The
Maghreb (المغرب العربي ), also rendered
MaghribMaghrib may refer to one of the following.* Maghrib, the fourth daily salat in Islam, offered at sunset* Maghreb , an Arabic reference to the coastal plain of North Africa, and more broadly to the nations surrounding it* Al-Maghrib is the Arabic name of the Kingdom of Morocco....
(or rarely
Moghreb), meaning "place of
sunsetSunset is the daily disappearance of the sun below the horizon as a result of the Earth's rotation. The atmospheric conditions created by the setting of the sun, occurring before and after it disappears below the horizon, are also commonly referred to as "sunset".In astronomy the time of sunset is...
" or "
westWest is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points...
ern" in Arabic, is a region in
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
. The term is generally applied to all of
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
,
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
, and
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
, but in older Arabic usage pertained only to the area of the three countries between the high ranges of the
Atlas MountainsThe Atlas Mountains are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines...
and the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
. Historically, some writers also included
SpainAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
,
PortugalAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
,
SicilyThe Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...
and
MaltaMalta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed European country in the European Union. The Southern European island nation is an archipelago that includes the inhabited islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino, along with a number of smaller, uninhabited islands...
in the definition, especially during the periods of
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
rule.
Partially isolated from the rest of the continent by the
Atlas MountainsThe Atlas Mountains are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines...
and the
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
, the Maghreb has long been closely tied in terms of
climateClimate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time...
, landforms,
populationIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings. Individuals within a population share a factor may be reduced by statistical means, but such a generalization may be too vague to imply anything...
, economy, and
historyHistory is the study of the human past, with special attention to the written record. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns...
to the Mediterranean basin. Because sea transportation dominated people's lives for so long, peoples joined by waters shared more than those joined by land.
The region was united as a single political entity only during the first years of Arab rule (early 8th century), and again for several decades under the Almohads (1159–1229).
The Arab states of
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
established the Maghreb Union in 1989 to promote cooperation and economic integration. Its members are
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
,
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
,
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
,
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
and
MauritaniaMauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest...
. Envisioned initially by
Muammar al-GaddafiMuammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi
1 has been the de facto leader of Libya since a coup in 1969....
as an Arab superstate, organization members expect eventually to function as a North African Common Market. Economic and political unrest, especially in Algeria, have hindered progress on the union’s joint goals.
History
After the end of the
Ice AgeThe general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual...
about ten thousand years ago, when the
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
dried up, contact between the Maghreb and
sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
was extremely limited.
Many ports along the Maghreb coast were occupied by
PhoeniciaPhoenicia what is now modern day Lebanon, was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and Palestine...
ns, particularly Carthaginians. With the defeat of
CarthageCarthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian...
, Rome took over many of these ports, and ultimately it took control of the entire Maghreb north of the Atlas Mountains. Remaining outside its control were only some of the most mountainous regions like the Moroccan
RifThe Rif is a mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco, stretching from Cape Spartel and Tangier in the west to Ras Kebdana and the Moulouya River in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the river of Ouargha in the south.It is part of the Cordillera Bética that also...
.
The Arabs reached the Maghreb in early
UmayyadThe Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four Islamic caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
times. Arab expansion and the spread of
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
pushed the development of
trans-Saharan tradeTrans-Saharan trade is trade across the Sahara between Mediterranean countries and sub-Saharan Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of such trade extended from the eighth century until the late sixteenth century....
. While restricted due to the cost and dangers, the trade was highly profitable. Peoples traded in such goods as salt, gold, ivory, and slaves taken from the Sahel regions as well as southern Europeans enslaved by Muslim pirates. Arab control over the Maghreb was quite weak. Various Islamic "heresies", such as the Ibadis and the Shia, adopted by some Berbers, quickly threw off
CaliphThe Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transliterated version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
al control in favour of their interpretation of Islam.
The
Arabic languageArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
became widespread only later, as a result of the invasion of the
Banu HilalThe Banu Hilal were a confederation of bedouin tribes that migrated from Upper Egypt into North Africa in the 11th century, having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Zirids for abandoning Shiism. Other authors suggest that the tribes left the grasslands on the upper Nile because of...
