Northern Africa (UN subregion)

  geographic, including above

Clockwise from the left:

  Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan

continued from right to left:

  Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitical, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.^[1] Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Libya together are alhhhhhh the Maghreb or Maghrib, while Egypt and Sudan are referred to as Nile Valley, Egypt is a transcontinental country by virtue of the Sinai Peninsula, which is in Asia. North Africa also includes a number of Spanish possessions, Ceuta and Melilla (tiny Spanish exclaves or islets off the coast of Morocco). The Canary Islands and the Portuguese Madeira Islands, in the North Atlantic Ocean northwest of the African mainland, are sometimes included in considerations of the region.^{[citation needed]}

The distinction between Northern Africa and the rest of Africa is historically and ecologically significant because of the effective barrier created by the Sahara. Throughout history this barrier has culturally separated the North from the rest of Africa and, as the seafaring civilizations of the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and others facilitated communication and migration across the Mediterranean, the cultures of North Africa became much more closely tied to Southwestern Asia and Europe than Sub-Saharan Africa. The Islamic influence in the area is significant, and North Africa, along with the Middle East, is a major part of the Arab World.

Some researchers have postulated that North Africa, and not East or South Africa, was the original home of the modern humans who first trekked out of the continent.^[2][3][4]

Geography[link]

North Africa, consisting of the Sahara and north, in the northern red climatic zone and northwards

The Atlas Mountains, which extend across much of Morocco, northern Algeria and Tunisia, are part of the fold mountain system which also runs through much of Southern Europe. They recede to the south and east, becoming a steppe landscape before meeting the Sahara desert which covers more than 75% of the region. The sediments of the Sahara overlie an ancient plateau of crystalline rock, some of which is more than four billion years old.

Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains, the Nile valley and delta, and the Mediterranean coast are the main sources of good farming land. A wide variety of valuable crops including cereals, rice and cotton, and woods such as cedar and cork, are grown. Typical mediterranean crops such as olives, figs, dates and citrus fruits also thrive in these areas. The Nile valley is particularly fertile, and most of population in Egypt and Sudan lives close to the river. Elsewhere, irrigation is essential to improve crop yields on the desert margins.

Territories and regions[link]

Countries and territories	Area (km²)	Population	Density (per km²)	Capital	GDP (Total)	GDP per capita	Currency	Government	Official languages
Algeria	2,381,741	[5]34,994,937	14.5	Algiers	$254.7 billion (2010 est.)[5]	$7,400 (2010 est.)	Algerian dinar	Presidential republic	Arabic (official), Berber (national)
Egypt	1,001,450	80,471,869	80.4	Cairo	$500.9 billion (2010)	$6,200 (2010)	Egyptian pound	Semi-presidential republic	Arabic
Libya	1,759,540	6,461,454	3.7	Tripoli	$89.03 billion (2010)[6]	$13,800 (2010)	Libyan dinar	Provisional authority	Arabic (official), Berber (national)
Morocco	710,850	[7]32,226,056	70.8	Rabat	$153.8 billion (2010)[8]	$4,900 (2010)	Moroccan dirham	Constitutional monarchy	Arabic and Berber (both official)
Sudan	1,886,068	30,894,000	16.4	Khartoum	$98.79 billion (2010) prior to break up[9]	$2,200 (2010)—prior to break-up	Sudanese pound	Federal republic (Authoritarian)	Arabic
Tunisia	163,610	10,589,025	64.7	Tunis	$100.3 billion (2010)[10]	$9,500 (2010)	Tunisian dinar	Republic	Arabic
Western Sahara[11]  Morocco	266,000	[12]320,000	1.2	El Aaiún (Laâyoune) (controlled by Morocco)	$900 million (2007)[13]	$2,500 (2007)	Moroccan dirham	Constitutional monarchy	Arabic and Berber (both official), Hassaniya (recognized)
Total, North Africa	7,904,959	195,637,341	24.7		$1.2 trillion	$5,700
Source: The World Factbook, United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 11 February 2011.[14]

People[link]

Market of Biskra in Algeria, 1899

The inhabitants of North Africa are generally divided in a manner roughly corresponding to the principal geographic regions of North Africa: the Maghreb, the Nile Valley, and the Sahara. Northwest Africa on the whole is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers since before the beginning of recorded history, while the eastern part of North Africa has been home to the Egyptians and Nubians. Ancient Egyptians record extensive contact in their Western desert with people that appear to have been Berber or proto-Berber.

