North Africa can be divided into two sub-regions: Egypt and the Nile Basin and The Maghreb and its neighbors. Egypt is one of the most populous countries in the Middle East. It is the historic focus of this part of the world and a major political and cultural force. It shares with its southern neighbor, Sudan, the waters of the Nile River. Western North Africa (called the Maghreb) and the areas that border it also form a region, consisting of Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco.
After the death of Muhammed in 632 CE, Arab armies carried Islam thoughout
North Africa. Islamic and Arab culture has had a significant impact
on North Africa. This culture, coupled with the semi-arid and arid climate
of the area, and the presence of oil, makes North Africa more
similar in nature to Southwest Asia than with the black tribal culture of
tropical Sub-Saharan Africa.
The earliest known inhabitants of Algeria were the Berbers. They were followed by the
sea-faring Phoenicians and the Romans who set up colonies along the North
African coast. These colonies were overrun by the Arabs in 7th century CE
and later became part of the Moorish empire. In the 16th century the area
was taken over by the Ottoman Empire. Algiers was a semi-indepenent
Ottoman city-state and home of the Barbary Pirates, who preyed on the merchant
ships in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1839 France launched an invasion and deposed
the Turks and established the French colony of Algeria. Following World War II,
Algeria fought a bloody eight-year war of independence from France. Since 1992,
Algerian citizens and foreigners have been killed by Islamic fundamentalists
who are fighting to oust the secular, military- led government. It is estimated
that since 1992, 60,000 people have been killed ;1,100 people have been killed
in the last year. (Washington Post
Jan. 18, 1998).
The Greek
scholar Herodotus described Egypt as the gift of the Nile, but Egypt was also a
product of natural protection. The middle and lower Nile lie enclosed by
desert, open to the Mediterranean Sea, but otherwise virtually inaccessible to
overland contact. The south, the upstream Nile is interrupted by a series
of cataracts that begin near the present boundary of Egypt and Sudan. To the
northeast, the Sinai Peninsula has always made crossing from southwestern Asia
difficult. To the west, there is the endless Sahara. The ancient
Egyptians thus had a natural fortress and were able to convert this isolation
and protection into progress.
In 642 CE, Arab conquerors imposed Arabic and Islam on the country and in
1517 the Ottomans seized control, which eventually led to the economic and
cultural decline of Egypt. This debt gradually led to British control in
1882. Egypt achieved independence under a constitutional
monarchy in 1922.
In 1952 the monarchy was overthrown and in 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser became President of
Egypt. With Soviet funding he began building the Aswan High Dam, and in
1955 he nationalized the Suez Canal and was able to defeat an invasion by
Britain, France, and Israel who tried to prevent the nationalization of the
canal. Nasser however lost the Sinai Peninsula to Israel in the 1967 Six Day
War.
Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat pursued
friendlier relations with the West and in 1979 signed the Camp David Accord, a peace treaty with
Israel which returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. Egypt became an outcast of
the Arab world for its recognition of the State of Israel and Sadat was
assassinated by his own troops.
Sadat's successor, Hosni Mubarak, has tried
to maintain good relations with the West while pursuing recognition of
Palestinian rights in Israel.
