North Africa

North Africa is a collective term for a

group of Mediterranean countries and
territories situated in the northern-most
region of the African continent. The term
"North Africa" has no single accepted
definition. It is sometimes defined as
stretching from the Atlantic shores of
Morocco in the west, to the Suez Canal
and the Red Sea in the east. Others have
limited it to the countries of Algeria,
Morocco, and Tunisia, a region known by
the French during colonial times as
“Afrique du Nord” and by the Arabs as the
Maghreb (“West”). The most commonly
accepted definition includes Algeria,
Morocco, and Tunisia, as well as Libya
and Egypt. “North Africa”, particularly
when used in North Africa and the Middle
East, often refers only to the countries of
the Maghreb and Libya. Egypt, due to its
greater Middle Eastern associations, is
sometimes considered separately. North
Africa includes a number of Spanish and
Portuguese possessions, Plazas de
soberanía, Ceuta and Melilla and the
Canary Islands and Madeira.[1] The
countries of North Africa share a
common ethnic, cultural and linguistic
identity that is unique to this region.
Northwest Africa has been inhabited by
Berbers since the beginning of recorded
history, while the eastern part of North
Africa has been home to the Copts.
Between the A.D. 600s and 1000s, Arabs
from the Middle East swept across the
region in a wave of Muslim conquest.
These peoples, physically quite similar,
formed a single population in many
areas, as Berbers and Copts merged into
Arab society. This process of Arabization
and Islamization has defined the cultural
landscape of North Africa ever since.
 North Africa

Countries Sovereign
states (6)
 Morocco
 Tunisia
 Egypt
 Libya
 Algeria
Other
territories (7)
Madeira
Canary Islands

Pl d
 Plazas de
soberanía
Ceuta
Melilla
Sahrawi Arab
Democratic

Nominal GDP N/A Republic

GDP per capita N/A

Time zones UTC+00:00

UTC+01:00
UTC+02:00
Population density of Africa (2000)

The distinction between North Africa and

Sub-Saharan Africa is historically and
ecologically significant because of the
general barrier created by the Sahara
Desert for much of modern history. The
Sahara is the dominant feature of the
North African landscape, and stretches
across the southern part of the region.
The Sahara serves as a geographical
boundary between North Africa and sub-
Saharan Africa and marks a transition
zone from the largely Arab identifying
population of North Africa to black Africa
of the south. From 3500 BC, following the
rapid desertification of the Sahara due to
gradual changes in the Earth's orbit, this
barrier has partially culturally separated
the North from the rest of the
continent.[2] The overwhelming majority
of the North African population is
concentrated along the Mediterranean
and Atlantic coastlines and the Nile river,
while the Sahara desert is one of the
most sparsely populated places on Earth.

The Sahara desert has therefore played

an important role in the history of North
Africa. As the seafaring civilizations of
the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs
and others facilitated communication
and migration across the Mediterranean
Sea, the cultures of North Africa became
much more closely tied to Southwestern
Asia and Europe than Sub-Saharan
Africa. The Islamic influence in the area
is also significant, and North Africa is a
major part of the Muslim world.

Some researchers have postulated that

North Africa rather than East Africa
served as the exit point for the modern
humans who first trekked out of the
continent in the Out of Africa
migration.[3][4][5]

Geography
North Africa has three main geographic
features: the Sahara desert in the south,
the Atlas Mountains in the west, and the
Nile River and delta in the east. The Atlas
Mountains extend across much of
northern Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
These mountains are part of the fold
mountain system that also runs through
much of Southern Europe. They recede to
the south and east, becoming a steppe
landscape before meeting the Sahara
desert, which covers more than 75
percent of the region. The tallest peaks
are in the High Atlas range in south-
central Morocco, which has many
snowcapped peaks.

South of the Atlas Mountains is the dry

and barren expanse of the Sahara desert,
which is the largest sand desert in the
world.[6] In places the desert is cut by
irregular watercourses called wadis—
streams that flow only after rainfalls but
are usually dry. The Sahara’s major
landforms include ergs, large seas of
sand that sometimes form into huge
dunes; the hammada, a level rocky
plateau without soil or sand; and the reg,
a level plain of gravel or small stones.
The Sahara covers the southern part of
Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, and most
of Libya. Only two regions of Libya are
outside the desert: Tripolitania in the
northwest and Cyrenaica in the
northeast. Most of Egypt is also desert,
with the exception of the Nile River and
the irrigated land along its banks. The
Nile Valley forms a narrow fertile thread
that runs along the length of the country.

Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains,

the Nile Valley and Delta, and the
Mediterranean coast are the main
sources of fertile farming land. A wide
variety of valuable crops including
cereals, rice and cotton, and woods such
as cedar and cork, are grown. Typical
Mediterranean crops, such as olives, figs,
dates and citrus fruits, also thrive in
these areas. The Nile Valley is
particularly fertile, and most of the
population in Egypt live close to the river.
Elsewhere, irrigation is essential to
improve crop yields on the desert
margins.

Definitions
 Dens
Countries
Area (2016) Population (201
and
(km²) (2016) (pe
territories
km²

 Algeria 2,381,740.00 40,606,052.00 17.

 Egypt 1,001,450.00 95,688,681.00

 Libya 1,759,540.00 6,293,253.00 3.

 Morocco 446,550.00 35,276,786.00 73

  Tunisia 163,610.00 11,403,248.00

Ceuta 18.5 82,376 4,500

Melilla 12.3 78,476 6,380

Western 266,000 538,755 0.37

Sahara
(region)
(disputed
region
claimed by
both
Sahrawi
Arab
Democratic
Republic
(SADR:
partially
recognized
state, see
reference
page) and
Morocco)

Source:

The World Bank[9]

Variously the Sudan and Western Sahara
are considered to be part of the region by
the United Nations,[10] while Western
Sahara and Mauritania (but not Sudan)
are included by the African Union.[11] In
general geopolitical and business usage,
as for example with the World Bank,
North Africa is often grouped with the
Middle East under the acronym MENA
("Middle East and North Africa") and
sometimes in American governmental
usage the geopolitical term Greater
Middle East. Similarly, the traditional
Arabic toponym Maghreb (meaning "the
West") is commonly used to mean the
African part of the Arab World, though
usually with the exclusion of Egypt.

The inhabitants of the Spanish Canary

Islands are of mixed Spanish and North
African Berber ancestry, and the people
of Malta are of North African ancestry
and speak a derivative of Arabic. But
these areas are not generally considered
part of North Africa, but rather Southern
Europe, due to their European-based
cultures and religion.

People
Beduin women in Tunisia

The inhabitants of North Africa are

roughly divided in a manner
corresponding to the principal
geographic regions of North Africa: the
Maghreb, the Nile valley, and the Sahel.
The Maghreb or western North Africa on
the whole is believed to have been
inhabited by Berbers since at least
10,000 B.C.,[12] while the eastern part of
North Africa or the Nile Valley has mainly
been home to the Egyptians. Ancient
Egyptians record extensive contact in
their Western desert with people that
appear to have been Berber or proto-
Berber. As the Tassili n'Ajjer and other
rock art findings in the Sahara have
shown, the Sahara also hosted various
populations before its rapid
desertification in 3500 B.C and even
today continues to host small
populations of nomadic trans-Saharan
peoples.

In the eleventh century, the Banu Hilal

invaded the North African plains and
plateaus, but not the mountainous areas
such as the Tell Atlas range, the Rif or the
Aurès Mountains and brought with them
Hilalian dialects of Arabic, which over the
centuries have been in significant
contact with other languages, including
the languages of Europe. They have
contributed to the Arabized Berber
populations.

The official language or one of the

official languages in all of the countries
in North Africa is Arabic. Today, the
largest ethnic groups in North Africa are
Arabs, Berbers and West Africans. The
region is predominantly Muslim with a
Jewish minority in Morocco and Tunisia
and significant Christian minority—the
Copts—in Egypt, Algeria,[13] Morocco[14]
and Tunisia.[15]

Culture

Market of Biskra in Algeria, 1899

The people of the Maghreb and the

Sahara regions speak Berber languages
and several varieties of Arabic and
almost exclusively follow Islam. The
Arabic and Berber languages are
distantly related, both being members of
the Afroasiatic language family. The
Tuareg Berber languages are notably
more conservative than those of the
coastal cities.

