North Africa

North Africa is a group of Mediterranean countries 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 Morocco, Algeria, 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 Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, as well as Libya, Sudan, and Egypt. The term “North Africa”, when commonly 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 in the Middle East

The countries of North Africa share a common ethnic, cultural and linguistic identity that is unique to this region. North west Africa has been inhabited by Berbers since the beginning of recorded history, while the eastern part of North Africa has been home to the Egyptians. Following the Muslim conquest in the seventh century C.E., the region underwent a process of Arabization and Islamization that has defined its cultural landscape ever since.