brad halsey

There was a few driving factors that determined the borders that I decided to draw in my interpretation of "New Middle East."

 

First and foremost, I studied the conflict areas that were influenced due to ethnicities and religious background. The Sunni and Shia conflicts were the driving force that was a large element in each decision I made. Many functional borders were formed to better cater to the strife between these two groups. 

 

Second, was the economic factors that would allow for these new countries to thrive. Coastal regions were key to include in each country so that they could cultivate trade and access to oil rich shores. I also wanted to divide the Persian Gulf into a variety of countries so that the world's oil supply is not solely under Saudi Arabia's control. Global oil prices would be set based on supply and demand.

 

Lastly, I took into consideration the idea that buffers should be created between certain regions in order to create natural blocks between conflicting areas. 

 

In order to see more in depth explainations regarding my reasoning for each country please visit my map on CartoDB. Clicking inside each country allows a text box to appear with further reasoning.