, unleashed by the
FatimidThe Fatimid Caliphate or al-Fātimiyyūn was an Arab Shi'a dynasty that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Egypt, Sicily, Malta and the Levant from 5 January 909 to 1171. The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the Egyptian city of Cairo as their capital. The term Fatimite is...
s in punishment for their
ZiridThe Zirid dynasty were a Berber dynasty, originating in Petite Kabylie among the Kutama tribe, that ruled Ifriqiya , initially on behalf of the Fatimids, for about two centuries, until weakened by the Banu Hilal and finally destroyed by the Almohads. Their capital was Kairouan...
clients' defection in the 1100s. Throughout this period, the Maghreb most often was divided into three states roughly corresponding to modern Morocco, western Algeria, and eastern Algeria and
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
. The region was occasionally briefly unified, as under the
AlmohadThe Almohad Dynasty , was a Berber, Muslim dynasty that was founded in the 12th century, which conquered all of northern Africa as far as Libya, together with Al-Andalus .Between 1130 and his death in 1163, Abd al-Mu'min al-Kumi, the only one Berber from Nedroma among the Masmudas...
s, and briefly under the Hafsids).
After the Middle Ages, the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
loosely controlled the area east of Morocco. After the 19th century, areas of the Maghreb were colonized by
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
and later
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
.
Today more than two and a half million Maghrebis immigrants live in France, especially from Algeria and Morocco. In addition, there are 3 million French of Maghrebi origin (in 1999) (with at least one grand-parent from Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia).
Populations
Maghrebi people include Moroccans, Algerians, Libyans, Mauritanians, and Tunisians. Maghrebis are largely composed of
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
and
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
descent with
PhoeniciaPhoenicia what is now modern day Lebanon, was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and Palestine...
n and European elements. A majority of the current population in the Maghreb consider themselves generally Arab in identity but of Berber descent and origin, regardless of mixed ethnic or linguistic heritage. However, there are significant non-Arab or non-Arab-identifying populations in the region.
Most important of the non-Arab populations found throughout the Maghreb, particularly in Morocco and Algeria, are the
BerbersBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
. They represented the majority of the pre-Islamic population. After the arrival of Muslim Arabs, Berbers assimilated in large numbers to Arab or mixed Arab-Berber ethnic identities.
Various other influences are also prominent throughout the Maghreb. In northern coastal towns, in particular, several waves of European immigrants have influenced the population in the Medieval era. Most notable were the
moriscoA morisco or mourisco , meaning "Moor-like", was a nominally Catholic inhabitant of Spain and Portugal of Muslim heritage. Over time the term was used in a pejorative sense applied to those nominal Catholics who were suspected of secretly practicing Islam...
s and
muladiThe Muladi or muwallad, from arabic مولدون , were Muslims of ethnic Iberian origin who lived in Al-Andalus during the Middle Ages...
es, that are, indigenous Spaniards who had earlier converted to the Muslim faith and were fleeing, together with ethnic Arab and Berber Muslims, from the
Spanish Catholic ReconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
. Other European contributions included French, Italians, and others captured by the
corsairsThe Barbary Corsairs, sometimes called Ottoman Corsairs or Barbary Pirates, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa from the time of the Crusades until the early 19th century...
.
Historically the Maghreb was home to significant
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish communities, including the
Berber JewsBerber Jews, also named Maghrebim', are the Berber Jewish communities inhabiting the region of the Maghreb in North Africa. The region coincides with the Atlas Mountains in what today is Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia....
, who predated the 7th century introduction and conversion of the majority of Berbers to Islam. Later Spanish Sephardic Jews fleeing the Spanish Catholic Reconquista, established a presence in North Africa, chiefly in the urban trading centers. They have contributed to the wider population through conversion and assimilation. Many Sephardic Jews emigrated to North America in the early 20th century or to France and Israel later in the 20th century.
Among West Asians are Turks who came over with the expansion of the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
. A large
Turkish descendedKouloughli means "children of subjects". It is equivalent to kuloğlu, the contraction of kul , and oğul in modern Turkish...
population exists, particularly in Tunisia and Algeria.
Sub-Saharan Africans joined the population mix during centuries of
trans-Saharan tradeTrans-Saharan trade is trade across the Sahara between Mediterranean countries and sub-Saharan Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of such trade extended from the eighth century until the late sixteenth century....
