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A good map is worth ten thousand words. And luckily, the net is a veritable treasure chest of useful topographical charts. In addition to locating places, maps can provide information. For instance, you may want to know at a glance the population density of Lebanon, how long does it takes to fly somewhere, where exactly are those "safe passages" between Gaza and Jericho, which parts of Yemen were worst effected by floods in 1996, how many refugee camps does Jordan have, how high are the Golan Heights, or even where might I get a good bowl of foul medames in downtown Cairo?
The problem is locating this information, and sifting the useful from the merely decorative. So to provide a rudimentary compass of sorts, here is MERIA's (necessarily incomplete) Web Guide to Maps of the Middle East.
I have divided the guide into six categories, but inevitably there is a tremendous amount of overlap.
GOOD REFERENCE MAPS
INTERACTIVE MAPS
HISTORICAL MAPS
ANALYTICAL MAPS AND CHARTS
MAPS JUST ABOUT IRAQ
MAPS FROM AN EARLIER GENERATION
1. GOOD REFERENCE MAPS
Probably the best all round site is "Atlas of the Middle East" from The Perry-Castaeda Library Map Collection, of The University of Texas at Austin:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/Atlas_middle_east/Atlas_middle_east.html. The maps and charts are originally from the CIA. The only drawback is that they were published some time ago (January 1993), which makes some of their statistical features less accurate than might appear at first.
That said, the Collection is extraordinarily comprehensive and informative, and covers all non-Maghrebi Middle Eastern countries. In virtually all cases, there are separate charts for Administrative Divisions, Area Comparison, Country Information, Economic Activity, Land Use, Population Density and a Time Line. (Some items are not strictly speaking maps, but rather GIFs of charts, invariably in landscape view). It looks like all these maps are mirrored at: http://www.middle-east-pages.com/Atlas-of-the-Middle-East.html.
Apart from the Atlas, the Castaeda Collection also lists maps by specific country: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/map_sites/country_sites.html.
Here are generous cross-references to other map-carrying sites, National Geographic, UN, arab.net, persia.org, Saudi Airlines, and the World Food Programme: http://www.wfp.it/mapsearch/mapsearch.asp. Thematic maps appear here, too, such as Encyclopaedia Britannica's depiction of major oil fields in the Middle East:
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/single_image/0,5716,676+bin%5Fid,00.html.
Finally, the Collection also in certain cases devotes a whole sub-site to a country. Turkey is one example: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/turkey.html. Here you will find maps giving population density, economic activity, land use, area comparison, and so on. Another example is a site containing 18 maps of Gaza: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/GazaStrip.html. These including maps showing requisitioned land, Israeli settlements and natural resources, amongst other features.
The Gulf/2000 Project website contains links to many different maps, divided by region (including the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Bahrain, and the head of the Gulf). The site also contains ethnological maps that depict regions and countries (such as Iraq and Iran) by language, religion, ethnicity, and culture. Gulf/2000’s maps can be found here: http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml.
Expedia is another very good site: http://maps.expedia.com/QuickMaps.asp. You need to press quite a few buttons, but it is worthwhile. You can shift up or down to the adjoining map, zoom in and out, and locate the site you are interested in on a map of the globe.
Another classic source is Magellan: http://www.maps.com/cgi-bin/magellan/Maps___Middle_East. For large maps of North African countries, see under: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/CIA_Maps/. If you are searching for a simple map of each Middle East country, you could always peruse the CIA Factbook site: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/.
Don't neglect Arab World Online for good clear maps, and associated information: http://www.awo.net/country/home.asp.
Likewise, the International Network on Water, Environment and Health (UNUINWEH), a new UN family of organizations created in 1996, provides excellent links to sites with Middle Eastern maps at:
http://www.inweh.unu.edu/unuinweh/Mapdatabase/Middle%20East%20Maps_1.html.
Maps of Maghrebi countries are well represented at: http://www.infomedacoop.gr/countries/maps/Africa.asp.
Clear maps of northern Israel and Golan are available through Emap: <http://www.emap.co.il/>. But these are only in Hebrew. For textual queries, you need downloadable Hebrew software.
One part of southern Israel (the region known as Shaar Hanegev - Gateway to the Negev) is particularly well served at: <http://www.makash.ac.il/region/sharmap.htm>. Click on the kibbutz or moshav of your choice, and full details pop up.
AA Atir offers detailed print maps of Israel, but unfortunately there are no actual samples on its website: http://www.a-a-atir-maps.co.il/a-a-atir-maps/index2.html.
To get the most accurate picture of Lebanon, see a site run by Data Management in Beirut: http://www.dm.net.lb/maps/photos/menu.htm. Here annotated aerial photos of various places in Lebanon effectively form real life maps. But they are strict about copyright.