The official language or one of the official languages in all of the countries in North Africa is Arabic. The largest ethnic groups in North Africa are the Arabs and Berbers. North Africa is predominantly Muslim, with Christian and Jewish minorities.

Culture[link]

The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara speak various dialects of Berber and Arabic, and almost exclusively follow Islam. The Arabic and Berber groups of languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afro-Asiatic family. The Sahara dialects are notably more conservative than those of coastal cities (see Tuareg languages). Over the years, Berber peoples have been influenced by other cultures with which they came in contact: Nubians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, and lately Europeans. The cultures of the Maghreb and the Sahara therefore combine indigenous Berber, Arab and elements from neighboring parts of Africa and beyond. In the Sahara, the distinction between sedentary oasis inhabitants and nomadic Bedouin and Tuareg is particularly marked.

The kasbah of Aït Benhaddou in Morocco

The diverse peoples of the Sahara are usually categorized along ethno-linguistic lines. In the Maghreb, where Arab and Berber identities are often integrated, these lines can be blurred. Some Berber-speaking North Africans may identify as "Arab" depending on the social and political circumstances, although substantial numbers of Berbers (or Imazighen) have retained a distinct cultural identity which in the 20th century has been expressed as a clear ethnic identification with Berber history and language. Arabic-speaking Northwest Africans, regardless of ethnic background, often identify with Arab history and culture and may share a common vision with other Arabs. This, however, may or may not exclude pride in and identification with Berber and/or other parts of their heritage. Berber political and cultural activists for their part, often referred to as Berberists, may view all Northwest Africans as principally Berber, whether they are primarily Berber- or Arabic-speaking (see also Arabized Berber).

The Nile Valley through northern Sudan traces its origins to the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Kush. The Egyptians over the centuries have shifted their language from Egyptian to modern Egyptian Arabic, while retaining a sense of national identity that has historically set them apart from other people in the region. Most Egyptians are Sunni Muslim and a significant minority adheres to Coptic Christianity. In Nubia, straddling Egypt and Sudan, a significant population retains the ancient Nubian language but has adopted Islam. The Republic of the Sudan is home to a largely Arab Muslim population, although there remains significant non-Arab (through Muslim) populations in the north (Nubians), west (Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa) and south (Nuba) of Sudan and largely non-Muslim populations in South Sudan.

North Africa formerly had a large Jewish population, almost all of whom emigrated to France or Israel when the North African nations gained independence. A smaller number went to Canada. Prior to the modern establishment of Israel, there were about 600,000-700,000 Jews in Northern Africa, including both Sfardīm (refugees from France, Spain and Portugal from the Renaissance era) as well as indigenous Mizrāḥîm. Today, less than fifteen thousand remain in the region, almost all in Morocco and Tunisia, and are mostly part of a French-speaking urban elite. (See Jewish exodus from Arab lands.)

History[link]

Antiquity and ancient Rome[link]

The first Roman emperor native to North Africa was Septimius Severus, born in Leptis Magna in present-day Libya.

The most notable nations of antiquity in western North Africa are Carthage and Numidia. The Phoenicians colonized much of North Africa including Carthage and parts of present day Morocco (including Chellah, Mogador and Volubilis^[15]). The Carthaginians were of Phoenician origin, with the Roman myth of their origin being that Queen Dido, a Phoenician princess was granted land by a local ruler based on how much land she could cover with a piece of cowhide. She ingeniously devised a method to extend the cowhide to a high proportion, thus gaining a large territory. She was also rejected by the Trojan prince Aeneas according to Virgil, thus creating a historical enmity between Carthage and Rome, as Aeneas would eventually lay the foundations for Rome. The Carthaginians were a commercial power and had a strong navy, but relied on mercenaries for land soldiers. The Carthaginians developed an empire in the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily, the latter being the cause of First Punic War with the Romans.

