and Observances. For information on culture and customs tryThe Center for Middle Eastern Studies Arts and Culture link. This siteis really worth investigating further. Click on the individual countrylinks to see what you can find.
Geographical Places of the Middle East
Many of the more general links on this page will give you some geographicalinformation. Here are some other places to look. This is a very attractivepage on Sinai.It includes history, maps and much more. TheMining Company provides maps, geographical information and generaloverviews of individual countries in the Middle East. It is fairly difficultto find much good solid information on the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, The BlackSea and the Arabian Peninsula on the Internet. You should probably check encyclopedias and other books first. However, you will get some useful information at The Wonders of the Red Sea. A useful starting point for research on the Dead sea can be found at The Dead Sea Guide.
Some General Links
Well, if you have explored many of the sites above, you will have found that there is a wealth of Middle East information in cyberspace. But, if you still need more material, you can investigate some of these general sites. The Encyclopedia of the Orient is a terrific free encyclopedia. Arabnet is a clearinghouse for information on Arab countries. The CIA Atlas of the Middle East provides excellent maps of the region. A final link you should check is Jawwal, which is a search engine devoted to countries of the Middle East.
Research Databases: Use these sources for periodical and encyclopedia articles. (Outside the Library OPLIN databases require an Ohio public library card for access.)
Be sure to ask the Technology Center staff for help if you are having difficulty locating information.
Remember that there are many good books on the Middle East availableat the library. You can search the library catalog by clicking here.