2. INTERACTIVE MAPS
Another feature of the internet is the interactive map. This allows the user to click on a larger regional map, and thereby hone in on a specific area, or "call up" interesting textual tidbits. Many such examples come from travel agencies, such as the Naseej company: http://www.naseej.com/travel/arabmap/main.htm. The area covered is the Arabian Peninsula, with place names in English and Arabic. However, the accompanying text is in Arabic only, and
requires one to download Arabic software.
Another excellent site comes from Atevo Travel, whose Middle East page is found at:
http://mango.atevo.com/guides/worldatlas/bygeo/0,1341,13,00.html. It provides extremely clear maps of each country, plus city maps and other informative features (like maps of the Kurdish region of Iraq). Most impressive of all, Atevo's site is very user-friendly. In various sidebars it highlights destinations, carries feature articles, has "travel advisories" on Iran, Iraq and even a chemical- biological warfare fact sheet, not to mention a photo gallery of highlighted sites (Jerusalem and Teheran being the current photogenic candidates).
Tyros provides clickable guides to cities in Lebanon: http://tyros.leb.net/maps/index.html. Equally detailed is a clickable map of Cairo, which opens up nine sub-maps, at: http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/cairo/Gallery/map.html. This labor of love comes from a professor of engineering at the University of South Florida, Alaa K. Ashmawy.
Similarly, The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, provides particularly clear and detailed maps of the countries and city-states of the region, at: http://www.ecssr.ac.ae/mapfolder.html.
Maps help viewers access different types of information more easily. Maps plotting internet connectivity are found at: http://nsrc.org/codes/bymap/mideast.html. Nice touch-sensitive maps of Israel's internet connectivity are available from Virtual Israel Book Guide, at: http://www.iguide.co.il/maps.htm.
Another good clickable map opens up information on the origin of the region's flags. See it at a subsite belonging to Flags of the World: http://www.fotw.stm.it/flags/geo-mide.html. Yet another clickable map gives you the national anthem of each Middle Eastern country, transliterated into Latin characters, and translated into English. (But Kuwait's anthem has no words!) http://home.multiweb.nl/~sverbrugge/mid_east.htm.
And here is a groovy interactive map of territories taken and given back, from Partition Plan & Independence to Oslo 2. Takes about a minute or so to see the map unravel, as it were... http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/lebanon.htmhttp://users.erols.com/mwhite28/lebanon.htm
3. HISTORICAL MAPS
Shifting borders typify much of Middle Eastern history, and maps are an ideal (often essential) resource for tracking these significant changes.
The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) has an attractive site for their Department for Jewish Zionist Education. This includes a dedicated map section: http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/100/maps/index.html. It features such useful items as: the extent of the Ottoman Empire and then the British Mandate in Palestine, the various Partition Plans, and the direction of Arab and Jewish refugee movements in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It also has maps showing troop movements during the various Arab/Israeli wars: 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973; and the demarcation lines of the Oslo Agreements and Jordan Peace Treaty.
Another top site comes from the Palestinian research institute, PASSIA. Apart from being very comprehensive (totaling 20 maps in all), the site is also commendably up-to-date: http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/MAPS/0_pal_facts_MAPS.htm. Among its more interesting offerings are a map showing the distribution of population (Palestinian and Jewish) by subdistrict in Palestine, 1946. Likewise, PASSIA's historical sweep is most impressive, starting with one map locating the first Zionist colony in 1878, and culminating with another detailing the projected further Israeli redeployment according to the Sharm al-Shaykh Memorandum of 1999. Other PASSIA maps show: the changing distribution of Palestinian and Jewish land holdings between 1923 and 1999; Rhodes Armistice demarcation lines, 1949; Israel-Syria demilitarized zones; Anticipated Palestinian Autonomous Areas for the Year 2000; and some more pointedly polemic features, like "Arab territories seized by Israel in 1948-49, in violation of the UN partition plan". Sources include the books "A History of Israel", 1979 (Knopf); and "Before Their Diaspora", 1984 (Institute for Palestine Studies).
Some particularly interesting historical aids come from Dartmouth College's site: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~gov46/. Here you will find maps of partition plans for Palestine (contrasting UN majority and minority plans for partition), the second Bernadotte plan, the Allon Plan of early 1970s Israel, the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 and the Remo conference borders for the Palestine mandate of 1922. Other interesting features include the Battle for Jerusalem during the Six Day War, the Ottoman Empire in 1580, and maps showing the dispersion of Palestinian refugee camps in 1948 and 1967, and Jewish settlements in Gaza and Golan. History students will no doubt welcome the map which shows the precise demarcation lines between Israeli and Egyptian forces in the mid-1970s. Another map depicts Lebanon's main religions; a second shows where Kurds are most numerous in the Middle East. Yet another portrays the distribution of religions throughout the Middle East (indicating majority populations, and distinguishing between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims). On one Dartmouth map one can see at a glance when states gained. And it is remarkable how effective a map can be in shedding light on often overlooked themes: like the plight of groups of Arab villages divided by successive wars between Israel and Jordan.