Over a hundred years and more, all Carthaginian territory was eventually conquered by the Romans, resulting in the Carthaginian North African territories becoming the Roman province of Africa in 146 B.C.^[16] This led to tension and eventually conflict between Numidia and Rome. The Numidian wars are notable for launching the careers of both Gaius Marius, and Sulla, and stretching the constitutional burden of the Roman republic, as Marius required a professional army, something previously contrary to Roman values to overcome the talented military leader Jugurtha.^[17]

North Africa remained a part of the Roman Empire, which produced many notable citizens such as Augustine of Hippo, until incompetent leadership from Roman commanders in the early fifth century allowed the Germanic barbarian tribe, the Vandals, to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, whereupon they overcame the fickle Roman defense. The loss of North Africa is considered a pinnacle point in the fall of the Western Roman Empire as Africa had previously been an important grain province that maintained Roman prosperity despite the barbarian incursions, and the wealth required to create new armies. The issue of regaining North Africa became paramount to the Western Empire, but was frustrated by Vandal victories. The focus of Roman energy had to be on the emerging threat of the Huns. In 468 AD the Romans made one last serious attempt to invade North Africa but were repelled. This perhaps marks the point of terminal decline for the Western Roman Empire. The last Roman emperor was deposed in 476 by the Heruli general Odoacer. Trade routes between Europe and North Africa remained intact until the coming of Islam. Some Berbers were Christians (but evolved their own Donatist doctrine),^[18] some were Jewish, and some adhered to their traditional polytheist religion. African pope Victor I served during the reign of Roman emperor Septimius Severus, of Roman/Berber ancestry.^[19] The Byzantine reconquest of North Africa from the Vandals began in 533 AD, as Justinian I sent his general Belisarius to reclaim the former Roman province of Africa.

Arab conquest to modern times[link]

The Great Mosque of Kairouan, founded by the Arab general Uqba Ibn Nafi in 670 AD, is the oldest and most important mosque in North Africa;^[20] city of Kairouan, Tunisia.

The Arab Islamic conquest reached North Africa in 640 AD. By 670, most of North Africa had fallen to Muslim rule. Indigenous Berbers subsequently started to form their own polities in response in places such as Fez, Morocco, and Sijilimasa. In the eleventh century, a reformist movement made up of members that called themselves Almoravids, expanded south into Sub-Saharan Africa.

The North Africa's populous and flourishing civilization collapsed after exhausting its resources in internal fighting and suffering devastation from the invasion of the Bedouin tribes of Banu Sulaym and Banu Hilal. Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.^[21]

After the Middle Ages the area was loosely under the control of the Ottoman Empire, except Morocco. After the 19th century, the imperial and colonial presence of France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy left the entirety of the region under one form of European occupation.

In World War II from 1940 to 1943 the area was the setting for the North African Campaign. During the 1950s and 1960s all of the North African states gained independence. There remains a dispute over Western Sahara between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front.

In 2010 - 2011 massive protests swept the region leading to the overthrow of the governments in Tunisia and Egypt, as well as civil war in Libya. Large protests also occurred in Algeria and Morocco to a lesser extent. Many hundreds died in the uprisings.^[22]

Transport and industry[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011)

Thousands of people in North Africa depend on date palm trees for a living. Tunisia in 1960

The economies of Algeria and Libya were transformed by the discovery of oil and natural gas reserves in the deserts. Morocco's major exports are phosphates and agricultural produce, and as in Egypt and Tunisia, the tourist industry is essential to the economy. Egypt has the most varied industrial base, importing technology to develop electronics and engineering industries, and maintaining the reputation of its high-quality cotton textiles.

Oil rigs are scattered throughout the deserts of Libya and Algeria. Libyan oil is especially prized because of its low sulphur content, which means it produces much less pollution than other fuel oils.

Recorded Temperature[link]

In 2010, Chad, Niger and Sudan all recorded their hottest all-time temperatures on record. In Chad, the temperature reached 47.6°C (117.7°F) on June 22 in Faya-Largeau, breaking a record set in 1961 at the same location. Niger tied its highest temperature record set in 1998, on also June 22, at 47.1°C (116.78°F) in Bilma. That record was broken the next day, on June 23 when Bilma hit 48.2°C (118.8°F). The hottest temperature recorded in Sudan was reached on June 25, at 49.6°C (121.3°F) in Dongola, breaking a record set in 1987.^[23]

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	Africa portal

• 2004 locust outbreak
• European Digital Archive on Soil Maps of the World
• Northern Africa Railroad Development
• List of modern conflicts in North Africa

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Northern Africa or North Africa

• Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples
• North Africa's Weather Forecasts and Weather Conditions
• North Africa news and analysis
• Africa Interactive Map from the United States Army Africa

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Frank Gaffney

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. (born April 5, 1953 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is the founder and president of the American Center for Security Policy, columnist at the Washington Times, blogger at Big Peace and radio host on Secure Freedom Radio.

