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| − | [[Image:Algiers coast.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The Algerian bay (view from the west).]]
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| − | [[Image:Tunis.png|thumb|200px|right|Night view from [[Tunis]]]]
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| − | [[Image:Marrakech - outlook.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Marrakech, Atlas view.]]
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| − | [[Image:MoroccoEssaouira harbor.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The port of [[Essaouira]] in Morocco]]
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| − | The '''Maghreb''' (المغرب العربي {{unicode|''al-Maġrib al-ʿArabī}}''; also rendered ''[[Maghrib (disambiguation)|Maghrib]]'' (or rarely ''Moghreb''), meaning "place of set" or "[[west]]ern" in Arabic, is the region of [[Africa]] north of the [[Sahara]] Desert and west of the [[Nile]] — specifically, coinciding with the [[Atlas Mountains]]. Geopolitically, the area is reckoned to include [[Morocco]], [[Western Sahara]], [[Algeria]], [[Tunisia]], [[Libya]], and sometimes [[Mauritania]] (which is often placed in [[West Africa]] instead) - put more simply, the member states of the [[Arab Maghreb Union]] plus the Western Sahara. An inhabitant or thing of the Maghreb is called a '''Maghrebian''' or '''Maghrebi'''.
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| − | ==Etymology==
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| − | The word ''maghreb'' is an Arabic term literally meaning "place of setting (of the [[sun]])", and hence "West." It derives from the root ''ghuroob'', meaning "to set" or "to be hidden" (however, it is not used to refer to the setting of the [[moon]]). It is also used in a manner similar to the [[metaphor]]ical use "to be eclipsed", which is used in English.
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| − | In Arabic but not in English, ''Al Maghreb'' commonly refers to Morocco: the full Arabic name of Morocco (''Al Mamlakah al Maghribīyah'') translates to "the Western Kingdom". Historically, Morocco was called ''Al Maghreb al Aqşá'' ("the Furthest West"). The English name comes from ''Marueccos'' an early [[Spanish language|Spanish]] pronounciation for [[Marrakesh]].
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| − | ==Culture and roots==
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| − | Maghrebis are of mixed origins. They are mainly of [[Berber people|Berber]] and/or [[Arab]] origins; the resulting mix is sometimes (particularly in Mauritania) termed [[Moorish]]. The [[Trans-Saharan trade]] brought in numerous [[West Africa]]ns, whose average contribution to the population increases as one goes south. In the northern coastal towns, conversely, several waves of European immigrants have influenced the population - notably [[Morisco]]s, Spanish Muslims who fled the [[Reconquista]], Turks who came over with the [[Ottoman Empire]], and French, Italians, Spanish, and others captured by the [[Privateer|corsairs]]. [[Jew]]ish communities have historically been present in the older cities, and have contributed to the wider gene pool through conversion. In Algeria especially, a large European minority, the "[[pied noir]]s", immigrated under French colonial rule; the overwhelming majority of these, however, left immediately following independence.
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| − | [[Berber languages]] are almost exclusively spoken in the Maghreb, and were originally spoken throughout it. The [[Maghreb Arabic|Arabic dialects of the Maghreb]] share many common characteristics (like a first person singular present with ''n-'') that set them apart from the dialects of the Middle East and most of Egypt. The Maghreb traditionally used a specifically western variant of the [[Arabic alphabet]], notably distinguished by placing a dot underneath ''fa'' and a single one above ''qaf''; this has largely gone out of use since the late twentieth century.
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| − | The Maghreb largely shares a common culinary tradition; indeed, it was jocularly defined by [[Habib Bourguiba]] as the part of North Africa where [[couscous]] is the staple food.
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| − | The region is almost entirely [[Muslim]] in religion, following the [[Sunni]] [[Maliki]] school, although small [[Ibadi]] communities remain in some areas. A strong tradition of venerating [[marabout]]s and saint's tombs is found throughout the region, still commemmorated by the proliferation of "[[Sidi]]"'s on any map of the region, though this tradition has substantially decreased over the twentieth century. A network of [[zaouia]]s traditionally helped proliferate basic literacy and knowledge of Islam in rural regions.
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| − | The traditional city architecture of the region is exemplified by numerous [[casbah]]s, old towns with whitewashed walls, narrow streets, multi-storey apartments built of stone, wood, and mud.
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| − | ==History==
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| − | From the end of the [[Ice Age]], when the [[Sahara]] Desert dried up, contact between the Maghreb and [[sub-Saharan Africa]] was extremely limited by the difficulty in crossing the desert. This remained the case until after the time of the Arab expansion and the spread of [[Islam]]; even then, [[trans-Saharan trade]] was restricted to costly (but often profitable) caravan expeditions, trading such goods as salt, gold, ivory, and [[Islamic slave trade|slaves]].