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EGYPT AT A GLANCE *
LAND: Egypt is in northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Gaza Strip. The Nile River, the longest river in the world, has brought fertile alluvial soil to a narrow valley of Egypt that cuts through the surrounding desert. Without the Nile Egypt would be almost entirely desert except for scattered oases. This narrow valley houses 99% of the population of Egypt. CAPITAL: The capital of Egypt is Cairo, the largest city in Africa and in the Middle East. Cairo is the home of more than a fourth of all Egyptians. Alexandria, Cairo's neighbor to the north is Egypt's second largest city. It was founded in 332 BCE by Alexander the Great. Today, it is Egypt's major port city. PEOPLE: population:
71,931,000. 99% of the population is of Eastern Hamitic descent:
Egyptian, Berber and Bedouin. The
official language is Arabic but English and French are also spoken. Almost
half of all Egyptians live in rural areas with most of them living in crowded
villages along the Nile. The rural villagers are peasant farmers called
fellahin. ECONOMY: Petroleum from the Gulf of Suez and the Sinai Peninsula account for more than half the value of Egypt's exports. Egypt exports one-third of the world's cotton. Egypt's massive foreign debt is a major concern. The government is heavily dependent on aid from the United States. Revenues from tourism have decreased appreciably since the later part of the 1980's especially since the rise of Islamic militants who have targeted and killed tourist groups in the country. GOVERNMENT: Egypt is a republic. Since 1971 Egypt has been a single-party republic. Its Head of State is president Hosni Mubarak, who has been in office since 1981. GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES: Egypt and Sudan dispute a boundary of barren territory known as the Halaib Triangle. Tensions over this disputed area began to escalate in 1992 and remain high. The building of the Suez Canal in 1869 gave Egypt a strategic importance, as it is the shortest sea link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt also controls the Sinai Peninsula, which is the land bridge between Africa and Asia and juxtaposes Egypt with Israel. * Statistics from the 2004 World Almanac |
In the 7th century BCE Tripolitania (the northwestern region of Libya ) was an eastern province of the Carthaginian empire and Cyrenaica (the northeastern region of Libya) was a Greek colony. In the first century, the Romans conquered both areas, and when the Arabs invaded in the 7th century CE, the whole of this part of Northern Africa was part of the eastern Byzantine Empire. It became a haven for pirates who raided ships in the Mediterranean. In the 16th century the Turkish Sultan annexed the whole area into the Ottoman empire. The Italians invaded the country in 1911 but failed to win full control of the interior until 1939. During World War II, the Italians were ejected from the country and an independent kingdom was created in 1951. In 1969, the monarchy was overthrown in a coup led by Muammar Gadhafi who broke Libyan ties with Britain and the United States. Gadhafi openly supported terrorist organizations and in April of 1986, the U.S. sent warplanes to attack terrorist targets in Libya. Libyan agents were responsible for planting the bomb that led to the explosion of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. In December of 2003, Gadafi agreed to dismantle his secret unconventional-weapons program in exchange for improved relations with the West.
Libya has very limited natural fresh water resources; the Great Manmade River
Project, the largest water development project in the world, is being built to
bring water from large aquifers under the Sahara to coastal cities.
Morocco like the rest
of North Africa's Mediterranean countries, was a former Carthaginian and later
Roman province that was overrun in the 7th Century CE by Muslim Arabs.
However, in the 11th century, the indigenous people, the Berbers, established their own
empires. The 19th century was a time of weak rule and war between the
Berbers and France as it extended it influence into Morocco. In 1896
Spain took over much of Morocco's Saharan territory, and in 1912 Morocco was
made a French protectorate though Spain kept control of areas in the north and
south. Morocco became independent from France in 1956.
Tunisia was
part of the Carthaginian then Roman Empires. It was overrun by Muslim
Arabs in the 7th Century and then incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the
16th Century. France seized control of Tunisia in 1881. Tunisia
gained its independence in 1957.
Throughout its
history Sudan has been divided between its Arab North and African South.
Northern Sudan was known as Kush by the ancient Egyptians and very early
contact was made between the original Nubian inhabitants of Sudan and the
Egyptians, owing mainly to sharing of the Nile River. Arab-Mulsim
conquest and rule in the 15th century brought political unity, economic wealth,
and educational development to the urban areas of northern Sudan; Blacks in the
southern section were carried off by Arabs to be sued as salves. An
uprising in the latter half of the 1880s led to British involvement in the
area. On January 1, 1956 the independent Republic of Sudan came into
being along with a multitude of political, social, and economic problems.
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Arabian Peninsula 
The Fertile Crescent 
Non-Arab North
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