Education and career[link]

A 1975 graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University.^{[citation needed]}, Gaffney holds a graduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.^[1]

Gaffney began his public service career in the 1970s, working as an aide in the office of Democratic Senator Henry M. Jackson, under Richard Perle. From August 1983 until November 1987, Gaffney held the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy in the Reagan Administration, again serving under Perle. In April 1987, Gaffney was nominated to the position of US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. He served as the acting Assistant Secretary for seven months,^[2] though his confirmation was ultimately blocked by the United States Senate.

In 1988, Gaffney established the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a neo-conservative national security and defense policy organization. The CSP is subsidized by donors supportive of neo-conservative causes, including the Sarah Mellon Scaife Foundation, the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation and the William H. Donner Foundation.^[3]

Gaffney appeared on FahrenHYPE 9/11, the conservative documentary that was intended as a rebuttal to Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. He is also a regular guest on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" show.

Gaffney was an executive producer for the documentary Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center. The documentary was created to air as part of the America at a Crossroads series on PBS, but it has not been shown. Pbs claimed that the film failed "to meet their standards, " but Gaffney called the decision "censorship."^[4]

Gaffney is the lead author of War Footing (Naval Institute Press, 2005), a collection of essays that "offer ten specific steps that Americans, as individuals and as communities, can take to ensure their way of life and safety and the future well-being of their children and grandchildren."^[5]

He is a founding member of the Set America Free Coalition to reduce dependence on foreign oil and is part of the current iteration of the Committee on the Present Danger.^[6]

Angolan presidential election, 1992[link]

In November 1992, Gaffney's Center for Security Policy organization released a report detailing voter fraud in Angola's presidential election. Election officials stopped registering voters 40 days before the election. Polling stations had identical voting results. The MPLA retained a monopoly on television election-coverage. CSP also found widespread vote buying by the MPLA, the discarding of as many as 25% of casted ballots, and electricity blackouts during voter counting. United Nations special envoy Margaret Anstee said she "had never witnessed a more unfair election, even in Latin America."^[7]

Project for a New American Century[link]

Along with a number of figures who later assumed leading positions in the George W. Bush administration, Gaffney was one of 25 signatories^[8] of the June 3, 1997 "Statement of Principles" from the Project for the New American Century,^[9] an educational and political advocacy organization whose stated goal was "to promote American global leadership."^[10]

Gaffney–Norquist dispute[link]

In 2002, Gaffney publicly accused Grover Norquist, an anti-tax activist and prominent Republican strategist, for alleged ties to radical Islamist groups attempting to influence the Bush Administration. Gaffney said a press release by the American Muslim Council credited Ali Tulbah, a Bush-White House aide, for getting them access to the administration. Norquist banned Gaffney from the weekly "Wednesday Meeting" of the Leave Us Alone Coalition that Norquist hosted. Norquist later wrote an open letter, accusing Gaffney of "racial prejudice, religious bigotry [and] ethnic hatred," calling Gaffney a "sick, little bigot.... His whole life screams of bigotry, and what he said is just part of a pattern.... Frank Gaffney and Osama bin Laden share the same view on the relationship between the United States and Islam. I agree with the president in rejecting Osama bin Laden's and Frank Gaffney's worldview." In 2011, Gaffney accused Norquist of "helping the Muslim Brotherhood spread its influence in the nation's capital."^[11] David Keene, President of the American Conservative Union, later commented on the Gaffney-Norquist dispute, saying, "I, for one, don't see it. If you read the transcript [of the panel], you can see if Frank was right or wrong, but there was nothing racist or bigoted about it." Norquist's comments so angered Keene that he stopped talking to Norquist.^[12]

In a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove dismissed Gaffney's assertions regarding Bush, stating "there's no there there."^[13] In an article appearing in the January 2007 edition of Vanity Fair about neoconservatives who pushed for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Gaffney said of Bush, "He doesn't in fact seem to be a man of principle who's steadfastly pursuing what he thinks is the right course. He talks about it, but the policy doesn't track with the rhetoric, and that's what creates the incoherence that causes us problems around the world and at home."^[14]

U.S. troop deaths in Iraq[link]

On MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Gaffney, commenting on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said, "My position is [that] it is regrettable that any Americans died. It is regrettable that they had to die, but I believe they did have to die. The threat we did know about was the chemical capability that Saddam Hussein had used against his own people. The potential for biological agents were real there was evidence that there was an ongoing nuclear program... The danger was inaction could have resulted in the death[s] of a great many more Americans than 4,000 and that's the reason I'm still delighted that we did what we did."^[15]

Al Jazeera[link]

In 2003, Gaffney called on the United States military to "take out" the Al Jazeera news network for inciting violence against the Western world by showcasing Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein's "calls-to-arms."^[16]

Criticism of Barack Obama[link]

In October 2008, Gaffney questioned whether then Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is a "natural born citizen of the United States" and his legal eligibility to be the President of the United States.^[17]

In a February 2009 Washington Times column, Gaffney accused President Obama of "embracing the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood," a political organization banned in several countries in the Middle East.^[18]

In April 2009, Gaffney appeared on television and accused President Obama of using coded language to indicate that America would submit to Sharia law.^[19]

In a June 9, 2009, Washington Times article Gaffney wrote: "With Mr. Obama's unbelievably ballyhooed address in Cairo Thursday to what he calls 'the Muslim world' ... there is mounting evidence that the president not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself."^[20]

Gaffney continued this theme in on February 24, 2010, in his column on Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment blog, when Gaffney attacked the administration's plans to modernize and update the missile defense program as "US submission to Islam" from "an Alinsky acolyte", citing as evidence the redesigned logo of the Missile Defense Agency.^[21]

"Team Obama’s anti-anti-missile initiatives are not simply acts of unilateral disarmament of the sort to be expected from an Alinsky acolyte. They seem to fit an increasingly obvious and worrying pattern of official U.S. submission to Islam and the theo-political-legal program the latter’s authorities call Shariah.

"What could be code-breaking evidence of the latter explanation is to be found in the newly-disclosed redesign of the Missile Defense Agency logo.... As Logan helpfully shows, the new MDA shield appears ominously to reflect a morphing of the Islamic crescent and star with the Obama campaign logo."

However, Al Kamen reports that the new Missile Defense Agency logo is over three years old and was actually developed during the George Bush administration.^[22]

Saddam Hussein and terrorism[link]

On March 12, 2009, Gaffney appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of being involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing, "There is also circumstantial evidence, not proven by any means, but nonetheless some pretty compelling circumstantial evidence of Saddam Hussein's Iraq being involved with the people who perpetrated both the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and even the Oklahoma City bombing."^[23] No such evidence has ever been shown to exist.

Recent activities[link]

In 2010, Gaffney, along with co-authors such as former deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin and former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, Jr., released a book entitled "Shariah: The Threat to America," published by the Center for Security Policy.^[24] The book "describes what its authors call a 'stealth jihad' that must be thwarted before it's too late" and argues that "most mosques in the United States already have been radicalized, that most Muslim social organizations are fronts for violent jihadists, and that Muslims who practice Sharia law seek to impose it in this country."^[24] According to the Washington Post, "Government terrorism experts call the views expressed in the center's book inaccurate and counterproductive."^[24] In other articles, Gaffney claims that stealth jihad to advance Sharia constitute sedition.^[25]

In early 2011, Gaffney charged that the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) had "come under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is working to bring America under Saudi-style Shariah law."^[11] Gaffney told the conservative website WorldNetDaily that "Islamism has infiltrated the American Conservative Union, the host of CPAC, in the person of Washington attorney and political activist Suhail Khan and a group called Muslims for America.

In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Gaffney testified to support a lawsuit against a planned mosque. The lawsuit alleged that the county zoning board did not give proper notice of a hearing, but during the eight days of the hearing, the judge allowed mosque opponents to introduce unverified claims or inflammatory statements such as that Islam is not a religion and asking a county commissioner if he supported keeping a whip over his bed to beat his wife with. Although Gaffney was currently not a member of any police or intelligence agency and admitted under oath he is not an expert in sharia law or Islam, he testified Islam is a threat to the United States and by extension the mosque was a threat.^{[26][27][28][29]}

In 2012, Gaffney was added to the South Poverty Law Center's "30 New Activists Heading Up the Radical Right", and is considered by the SPLC to be a "top Islamophobe"^[30]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Center for Security Policy: Frank Gaffney
• C-SPAN Q&A interview with Gaffney, June 3, 2007