Over the years, Berbers have been

influenced by contact with other cultures:
Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans,
Vandals, Arabs, Europeans and Sub-
Saharan Africans. The cultures of the
Maghreb and the Sahara therefore
combine indigenous Berber, Arab and
elements from neighboring parts of
Africa and beyond. In the Sahara, the
distinction between sedentary oasis
inhabitants and nomadic Bedouins and
Tuaregs is particularly marked.
The kasbah of Aït Benhaddou in Morocco

The diverse peoples of North Africa are

usually categorized along ethno-linguistic
lines. In the Maghreb, where Arab and
Berber identities are often integrated,
these lines can be blurred. Some Berber-
speaking North Africans may identify as
"Arab" depending on the social and
political circumstances, although
substantial numbers of Berbers (or
Amazighen) have retained a distinct
cultural identity which in the 20th century
has been expressed as a clear ethnic
identification with Berber history and
language. Arabic-speaking Northwest
Africans, regardless of ethnic
background, often identify with Arab
history and culture and may share a
common vision with other Arabs. This,
however, may or may not exclude pride in
and identification with Berber and/or
other parts of their heritage. Berber
political and cultural activists for their
part, often referred to as Berberists, may
view all Northwest Africans as principally
Berber, whether they are primarily Berber-
or Arabic-speaking.
Egyptians over the centuries have shifted
their language from Egyptian (in its late
form, varieties of Coptic) to modern
Egyptian Arabic while retaining a sense
of national identity that has historically
set them apart from other people in the
region. Most Egyptians are Sunni Muslim,
although there is a significant minority of
Copts.

The Maghreb formerly had a significant

Jewish population, almost all of whom
emigrated to France or Israel when the
North African nations gained
independence. Prior to the modern
establishment of Israel, there were about
600,000–700,000 Jews in Northern
Africa, including both Sephardi Jews
(refugees from France, Spain and
Portugal from the Renaissance era) as
well as indigenous Mizrahi Jews. Today,
less than fifteen thousand remain in the
region, almost all in Morocco and
Tunisia, and are mostly part of a French-
speaking urban elite. (See Jewish exodus
from Arab and Muslim countries.)

History
Early history

Due to the recent African origin of

modern humans, the history of
Prehistoric North Africa is important to
the understanding of pre-hominid and
early modern human history in Africa.
The earliest inhabitants of central North
Africa have left behind significant
remains: early remnants of hominid
occupation in North Africa, for example,
were found in Ain el Hanech, near Saïda
(c. 200,000 BCE); in fact, more recent
investigations have found signs of
Oldowan technology there, and indicate a
date of up to 1.8 million BC.[16]

The cave paintings found at Tassili

n'Ajjer, north of Tamanrasset, Algeria, and
at other locations depict vibrant and vivid
scenes of everyday life in central North
Africa during the Neolithic Subpluvial
period (about 8000 to 4000 BCE). Some
parts of North Africa began to participate
in the Neolithic revolution in the 6th
millennium BC, just before the rapid
desertification of the Sahara around
3500 B.C. due to a tilt in the Earth's
orbit.[2]

While Egypt due to the early civilizations

of Ancient Egypt entered historicity by
the Bronze Age, the Maghreb remained in
the prehistoric period longer. Some
Phoenician and Greek colonies were
established along the Mediterranean
coast during the 7th century BC.

Antiquity and ancient Rome

The first Roman emperor native to North Africa was
Septimius Severus, born in Leptis Magna in present-
day Libya.

The most notable nations of antiquity in

western North Africa are Carthage and
Numidia. The Phoenicians colonized
much of North Africa including Carthage
and parts of present-day Morocco
(including Chellah, Essaouira and
Volubilis[17]). The Carthaginians were of
Phoenician origin, with the Roman myth
of their origin being that Dido, a
Phoenician princess, was granted land by
a local ruler based on how much land she
could cover with a piece of cowhide. She
ingeniously devised a method to extend
the cowhide to a high proportion, thus
gaining a large territory. She was also
rejected by the Trojan prince Aeneas
according to Virgil, thus creating a
historical enmity between Carthage and
Rome, as Aeneas would eventually lay
the foundations for Rome. Ancient
Carthage was a commercial power and
had a strong navy, but relied on
mercenaries for land soldiers. The
Carthaginians developed an empire in the
Iberian Peninsula and Sicily, the latter
being the cause of First Punic War with
the Romans.

