NORTH AFRICA

region of the northern African Mediterranean littoral, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to the Egyptian desert on the east and comprising, according to usual definitions, the countries of (east to west) Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Areas directly peripheral to these countries are often included in discussions of the region, but Egypt, because of the distinct cultural and political history that it enjoys with respect to the other countries of the region, is treated separately in the Encyclopdia Britannica. The four countries constituting the North African region occupy an area of about 1,835,000 square miles (4,753,000 square km) that may be divided into several broad geographic regions (from west to east): Morocco's Atlantic Ocean littoral; the Atlas Mountains, trending southwest-northeast, extending from Morocco to Tunisia and divided into a number of smaller, often discontinuous ranges, the High (or Haut) Atlas and Saharan Atlas (Atlas Saharien) being the chief topological features; and easternmost, a low plateau of unremarkable relief, constituting most of Libya. All of these regions are backed to the south by the vast stony pavements (reg) and sand seas (erg) of the Sahara. The population in all countries of North Africa is predominantly Arabic and Muslim with strong admixtures of Berber or other smaller ethnic groups, most of which give distinct cultural flavour to the regions they inhabit. European colonists settled in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but many departed when independent sovereign states were created from the former French and Italian territories after World War II. North Africa's inhabitants are confined chiefly in the narrow Mediterranean coastal belt and in scattered Saharan oases with their characteristic date palms. Most of North Africa has a marked dry season, and cultivation depends on frequent intensive irrigation. Wheat, barley, potatoes, olives, tomatoes, oranges, dates, and grapes are grown, although crop yields tend to be low. Sheep and goats are the region's principal livestock. There are important mineral deposits, including iron ore, phosphates, petroleum, and natural gas; Algeria and Libya are major world producers of oil and natural gas. Manufacturing industries, which generally are not well developed in the region's rapidly expanding towns, mostly process agricultural commodities and produce building materials and crude steel. Tourism is an important source of foreign exchange, primarily in Morocco and Tunisia. Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia are republics, and each was governed by a single political party throughout most of their independent existence. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy. Pop. (1991 est.) 64,205,000. area comprising the modern countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The geographic entity North Africa has no single accepted definition. It has been regarded by some as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Morocco in the west to the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the east, though this is more commonly referred to as northern Africa. Others limit the designation to the countries of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, a region known by the French during colonial times as Afrique du Nord. The more commonly accepted definition, and the one used here, includes the three above-mentioned countries, as well as Libya, but excludes Egypt. The regions encompassed by both the second and third definitions, however, have also been called Northwest Africa. Seen from across the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, from which it is separated by only 8 miles (13 kilometres) at the Strait of Gibraltar and 85 miles at the Strait of Sicily, North Africa has often been called the Barbary States, or simply Barbary, after the name of the indigenous Berbers, who are now outnumbered by Arabs and Arabized Berbers. Frequently, the countries of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia have also been known as the Atlas Lands, after the long mountain ranges that dominate their northern landscapes, although all three countries, especially Algeria, incorporate sizable sections of the Sahara desert. Farther east in Libya, only the northwestern and northeastern parts of the country, known as Tripolitania and Cyrenaica respectively, are outside of the desert. Seen through Arab eyes from the east, North Africa is known as the Maghrib (the West), an extensive area that is frequently further differentiated into the Maghrib al-Adna (the Near West), comprising Libya and Tunisia; the Maghrib al-Ausat (the Middle West), including Algeria; and the Maghrib al-Aqsa (the Far West), comprising Morocco and sometimes Western Sahara and Mauritania. The Atlas Lands are often graphically called Djezirah (Jazirat) al-Maghrib (the Western Isle), signifying their isolated position above the empty Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea. North Africa as defined here stretches from longitudes 13 W to 25 E and from latitudes 19 N to nearly 38 N. Covering more than 1,830,000 square miles (4,750,000 square