Culture of North Africa
Overview of the culture of North Africa / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The culture of North Africa encompasses the customs and traditions of art, architecture, music, literature, lifestyle, philosophy, food, politics and religion that have been practiced and maintained by the numerous ethnic groups of North Africa. North Africa encompasses the northern portion of Africa, including a large portion of the Sahara Desert. The region's commonly defined boundaries include Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara, stretching from the Atlantic shores of the Western Sahara in the west, to Egypt's Red Sea coast in the east.[1] The United Nations' definition additionally includes Sudan in the region.[2] The inhabitants of North Africa are roughly divided in a manner corresponding to the principal geographic regions of North Africa: the Maghreb, the Nile valley, and the Sahel.
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The countries of North Africa all have Modern Standard Arabic as their official language, and almost all their inhabitants follow Islam. The most spoken dialects are Maghrebi Arabic, a form of Classical Arabic dating back from the 8th century AD, and Egyptian Arabic. The largest and most numerous ethnic group in North Africa are the Arabs.[3] In Algeria and Morocco, Berbers are the second largest ethnic group after the Arab majority. Arabs constitute 70%[4] to 80%[5] of the population of Algeria, 92%[6]97%[7] of Libya, 67%[8] to 70%[9] of Morocco and 98%[10] of Tunisia's population. The Berbers comprise 20%[11] of Algeria, 10%[12] of Libya, 35%[13] of Morocco and 1%[14] of Tunisia's population.
The region is predominantly Muslim with a Jewish minority in Morocco and Tunisia,[15] and significant Christian minority—the Copts—in Egypt, Algeria,[16][17] Morocco,[18] Libya,[19] and Tunisia.[20] In 2001, the number of Christians in North Africa was estimated at 9 million, the majority of whom live in Egypt, with the remainder live in Maghreb countries.[21][22] North Africa formerly had a large Jewish population, almost all of whom emigrated to France or Israel when the North African nations gained independence. Prior to the modern establishment of Israel, there were about 600,000-700,000 Jews in Northern Africa, including both Sephardi Jews (refugees from France, Spain and Portugal from the Renaissance era) as well as indigenous Mizrahi Jews. Today, fewer 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.)
North Africans share a large amount of their genetic, ethnic, cultural and linguistic identity and influence with the Middle East, a process that began with the Neolithic Revolution c. 10,000 BC and pre Dynastic Egypt. The countries of North Africa are also a major part of the Arab world. The Islamic influence in North Africa is significant, with the region being major part of the Muslim world. North Africa is associated with the Middle East in the realm of geopolitics to form the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region.[23]