. Traders and slaves went to the Maghreb from the
SahelThe Sahel or Sahel Belt is a semi-arid tropical savanna and steppe ecoregion in Africa, which forms the transition between the Sahara to the north and the slightly less arid savanna belt to the south, known as the Sudan .-Geography:The Sahel runs 2,400...
region. On the Saharan southern edge of the Maghreb are small communities of black populations, sometimes called Haratine, who are apparently descended from black populations who inhabited the Sahara during its last wet period and then migrated north.
In Algeria especially, a large European minority, the "pied noirs", immigrated and settled under French colonial rule. The overwhelming majority of these, however, left Algeria during and following the war for independence. France maintains a close relationship with the Maghreb countries.
Culture
The Maghreb shares a common culinary tradition.
Habib BourguibaHabib Bourguiba was a Tunisian statesman and the Founder and First President of the Republic of Tunisia from July 25, 1957 to November 7, 1987. He is often compared to Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk because of the pro-Western reforms enacted during his presidency.During the time Bourguiba...
defined it as the part of the Arab world where
couscousCouscous or kuskus as it is known in Brazil, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt is a dish consisting of spherical granules made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them...
is the staple food, as opposed to Eastern Arab countries where white rice is the staple food. In terms of food, similarities beyond the starches are found throughout the Arab world.
Religion
The original religions of the Northern African peoples of the area seem to have been based and related with fertility cults of a strong
MatriarchyMatriarchy refers to a gynecocentric form of society, in which the leading role is taken by the women and especially by the mothers of a community....
pantheon,given the social and linguistic structures of the Amazigh cultures antedating all Egyptian and eastern, Asian, northern Mediterranean, and European influences.
Historic records of religion in the Maghreb region show its gradual inclusion in the Classical World, with coastal colonies established first by Phoenicians, some Greeks, and later extensive conquest and colonization by the Romans. By the second century common era, the area had become a center of Latin-speaking Christianity. Both Roman settlers and Romanized populations converted to Christianity. The region produced figures such as Christian Church writer
TertullianQuintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, was a prolific and controversial early Christian Berber author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy...
(c. 155 – c. 202); and Christian Church martyrs or leading figures such as
St Cyprian of CarthageSaint Cyprian was bishop of Carthage and an important early Christian writer. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received an excellent classical education...
(+ 258); St. Monica; her son the philosopher
St. Augustine-People:*St Augustine of Hippo or Augustine of Hippo , father of the Latin church*St Augustine of Canterbury or Augustine of Canterbury , first Archbishop of Canterbury*St Augustine Webster or Augustine Webster-Places:*St. Augustine, Florida...
, Bishop of Hippo I (+ 430) (1); and
St Julia of CarthageSaint Julia of Corsica , also known as Saint Julia of Carthage, and more rarely Saint Julia of Nonza, was a virgin martyr who is venerated as a Christian saint. The date of her death is most probably on or after 439 AD. She, along with Saint Devota, are the patron saints of Corsica in the Roman...
(5th century).
The domination of Christianity ended when Arab invasions brought Islam in 647. Carthage fell in 698 and the remainder of the region followed in subsequent decades. Gradual Islamization proceeded, although surviving letters showed correspondence from regional Christians to Rome up until the ninth century. Christianity was still a living faith. Christian bishoprics and dioceses continued to be active, with relations continuing with Rome. As late as Pope Benedict VII (974-983) reign, a new Archbishop of Carthage was consecrated. Evidence of Christianity in the region then faded through the tenth century.
During the 7th century, the region's peoples began their nearly total conversion to Islam. There is a small but thriving Jewish community, as well as a small Christian community. Most Muslims follow the Sunni
MalikiThe Maliki madhhab is one of the four schools of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam. It is the third-largest of the four schools, followed by approximately 15% of Muslims, mostly in North Africa, West Africa, United Arab Emirates, some parts of Saudi Arabia.Madhabs are rites not sects. They...
school. Small
IbadiThe Ibāḍī movement or Ibāḍiyya is a form of Islam distinct from the Shi'a and Sunni denominations. It is the dominant form of Islam in Oman. There are also Ibadis in Algeria, Tunisia, East Africa as well as Libya....
communities remain in some areas. A strong tradition of venerating
maraboutA marabout is an Islamic religious leader and teacher in West Africa, and in the Maghreb. The marabout is often a scholar of the Qur'an, or religious teacher. Others may be wandering holy men who survive on alms, Sufi Murshids , or leaders of religious communities...
s and saints' tombs is found throughout regions inhabited by Berbers. Any map of the region demonstrates the tradition by the proliferation of "
SidiSidi is a masculine title of respect in Western Arabic language and Egyptian Arabic equivalent to modern popular usage of the English Mr....