UN maps are particularly good at illustrating particular historical features. For instance, you can find Syrian disengagement on the Golan, as of May 1999: http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/maps/pk/undof.htm. UNIFIL deployment in Lebanon, as of July 1999: http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/maps/pk/unifil.htm.
If you want to take a break from the cockpit of the Arab/Israeli dispute, have a look at four little maps of Berber movements in the ancient, colonial and modern eras, at: http://perso.magic.fr/faroukz/histoire1.htm.
Even unexpected sources have something to offer. The Internet Gateway to the Westmont Hilltop School District in Pennsylvania, for example, has a pair of rudimentary but clear enough maps outlining the British and French mandates, at: http://westy.jtwn.k12.pa.us/users/mjr/me5.html.
This site covers the first Gulf War (i.e. Iraq vs. Iran). It shows a map of engagements, plus a global map, showing which
countries supported which parties. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/iraniraq.htmhttp://users.erols.com/mwhite28/iraniraq.htm
The Gulf2000/Project’s site also contains links to maps of historical divisions of Iraq, particularly of the borders of Iraqi provinces in given years as well as the geographical development of Iraqi Kurdistan: http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml.
If you are researching the War in Lebanon, you can see here a comparison of the map of 1976 distribution of militias, compared with a map of the position in 1987. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/lebanon.htm.
http://www.historyonmaps.com/Main.html is the website for historian and cartographer Bereznay Andras, who provides examples (many used in published books) of possible interest. Black and white examples include: Dar al-Islam in 1750, Eastern Mediterranean, Sudan, West Bank, Gaza, Israel, war in Lebanon, religions and frontlines in Lebanon, Israeli withdrawal from Sinai, and more. There are others of more general interest, such as WWII battles in E Europe. These are found at a very big (thus slow-loading) but worthwhile page: http://www.historyonmaps.com/BWSamples.htm. Note that you can enlarge selected thumbnails.
Likewise samples of color maps can be found here: http://www.historyonmaps.com/ColourSamples.htm
These tend to be mainly ancient history of Europe - though there are others dealing with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Ottoman Empire, and more specific topics of interest, like the growth of the first Saudi state, and the growth of
the city of Jeddah.
4. ANALYTICAL MAPS AND CHARTS
Some sites clearly have a political axe to grind, but nonetheless provide useful nuggets of information. One such site comes from Habad (Lubavitch Hasidim) and purports to show the dangers surrounding the current peace process: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Loge/7748/maps.html.
There you will find a series of maps, illustrating variously: missile ranges between Israel and her current enemies; the distance between Israel's population and the green line demarcating Judea and Samaria (West Bank); and a microscopic view of Hebron's tiny Jewish population.
In similar vein, there is a doom-mongering site from the USA, called IRIS (Issues Regarding Israel's Security) which features a series of maps comparing Israel's size with everywhere from Mexico and India to Syria and Algeria. http://www.netaxs.com/~iris/sizemaps.htm. Search the site and find other border security maps, plus a chart of terror attacks: http://www.netaxs.com/~iris/terrchrt.htm.
From the official Israeli government gopher comes a small but very useful site: gopher://israel-info.gov.il/11/gifs/gazajer. It features six maps (some bigger than 300K) that cover the following: The Gaza Strip, The Jericho Area, Safe Passage Routes, Palestinian Police Deployment in Gaza and Jericho, and Maritime Activity Zones.
In fact, 25 other Israeli government gopher sites devoted to maps are available from: gopher://israel-info.gov.il/11/gifs/. These include everything from the Kingdom of David and Solomon (1000 BC) to the Oslo II Interim Agreement of September 1995. In addition, there are maps for ceasefire and disengagement lines, flight times and distances between Israel and Arab states, missile attacks during the Gulf War, and an intersection graph of elevation for the Golan Heights.
Worldeagle, a Massachusetts-based firm selling educational maps and materials, displays samples of five Middle Eastern maps at: http://www.worldeagle.com/middle_east.htm. Apart from more conventional political and raised relief maps, there are also more didactic and historical ones featuring the World of Islam and Israel. Others include same-scale comparisons between the land size of the United States and Middle Eastern countries. These maps also carry selected demographic and economic statistics.
Amongst those listed are several from the United Nations. Some illustrate specific UN programs. For instance, see a map showing the UN mission for referendum in Western Sahara, as of August 1999: http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/maps/pk/minurso.htm.
The UN Cartographic office has 100 maps in PDF format, including analytical maps detailing peacekeeping maps and geographic resources: http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm,
But if you after hard copy maps, be assured that there are 80,000 at the Dag Hammarskjold Library's Map Room in New York: http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/geoinfo/maplib.htm.
