Maghreb

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The Arab Maghreb Union countries.

The Maghreb ('mgr?b[1] or 'm?gr?b; literally west, sunset;[1] Arabic ???????? al-
Ma?rb; Berber Tamaz?a, ???????), historically known as the Barbary Coast or
Barbary States, (derived from Berber),[2][3] and the Land of the Atlas (derived
from the Atlas Mountains)[4]) or the Greater Maghreb (Arabic ?????? ?????? ?? al-
Maghrib al-Kabir), is usually defined as much or most of the region of western
North Africa or Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. The traditional definition as the
region including the Atlas Mountains and the coastal plains of Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, and Libya, was later superseded, especially following the 1989 formation
of the Arab Maghreb Union (????? ?????? ??????), by the inclusion of Mauritania and
of the disputed territory of Western Sahara (mostly controlled by Morocco). During
the Al-Andalus era in Spain (7111492), the Maghreb's inhabitants, Maghrebis, were
known as Moors.[5] Morocco also transliterates into Arabic as al-Maghreb (The
Maghreb).

Before the establishment of modern nation states in the region during the mid-20th
century, Maghreb most commonly referred to a smaller area between the Atlas
Mountains in the south and the Mediterranean Sea, often also including eastern
Libya, but not modern Mauritania. As recently as the late 19th century it was used
to refer to the Western Mediterranean region of coastal North Africa in general,
and to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in particular.[6]

The region was somewhat unified as an independent political entity during the rule
of the Berber kingdom of Numidia, which was followed by the Roman Empire's rule or
influence. That was followed by the brief invasion of the Germanic Vandals, the
equally brief re-establishment of a weak Roman rule by the Byzantine Empire, the
rule of the Islamic Caliphates under the Umayyads, the Abbasids, and the Fatimids.
The most enduring rule was that of the local Berber empires of the Almoravids,
Almohads, Hammadids, Zirids, Marinids, Saadi and Wattasids (to name some of those
among the most prominent) from the 8th to 13th centuries. The Ottoman Turks ruled
the region as well.

Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya established the Maghreb Union in
1989 to promote cooperation and economic integration in a common market. It was
envisioned initially by Muammar Gaddafi as a superstate[citation needed]. The union
included Western Sahara implicitly under Morocco's membership,[7] putting Morocco's
long cold war with Algeria to a rest. However, this progress was short-lived, and
the union is now frozen. Tensions between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara
re-emerged strongly, reinforced by the unsolved borderline issue between the two
countries. These two main conflicts have hindered progress on the union's joint
goals and practically made it inactive as a whole.[8] However, the instability in
the region and growing cross-border security threats revived the calls for regional
cooperation foreign ministers of the Arab Maghreb Union declared a need for
coordinated security policy in May 2015 during the 33rd session of the follow-up
committee meeting, which brings back the hope of some form of cooperation.[9]

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Prehistory
2.2 Antiquity
2.3 Middle Ages
2.4 Early modern history
2.5 Modern history
3 Population
4 Religion
4.1 Maghrebi traders in Jewish history
5 Geography
5.1 Ecoregions
5.2 Mediterranean Maghreb
5.3 Saharan Maghreb
6 Culture
7 Genetics of the Maghreb population
8 Economy
8.1 Maghreb countries by GDP (PPP)
9 Medieval regions
10 See also
11 Notes and references
12 External links
Etymology[edit]
In classical antiquity, the Maghreb or portions of the region was known by various
toponyms, including Barbary, Berbery, Mauretania, Numidia, Libya, Africa, and the
Land of the Atlas.

The toponym maghrib is a geographical term that the Muslim Arabs gave to the region
extending from Alexandria in the east up to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Muslim
historians and geographers divided the region into three areas al-Maghrib al-Adna
(the near Maghrib) which included the lands extending from Alexandria up to
Tarabulus (modern-day Tripoli) in the west; al-Maghrib al-Awsat (the middle
Maghrib) which extended from Tripoli to Bijaya (Bjaa); and al-Maghrib al-Aqsa
(the far Maghrib) which extended from Tahart (Tiaret) to the Atlantic Ocean.[10]
They disagreed, however, over the start of the eastern boundary. Certain authors
made it extend as far as the sea of Kulzum (the Red Sea) and thus include in the
Maghrib Egypt and the country of Barca. Ibn Khaldun does not accept this
delimitation, because, he says, the inhabitants of the Maghreb do not consider
Egypt and Barca as forming part of their country. The latter commences only at the
province of Tripoli and encloses the districts of which the country of the Berbers
was composed in former times. Later Maghribi writers limit themselves to
reproducing with a few variations in detail, the information of Ibn Khaldun.[11]

As of 2017 the term Maghrib is still used in opposition to Mashriq in a sense near
to that which it had in medieval times, but it also denotes simply Morocco when the
full al-Maghrib al-Aksa is abbreviated. Furthermore, the political union of the
North African countries which certain politicians seek is called al-Maghrib al-
Kabir (the grand Maghrib) or al-Maghrib al-Arabi (the Arab Maghrib).[11][12] The
Berber-lanuage speakers now call this region Tamaz?a or Tamazgha, which translates
to Berbery (land of the Berbers),[13][14] a term that has been popularized by
Berberism activists since the second half of the 20th century.

History[edit]

Maghreb head ornament (Morocco)

The Great Mosque of Kairouan, founded by the Arab general Uqba Ibn Nafi (in 670),
is the oldest mosque in the Maghreb [15] city of Kairouan, Tunisia.
Prehistory[edit]
Main article Prehistoric North Africa
Around 3,500 BC changes in the tilt of the Earth's orbit created a rapid
desertification of the Sahara and formed a natural barrier that severely limited
contact between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa.[16] The Maghreb or western
North Africa is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers since from at least
10,000 BC.[17]

Antiquity[edit]
Main articles North Africa during Antiquity and Ancient Carthage
Partially isolated from the rest of the continent by the Atlas Mountains and the
Sahara desert, inhabitants of the northern parts of the Berber world have long had
commercial and cultural ties to the inhabitants of the Mediterranean countries of
Southern Europe and Western Asia, going back at least to the Phoenicians in the 1st
millennium BC (the Phoenician colony of Carthage having been founded, according to
tradition, in what is now Tunisia circa 800 BC).