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| − | Originally, the Maghreb was inhabited by "[[Caucasoid]]" Cro-Magnoids ([[Iberomaurusian]]s) in the north and by "[[Black people|Black]]" peoples in the Sahara. Later, about 8000 B.C.E., there came from the east "Caucasoid" speakers of northern [[Afro-Asiatic languages]] such as Berber at least since the [[Capsian culture]].
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| − | Many ports along the Maghreb coast were occupied by [[Phoenicia|Phoenician]]s, particularly Carthaginians; with the defeat of [[Carthage]], many of these ports naturally passed to [[Rome]], and ultimately it took control of the entire Maghreb north of the Atlas Mountains, apart from some of the most mountainous regions like the Moroccan [[Rif]].
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| − | The Arabs reached the Maghreb in early [[Umayyad]] times, but their control over it was quite weak, and various Islamic "heresies" such as the Ibadis and the [[Shia]], adopted by some Berbers, quickly threw off [[Caliph|Caliphal]] control in the name of their interpretations of Islam. The Arabic language became widespread only later, as a result of the invasion of the [[Banu Hilal]] (unleashed, ironically, by the Berber [[Fatimid]]s in punishment for their [[Zirid]] clients' defection) in the 1100s. Throughout this period, the Maghreb fluctuated between occasional unity (as under the [[Almohad]]s, and briefly under the [[Hafsid]]s) and more commonly division into three states roughly corresponding to modern Morocco, western Algeria, and eastern Algeria and [[Tunisia]].
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| − | After the Middle Ages, the area east of Morocco was loosely under the control of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. After the 19th century, it was colonized by [[France]], [[Spain]] and later [[Italy]].
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| − | Today over two and a half million Maghrebins live in France, especially from Algeria, as well as many more French of Maghrebin origin.
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| − | == Maghribi traders in Jewish history ==
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| − | In the tenth century, as the social and political environment in [[Baghdad]] became increasingly hostile to Jews, many Jewish traders there left for the Maghrib, [[Tunisia]] in particular. Over the following two (three?) centuries, a distinctive social group of traders throughout the Mediterranean World became known as the Maghribis, passing on this identification from father to son.
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| − | Source: [[Avner Greif]], "[[Contract]] Enforceability and Economic Institutions in Early Trade: The Maghribi Traders' Coalition," [[American Economic Review]] 82: 128 ([[1994]]).
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| − | ==Modern territories of the Maghreb==
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| − | * [[Algeria]]
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| − | * ''[[Ceuta]]'' (a city in Spain)
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| − | * [[Libya]]
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| − | * [[Mauritania]]
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| − | * ''[[Melilla]]'' (a city in Spain)
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| − | * [[Morocco]]
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| − | * [[Tunisia]]
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| − | * [[Western Sahara]]
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| − | ==Medieval regions of the Maghreb==
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| − | * [[Ifriqiya]]
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| − | * [[Djerid]]
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| − | * [[Sus]]/[[Sousse]]
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| − | * [[Zab]]
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| − | * [[Hodna]]
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| − | * [[Rif]]
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| − | * [[Maghreb al-Awsat]] (Central Maghreb)
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| − | * [[Morocco]] (Maghreb al-Aqsa)
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| − | * [[Tamesna]]
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| − | * [[Tripolitania]]
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| − | ==See also==
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| − | * [[Arab Maghreb Union]]
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| − | * [[Barbary Coast]]
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| − | * [[Berber]]
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| − | * [[Moors]]
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| − | * [[History of Algeria]]
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| − | * [[Maghreb toponymy]]
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| − | * [[North Africa]]
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| − | * [[Tamazgha]]
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| − | * [[Mashreq]]
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| − | * [[Northwest Africa]]
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| − | * [[Maghrebi script]]
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| − | * [[Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)]]
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| − | * [[African Jew]]
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| − | {{Regions of the world}}
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| − | ==Links==
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| − | * [http://maghrebi-studies.nitle.org/ literature, cinema and music of the Maghreb]
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| − | * [http://www.magharebia.com News and Views of the Maghreb]
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| − | [[Category:Maghreb| ]]
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| − | [[Category:North Africa]]
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| − | [[Category:Muslim history]]
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| − | [[ar:مغرب عربي]]
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| − | [[bg:Магреб]]
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| − | [[ca:Magrib]]
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| − | [[cs:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[cy:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[da:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[de:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[es:Mágreb]]
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| − | [[eo:Magrebo]]
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| − | [[fr:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[gl:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[hr:Magreb]]
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| − | [[is:Magreb]]
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| − | [[it:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[he:מגרב]]
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| − | [[lt:Magribas]]
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| − | [[hu:Magreb]]
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| − | [[nl:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[ja:マグリブ]]
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| − | [[no:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[pl:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[pt:Magrebe]]
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| − | [[ru:Магриб]]
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| − | [[sl:Magreb]]
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| − | [[sr:Магреб]]
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| − | [[fi:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[sv:Maghreb]]
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| − | [[tr:Magrip]]
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