Particularly clear maps of Middle Eastern countries come from the World Factbook 1998, and are carried on Kid's Almanac. Here is their map of Syria: http://kids.infoplease.com/ipka/A0748973.html. Lebanon and Yemen feature in several onsite maps from Reliefweb, including one that shows the extent of flood damage in Yemen after 1996. http://www.reliefweb.int/mapc/mid_east/.
Those interested in military matters might be tempted to buy a CD-ROM from "Four One", via: http://www.fourone.com/maps.htm. Only samples appear online of the 1:500K scale topographic map. Written by the Soviet General Staff, it has 65 sheets of detailed military coverage of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Turkey. Four One also advertises more conventional "hard copy" maps of the region, showing political borders and road routes, at:http://www.fourone.com/3f/3f-list.htm.
5. MAPS JUST ABOUT IRAQ
MERIA readers following Iraqi issues will benefit from up-to-date and very clear black and white maps of Northern and Southern Iraq, showing administrative boundaries and major roads, which are also found at Reliefweb: http://www.reliefweb.int/mapc/mid_east/.
The site also carries useful thematic maps. One in PDF format shows the Oil-for-Food program in operation; another spotlights the location of ICRC delegations and offices in Iraq.
For more details on Iraq, see Digital Wisdom:
http://www.arab.net/iraq/geography/iq_map.html.
Other sources include Saleh's page (three on modern Iraq, one for ancient Mesopotamia): http://www.achilles.net/~sal/iraqmaps.html.
Again, Texas University has a good collection: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/iraq.html.
Gulf /2000 also has a section of maps devoted to Iraq: http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml.
For those searching after for important sites in the Gulf War of 1991, the Washington Post has a useful interactive :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/iraq/maps/iraqgeneral/front.htm.
Clickable maps detailing the alleged presence of nuclear and chemical weapons, and missile sites in Iraq, are found at this CNN site: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1998/iraq/iraq.maps/arsenal/.
6. MAPS FROM AN EARLIER GENERATION
Antiquarian maps are not just aesthetically beautiful. They also provide fascinating historical details which often appear nowhere else; and they even inadvertently provide insights into the minds of the
cartographers who drew them. Again, the University of Texas collection provides many marvelous examples, at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/historical/history_middle_east.htm. Quite a few come from the "Baedeker Handbook for Travellers to Palestine and Syria" (1912), and include gems like detailed maps of Beirut, Hebron, Petra, Jaffa and Damascus. Others are interesting, but very big, like a Map of Jerusalem (774K), from Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia Illustrated, 1884, Beirut. There are also a nice spread of 25 historical maps of the ancient world (from 1849), others of Biblical Palestine, and the early days of the spread of Islam.
Even older are the 17th century Dutch and Italian items on offer from Robert Putman Antiquarian Maps & Books (beautiful objects d'art, although the reproduction appears a bit fuzzy online). This Amsterdam-based concern shows a catalogue of its original maps covering Israel, Turkey, Arabia and Iran at: http://www.nvva.nl/putman/meast.htm. For similar maps:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/map_sites/hist_sites.html#mideast.
To go back even further in history, consider the map of the archaeological sites excavated by the Oriental Institute, Chicago: http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/INFO/MAP/ANE_Maps.html for the region in ancient times and also http://www.bible-history.com/bhodb/links.cfm?cat=2&sub=59 for its collection of maps for archaeological sites.
Two maps of ancient Mesopotamia and one of modern Iraq are embedded within a useful historical essay on Iraq at: http://achilles.net/~sal/iraq_history.html. Likewise, maps of old trade routes are available at Arab.net: http://www.arab.net/photos/traderoutesmap.html.
Perhaps by now you are tired of scouring images of lines in the sand. In that case, a happily map-free essay from the Israel Report site may prove appealing. http://www.cdn-friends-icej.ca/isreport/index.html. The essay in question is entitled: "How the modern Middle East map came to be drawn", was written by David Fromkin, and appeared originally in "The Smithsonian" (Fall 1990). Having studied all of the above, the Middle East map quiz at University of Arizona's website should prove easy for you: http://www.u.arizona.edu/ic/dixonw/120/mapme.htm. MidEast Web has the following regarding maps: http://www.mideastweb.org/maps.htm.
A general page with straightforward contemporary maps of regions and countries http://www.mideastweb.org/mredeploy1.htm. The clearest map I've seen yet on Wye, courtesy of Foundation for Middle East Peace and Jan de Jong. http://www.mideastweb.org/palmaps.htm.
Finally, there is a wonderful Dutch-based site catering to virtually every cartographer's curiosity. Type "Middle East" into their search engine, and you instantly discover links to 75 other sites, covering maps related to bible history and Kurdish migration patterns to NASA images of the Middle East and a relief map of the Red Sea: http://oddens.geog.uu.nl/index.html.