"s, showing places named after the marabouts. Like some other religious traditions, this has substantially decreased over the twentieth century. A network of
zaouiaZaouia , also spelled zawiya, zawiyah, zaouiya, zaouïa zwaya, etc, is a Maghrebi and West African term for an Islamic religious school or monastery, roughly corresponding to the Eastern term "madrassa"...
s traditionally helped proliferate basic literacy and knowledge of Islam in rural regions.
Maghrebi traders in Jewish history
In the tenth century, as the social and political environment in
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
became increasingly hostile to Jews, many Jewish traders emigrated to the Maghreb, especially
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
. Over the following two or three centuries, such Jewish traders became known as the Maghribis, a distinctive social group who traveled throughout the Mediterranean World. They passed this identification on from father to son.
Ecoregions
The Maghreb is divided into a
Mediterranean climateA hi Mediterranean climate resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes most of the area with this climate type worldwide...
region in the north, and the
aridA region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
to the south. The Magreb's variations in elevation, rainfall, temperature, and soils give rise to distinct communities of plants and animals. The
World Wide Fund for NatureThe World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada...
(WWF) identifies several distinct
ecoregionAn ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or "ecozone". Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species...
s in the Maghreb.
Mediterranean Maghreb
The portions of the Maghreb between the
Atlas MountainsThe Atlas Mountains are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines...
and the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
, along with coastal
TripolitaniaTripolitania or Tripolitana is a historic region and former province of Libya, situated alongside Cyrenaica and Fezzan...
and
CyrenaicaCyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya and also an ex-province or state of the country in the pre-1963 administrative system. What used to be Cyrenaica in the old system is now divided up into several "shabiyat"...
in Libya, are home to Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub. These ecoregions share many species of plants and animals with other portions of
Mediterranean BasinThe Mediterranean Basin comprises the lands around and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic...
. The southern extent of the Mediterranean Maghreb corresponds with the 100 mm isohyet, or the southern range of the
European OliveThe Olive is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin, from Lebanon, Syria and the maritime parts of Turkey and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea...
(Olea europea) and
Esparto GrassEsparto, or esparto grass, also known as "halfah grass" or "needle grass", Macrochloa tenacissima and Stipa tenacissima, is a perennial grass grown in northwest Africa and southern Spain employed for crafts .-Esparto paper:It is also used for fiber production for paper making...
(Stipa tenacissima).
- Mediterranean acacia-argania dry woodlands and succulent thickets (Morocco, Canary Islands (Spain), Western Sahara)
- Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe
The Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion of North Africa. It occupies interior plateaus and mountain ranges of the Maghreb region, lying generally between the coastal Mediterranean woodlands and forests to the north and the Sahara to the...
(Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia)
- Mediterranean woodlands and forests
The Mediterranean woodlands and forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion of North Africa, which occupies the coastal plains and hills bordering the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.-Setting:...
(Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia)
- Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests
Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion which occupies the high mountain ranges of North Africa and southern Spain...
(Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Spain)
- Mediterranean High Atlas juniper steppe (Morocco)
Saharan Maghreb
The Sahara extends across northern Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Its central part is hyper-arid and supports little plant or animal life, but the northern portion of the desert receives occasional winter rains, while the strip along the Atlantic coast receives moisture from marine fog, which nourishes a greater variety of plants and animals. The northern edge of the Sahara corresponds to the 100 mm isohyet, which is also the northern range of the
Date PalmPhoenix dactylifera , commonly known as the Date Palm, is a palm in the genus Phoenix, extensively cultivated for its edible sweet fruit...
(Phoenix dactylifera).
- North Saharan steppe and woodlands
The North Saharan steppe and woodlands is a desert ecoregion that forms the northern the northern edge of the Sahara, next to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of the Mediterranean Maghreb and Cyrenaica...
: This ecoregion lies along the northern edge of the Sahara, next to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of the Mediterranean Maghreb and Cyrenaica. Winter rains sustain shrublands and dry woodlands that form a transition between the Mediterranean climateA hi Mediterranean climate resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes most of the area with this climate type worldwide...
regions to the north and the hyper-arid Sahara proper to the south. It covers 1,675,300 square km (646,800 square miles) in AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
, EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
, LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
, Mauritania, MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
, TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
, and Western Sahara.