Over a hundred years and more, all

Carthaginian territory was eventually
conquered by the Romans, resulting in
the Carthaginian North African territories
becoming the Roman province of Africa
in 146 B.C.[18] This led to tension and
eventually conflict between Numidia and
Rome. The Numidian wars are notable
for launching the careers of both Gaius
Marius, and Sulla, and stretching the
constitutional burden of the Roman
republic, as Marius required a
professional army, something previously
contrary to Roman values to overcome
the talented military leader Jugurtha.[19]

North Africa remained a part of the

Roman Empire, which produced many
notable citizens such as Augustine of
Hippo, until incompetent leadership from
Roman commanders in the early fifth
century allowed the Germanic peoples,
the Vandals, to cross the Strait of
Gibraltar, whereupon they overcame the
fickle Roman defense. The loss of North
Africa is considered a pinnacle point in
the fall of the Western Roman Empire as
Africa had previously been an important
grain province that maintained Roman
prosperity despite the barbarian
incursions, and the wealth required to
create new armies. The issue of
regaining North Africa became
paramount to the Western Empire, but
was frustrated by Vandal victories. The
focus of Roman energy had to be on the
emerging threat of the Huns. In 468 AD,
the Romans made one last serious
attempt to invade North Africa but were
repelled. This perhaps marks the point of
terminal decline for the Western Roman
Empire. The last Roman emperor was
deposed in 476 by the Heruli general
Odoacer. Trade routes between Europe
and North Africa remained intact until the
coming of Islam. Some Berbers were
members of the Early African Church (but
evolved their own Donatist doctrine),[20]
some were Berber Jews, and some
adhered to traditional Berber religion.
African pope Victor I served during the
reign of Roman emperor Septimius
Severus

Arab conquest to modern

times

The Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia, founded

by Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi in 670, is one of the
oldest and most important mosques in North
Africa.[21]
The early Muslim conquests included
North Africa by 640. By 670, most of
North Africa had come under Muslim
rule. Indigenous Berbers subsequently
started to form their own polities in
response in places such as Fez and
Sijilmasa. In the eleventh century, a
reformist movement made up of
members that called themselves the
Almoravid dynasty expanded south into
Sub-Saharan Africa.

North Africa's populous and flourishing

civilization collapsed after exhausting its
resources in internal fighting and
suffering devastation from the invasion
of the Banu Sulaym and Banu Hilal. Ibn
Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by
Banu Hilal invaders had become
completely arid desert.[22]

1803 Cedid Atlas, showing the Ottoman held regions

of North Africa

After the Middle Ages the area was

loosely under the control of the Ottoman
Empire, except Morocco. The Spanish
Empire conquered several coastal cities
between the 16th and 18th centuries.
After the 19th century, the imperial and
colonial presence of France, the United
Kingdom, Spain and Italy left the entirety
of the region under one form of European
occupation.

In World War II from 1940 to 1943 the

area was the setting for the North African
Campaign. During the 1950s and 1960s
all of the North African states gained
independence. There remains a dispute
over Western Sahara between Morocco
and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front.

In 2010 – 2011 massive protests swept

the region leading to the overthrow of the
governments in Tunisia and Egypt, as
well as civil war in Libya. Large protests
also occurred in Algeria and Morocco to
a lesser extent. Many hundreds died in
the uprisings.[23]

Transport and industry

Thousands of people in North Africa depend on date

palm trees for a living. Tunisia in 1960

The economies of Algeria and Libya were

transformed by the discovery of oil and
natural gas reserves in the deserts.
Morocco's major exports are phosphates
and agricultural produce, and as in Egypt
and Tunisia, the tourist industry is
essential to the economy. Egypt has the
most varied industrial base, importing
technology to develop electronics and
engineering industries, and maintaining
the reputation of its high-quality cotton
textiles.

Oil rigs are scattered throughout the

deserts of Libya and Algeria. Libyan oil is
especially prized because of its low
sulfur content, which means it produces
much less pollution than other fuel oils.

See also
European Digital Archive on Soil Maps
of the World
List of modern conflicts in North Africa
References
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African Regions: West, Northern,..."
ResearchGate.net. Retrieved 10 August
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2. "Sahara's Abrupt Desertification Started
by Changes in Earth's Orbit, Accelerated
by Atmospheric and Vegetation
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Archived from the original on 2013-10-
29.
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doi:10.1126/science.331.6013.20
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Jacques Hublin,
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12. Hsain Ilahiane, Historical Dictionary of
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External links
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to Northern Africa and North Africa.

Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples

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