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Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara Desert from Sub-Saharan Africa.
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The most important travel destinations in Northern Africa are Egypt , Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria .
Egypt is an important destination primarily because of the Great Pyramids and other remains from ancient Egypt and the Nile.
Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria , all have holiday resorts on the Mediterranean coast and other tourist attractions such as spice markets and bazaars.
Northern Africa includes the following countries: Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan and Western Sahara.
Sometimes Ethiopia, Eritrea and Mauritania are also considered part of this region.
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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 90% of the region.
Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains, the Nile valley and delta, and the Mediterranean coast are the main sources of good farming land.
Many North African nomads, such as the Bedouin, maintain a traditional pastoral lifestyle on the desert fringes, moving their herds of sheep, goats and camels from place to place.
In the past contact between Northern Africa and the sub-Saharan Africa was limited almost exclusively to trade along the eastern and western coasts of the continent and to travel up and down the Nile, due to the difficulty in crossing the desert. This remained the case until after the time af the Arabic expansion and the spread of Islam. Genetically, North Africans are about 80% Caucasoid people with ancient Middle Eastern origion and are considered as white Africans. But today the mixing with black Africans is growing because many Africans are migrating north.
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Map of Africa |
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