- Atlantic coastal desert
The Atlantic coastal desert is the westernmost ecoregion in the Sahara of North Africa. It occupies a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast, where fog generated offshore by the cool Canary Current provides sufficient moisture to sustain a variety of lichens, succulents, and shrubs. It covers 39,900...
: The Atlantic coastal desert occupies a narrow strip along the AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
coast, where fog generated offshore by the cool Canary CurrentThe Canary Current is an ocean current which branches south from the North Atlantic Current and flows toward the south-west about as far as Senegal where it turns west. The cool temperature is caused by the upwelling nutrient-rich water drawn up from below the surface by the current. It is named...
provides sufficient moisture to sustain a variety of lichenLichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
s, succulentsSucculent plants, also known as succulents or fat plants, are water-retaining plants adapted to arid climate or soil conditions. Succulent plants store water in their leaves, stems and/or roots. The storage of water often gives succulent plants a more swollen or fleshy appearance than other plants,...
, and shrubs. It covers 39,900 square kilometres (15,400 square miles) in Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
and MauritaniaMauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest...
.
- Sahara desert
The Sahara desert ecoregion, as defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature , includes the hyper-arid center of the Sahara, between 18° and 30° N. It is one of several desert and xeric shrubland ecoregions that cover the northern portion of the African continent.-Setting:The Sahara is the world's...
: This ecoregion covers the hyper-arid central portion of the Sahara where rainfall is minimal and sporadic. Vegetation is rare, and this ecoregion consists mostly of sand dunes (ergAn erg is a large, relatively flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover. The term takes its name from the Arabic word erg , meaning "dune field"...
), stone plateaus (hamadaA hamada is a type of desert landscape consisting of largely barren, hard, rocky plateaus, with very little sand. A hamada may sometimes also be called a reg , though this more properly refers to a stony plain rather than a highland.Hamadas exist in contrast to ergs, which are large areas of...
), gravel plains (reg), dry valleys (wadiWadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley; in some cases it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...
), and salt flats. It covers 4,639,900 square km (1,791,500 square miles) of Algeria, ChadChad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, Egypt, Libya, MaliMali, officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa, bordering Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west...
, Mauritania, NigerNiger , officially the Republic of Niger is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, and SudanSudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is the largest country in Africa and in the Arab World, and tenth largest in the world by area...
.
- Saharan halophytics: Seasonally-flooded saline depressions in the Maghreb are home to halophytic, or salt-adapted, plant communities. The Saharan halophytics cover 54,000 square km (20,800 square miles), including Tunisian salt lakes
The Tunisian salt lakes are a series of lakes in central Tunisia, lying south of the Atlas Mountains at the northern edge of the Sahara. The lakes include, from west to east, the Chott el Fedjedji, Chott el Djerid, and Chott el Gharsa....
of central Tunisia, Chott Melghir in Algeria, and other areas of Egypt, Algeria, Mauritania, and Western Sahara.
Modern territories
- Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
- Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain located on the North African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, on the Mediterranean, which separates it from the Spanish mainland. The area of Ceuta is approximately ....
(a Spanish exclave)
- Libya
Libya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
- Mauritania
Mauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest...
- Melilla
Melilla is an autonomous Spanish city located on the Mediterranean, on the north coast of North Africa. It was regarded as a part of Málaga province prior to 14 March 1995, when the city's Statute of Autonomy was passed.Melilla was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 2008 it...
(a Spanish exclave)
- Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
- Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
- Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
(claimed by Morocco)
Medieval regions
- Ifriqiya
In medieval history, Ifriqiya or Ifriqiyah was the area comprising the coastal regions of what are today western Libya, Tunisia, and eastern Algeria. This area included what had been the Roman province of Africa....
- Djerid
el-Djerid "Palm Leaf" is a semidesert region comprising southern Tunisia and adjacent parts of Algeria and Libya. It is characterised by bare pink hills with oases and several chotts el-Djerid "Palm Leaf" (Classical Arabic al-Jarīd الجريد , Darija l-Jrīd) is a semidesert region comprising southern...
- Sous
The Sous or Souss is a region in southern Morocco. Geologically, it is the alluvial basin of the Oued Sous , separated from the Sahara by the Anti-Atlas mountains...