kilometres), it is about half the size of the United States or China, but well over four-fifths of the area is desert. The result of unusual evolution, peculiar geographic circumstances, and isolation, North Africa is, in fact, neither wholly African nor European nor Middle Eastern, but it has its own distinctive identity and internal diversity. Its transitional positionbetween the Mediterranean and the Sahara, between Europe and Africa, and between West and Eastgives rise to much of its distinctiveness. Geologically, the Atlas Mountains constitute part of the Tertiary fold mountains (i.e., those that formed about 66.4 to 1.6 million years ago) that characterize so much of southern Europe, whereas most of the Sahara is underlain by Precambrian crystalline rock (dating from 3.96 billion to 570 million years ago) or horizontally bedded limestone characteristic of the vast plateau surfaces of Africa. Climatically, the Maghrib is greatly affected by Mediterranean conditions in winter and by Saharan conditions in summer. The resulting north-south climatic and vegetational gradient, from Mediterranean to steppe to desert, is well marked and is generally associated with a decline in agricultural activity and population density. Culturally, North Africa is the only part of Africa to have been continuously in contact with Europe over millennia, culminating during classical times with the imprint of Greece and Rome and during the 19th and 20th centuries with the colonial impact of France, Italy, and Spain, of which only the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla remain. Its relative isolation from sub-Saharan Africa was breached only by hazardous trans-Saharan caravan trade. Bringing slaves as well as goods into the region, trans-Saharan trade also led to black admixtures with the prevailing white populations of North Africa. Cultural influences from the Middle East were much more profound, bringing Arabization of the language, the development of cities, and the near religious uniformity of the region in Islam. Yet, its high degree of cultural uniformity, particularly in contrast to black Africa, has not been enough to bring about political unitya luxury North Africa has never known. Now, separated by political boundariesmany of which, largely delineated by Turks and Europeans, follow geometric lines across the desertsthe four main states have developed distinctive political identities and economies. Ecological contrasts between the Mediterranean, steppe, and desert zones have led to traditional contrasts between sedentary cultivation in the north and various types of seminomadic and nomadic pastoralism in the steppes and deserts. Regional contrasts were intensified during colonial rule, whose impact was greatest in the Mediterranean zone, with the growth of export agriculture, mining, and city-ports. This situation has been reinforced by the exploitation and export of oil from Libya and Algeria from the 1950s on. Today, large cities are heightening the urban-rural contrast and are increasingly polarizing the region's population distribution. The principal cities are Casablanca (in Morocco), Algiers (in Algeria), Tunis (in Tunisia), and Tripoli (in Libya). Additional reading General works Broad coverage of all aspects of the North African region may be found in Trevor Mostyn and Albert Hourani (eds.), The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the Middle East and North Africa (1988). An excellent handbook is Wilfrid Knapp, North West Africa: A Political and Economic Survey, 3rd ed. (1977); it may be updated by Richard Lawless and Allan Findlay (eds.), North Africa: Contemporary Politics and Economic Development (1984). The Middle East and North Africa (annual) and Africa Contemporary Record (annual), contain updated essays on all aspects of the North African countries. Physical and human geography The land Good geographic reference books include Monir S. Girgis, Mediterranean Africa (1987); Gerald Blake, John Dewdney, and Jonathan Mitchell (eds.), The Cambridge Atlas of the Middle East and North Africa (1987); Moshe Braver (ed.), Atlas of the Middle East (1988); and J.M. Houston, The Western Mediterranean World (1964). Useful works on population are Keith Sutton and Richard Lawless, Progress in the Human-Geography of the Maghreb, Progress in Human Geography, 11(1):60105 (1987); and Anne Findlay and Allan Findlay, The Geographical Interpretation of International Migration: A Case Study of the Maghreb (1982). The people Among the most interesting anthropological studies are Dale F. Eickelman, The Middle East: An Anthropological Approach, 2nd ed. (1989); Lloyd Cabot Briggs, The Living Races of the Sahara Desert (1958, reprinted 1969), and Tribes of the Sahara (1960); Carleton S. Coon, Tribes of the Rif (1931, reprinted 1970); and Jean Duvignaud, Change at Shebika: Report from a North African Village (1970; originally published in French, 1968). The economy Works on the economy include Ahmed Aghrout and Keith Sutton, Regional Economic Union in the Maghreb, The Journal of Modern African Studies, 28(1):115139 (1990); and Halim Barakat (ed.), Contemporary North Africa: Issues of Development and Integration (1985). John Innes Clarke