- Zab
Zab or ZAB may refer to:*Two rivers that flow through Iran, Iraq and Turkey to become the two principal tributaries of the Tigris:**Great Zab**Little Zab...
- Draa Valley
The Draa is Morocco's longest river . It is formed by the confluence of the Dadès River and Imini River. It flows from the High Atlas mountains south-ward to Tagounit and from Tagounit mostly westwards to the Atlantic Ocean somewhat north of Tan-Tan...
- Hodna
- Rif
The Rif is a mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco, stretching from Cape Spartel and Tangier in the west to Ras Kebdana and the Moulouya River in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the river of Ouargha in the south.It is part of the Cordillera Bética that also...
- Maghreb al-Awsat
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
(Central Maghreb - nowadays Algeria)
- Maghreb al-Aqsa
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
(Western Maghreb - nowadays Morocco)
- Maghreb al-Adna
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
(Eastern Maghreb - nowadays Tunisia)
- Tamesna
Tamesna can refer to:* Tamesna, a historical region in North Africa, that is currently the area between the Moroccan cities of Kenitra and Safi. People from this region are referred to as Mesnawa....
- Tripolitania
Tripolitania or Tripolitana is a historic region and former province of Libya, situated alongside Cyrenaica and Fezzan...
See also
- Amazigh Moroccan Democratic Party
The Amazigh Moroccan Democratic Party is a newly formed Berber oriented party in Morocco. It was founded in 2005 by a group of Amazigh/Berber activists who believed that an Amazigh party was a needed solution to defend the Moroccan Berber identity and help the neglected masses from poverty and...
- Arab Maghreb Union
The Arab Maghreb Union is a Pan-Arab trade agreement aiming for economic and political unity in North Africa....
- Barbary Coast
The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to the Maghreb, the middle and western coastal regions of North Africa—what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The name is derived from the Berber people of north Africa...
- Berber
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
- Jews and Judaism in North Africa
- Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim people of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to conquer and occupy the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most...
- Maghreb people
The Maghreb people are the inhabitants of the Maghreb countries .More than two and a half million Maghrebin immigrants live in France, especially from Algeria. In addition, there are 3 million French of Maghrebin origin...
- Maghrebi script
Maghrebi script is a cursive form of the Arabic alphabet influenced by Kufic letters that developed in the Maghreb and later in Spain, particularly Andalusia.The Maghribi script can be divided in five other sub/scripts:...
- History of Morocco
The Capsian culture brought Morocco into the Neolithic about 8000 BC, at a time when the Maghreb was less arid than it is today. The Berber language probably was formed at roughly the same time as agriculture , and was developed by the existing population and adopted the immigrants who arrived later...
- History of Algeria
The fertile coastal plain of North Africa, especially west of Tunisia, is often called the Maghreb . North Africa served as a transit region for people moving towards Europe or the Middle East. Thus, the region's inhabitants have been influenced by populations from other areas...
- History of Tunisia
The History of Tunisia is divided into eight articles:*Early History of Tunisia*History of Punic era Tunisia*History of Roman era Tunisia*History of early Islamic Tunisia*History of medieval Tunisia*History of Ottoman era Tunisia...
- Maghreb toponymy
The place names of the Maghreb come from a variety of origins, mostly Arabic and Berber, but including a few derived from Phoenician, Latin, and several other languages...
- North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
- Northwest Africa
Northwest Africa or Northwestern Africa is a variably defined region of North Africa. The term incorporates cardinal directions, and is used in various disciplines: geopolitics, archaeology, anthropology, meteoritics and genetics....
- Middle East
The Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
- Tamazgha
Tamazgha is a Tamazight word employed for the area more often known as the Maghreb or North Africa, covering the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Niger River, from Siwa Oasis to the Canary Islands. Although the root MZGH is very ancient, Tamazgha as a country name is modern. It appeared...
- Mashriq
Mashriq or Mashreq is derived from the Arabic consonantal root sh-r-q relating to the east or the sunrise, and essentially means "east"...
- Mughrabi
Mughrabi, Mugrabi, Mograbi, or Mograby is a surname and place name derived from "Maghreb" - meaning "West" in Arabic, and usually refering to North Africa or specificaly to Morocco, i.e., the westernmost part of the Arab and Muslim World...
External links