View source for Place:Maghreb

{{Short description|Major region of North Africa; western half of Arab world}}
{{Infobox
| bodyclass        = geography
| above            = Maghreb<br>{{lang|ar|المغرب}}
| image            = [[File:Maghreb (orthographic projection).svg|250px]]
| label1           = Countries and territories
| data1            = {{plainlist|
* Algeria
* [[Place:Libya|Libya]]
* Mauritania
* Morocco
* Tunisia
* Western Sahara (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic)
}}
| label2           = Major regional organizations
| data2            = African Union, Arab League, [[Organization:Arab Maghreb Union|Arab Maghreb Union]], COMESA, [[Organization:Community of Sahel-Saharan States|Community of Sahel-Saharan States]], Union for the Mediterranean
| label3           = Population
| data3            = 105,095,436 (2021*)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html |title=COUNTRY COMPARISON :: POPULATION |website=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en |access-date=6 August 2018 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927165947/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| label4           = Population density
| data4            = {{#expr:101095436/6045741 round 2}}/km<sup>2</sup>
| label5           = Area
| data5            = {{convert|6,045,741|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}
| label6           = GDP PPP
| data6            = $1.299 trillion (2020)
| label7           = GDP PPP per capita
| data7            = $12,628 (2020)
| label8           = GDP nominal
| data8            = $382.780 billion (2020)
| label9           = GDP nominal per capita
| data9            = $3,720 (2020)
| label10          = Languages
| data10           = {{plainlist|
*[[Social:Arabic|Arabic]] (Maghrebi Arabic)
*Berber languages
*[[Social:French language|French]]
*[[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]]
*Haketia
*Korandje
}}
| label11          = Religion
| data11           = Sunni Islam, [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] and [[Religion:Judaism|Judaism]]
| label12          = Time Zones
| label15          = [[ISO 3166|ISO 3166 code]]
| data15           = 
}}
The '''Maghreb''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ʌ|ɡ|r|ə|b}}; {{lang-ar|المغرب|al-Maghrib|lit=the west}}), also known as the '''Arab Maghreb''' ({{lang-ar|المغرب العربي}}) and '''Northwest Africa''',<ref>[http://www.english-for-students.com/Northwest-Africa.html English for Students: Northwest Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721192413/http://www.english-for-students.com/Northwest-Africa.html |date=21 July 2018 }} english-for-students.com</ref> is the western part of the [[Place:Arab world|Arab world]]. The region comprises western and central [[Place:North Africa|North Africa]], including Algeria, [[Place:Libya|Libya]], Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb also includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara (controlled mostly by Morocco and partly by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic). As of 2018, the region had a population of over 100 million people.

The Maghreb is usually defined as encompassing much of the northern part of Africa, including a large portion of the Sahara Desert, but excluding [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]] and Sudan, which are considered to be located in the [[Place:Mashriq|Mashriq]] — the eastern part of the Arab world. The traditional definition of the Maghreb — which restricted its scope to the Atlas Mountains and the coastal plains of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya — was expanded in modern times to include Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. During the era of Al-Andalus on the [[Place:Iberian Peninsula|Iberian Peninsula]] (711–1492), the Maghreb's inhabitants — the Muslim Maghrebis — were known by Europeans as the "Moors".<ref>"The Moors were simply Maghrebis, inhabitants of the Maghreb, the western part of the Islamic world, that extends from Spain to Tunisia, and represents a homogeneous cultural entity", [[Biography:Titus Burckhardt|Titus Burckhardt]], ''Moorish Culture in Spain''. Suhail Academy. 1997, p.7</ref> The Greeks referred to the region as the "Land of the Atlas", referring to its Atlas Mountains.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Amin |first1=Samir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8yBzAAAAMAAJ |title=The Maghreb in the modern world: Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco |date=1970 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780140410297 |page=10 |access-date=27 August 2017 |archive-date=30 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730170922/https://books.google.com/books?id=8yBzAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Before the establishment of modern nation states in the region during the 20th century, the ''Maghreb'' most commonly referred to a smaller area, between the [[Place:Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean Sea]] and the Atlas Mountains in the south. It often also included the territory of eastern Libya, but not modern Mauritania. As recently as the late 19th century, the term "Maghreb" was used to refer to the western Mediterranean region of coastal North Africa in general, and to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in particular.<ref name=Reclus>Elisée Reclus, ''Africa'', edited by A. H. Keane, B. A., Vol. II, North-West Africa, Appleton and company, 1880, New York, p.95</ref>

During the rule of the Berber kingdom of [[History:Numidia|Numidia]], the region was somewhat unified as an independent political entity. This period was followed by one of the Roman Empire's rule or influence. The Germanic Vandals invaded after that, followed by the equally brief re-establishment of a weak Roman rule by the [[Place:Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Empire]]. The Islamic caliphates came to power under the [[Place:Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad Caliphate]], the [[Place:Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid Caliphate]] and the [[Religion:Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid Caliphate]]. The most enduring rule was that of the local Arab empires of the Aghlabids, Idrisids, Salihids, Sulaymanids, Umayyads of Cordoba, Hammudids, Nasrids, Saadians, Alawites and the Sennusids, as well as the Berber empires of the Ifranids, [[Place:Almoravid dynasty|Almoravids]], [[Place:Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]], Hammadids, Zirids, Marinids, Zayyanids, Hafsids and Wattasids, extending from the 8th to 13th centuries. The [[Place:Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]] also controlled parts of the region for a period.
 	
Centuries of Arab migration to the Maghreb since the 7th century shifted the demographic scope of the Maghreb in favor of the Arabs. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the region was ruled by European powers: France (Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania and most of Morocco), Spain (northern Morocco and Western Sahara), and Italy (Libya). Italy was expelled from North Africa by the Allies in [[Social:World War II|World War II]]. Decolonization of the region continued in the decades thereafter, with violent conflicts such as the Algerian War, the Ifni War and the Western Sahara War.

Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia established the [[Organization:Arab Maghreb Union|Arab Maghreb Union]] in 1989 to promote cooperation and [[Finance:Economic integration|economic integration]] in a common market. The union implicitly included Western Sahara under Morocco's membership.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maghrebarabe.org/en/uma.cfm |title=L'Union du Maghreb arabe |access-date=17 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420050932/http://www.maghrebarabe.org/en/uma.cfm |archive-date=20 April 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, this progress was short-lived, and the union is now largely dormant. Tensions between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara re-emerged, reinforced by the unresolved border dispute between the two countries. These two conflicts have hindered progress on the union's joint goals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bartelby.com/65/ma/Maghreb.html |title=Maghreb |access-date=11 July 2007 |website=The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001–05. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091501/http://www.bartelby.com/65/ma/Maghreb.html |archive-date=29 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Terminology==
The toponym ''maghrib'' is a geographical term that the Muslim Arabs gave to the region extending from [[Place:Alexandria|Alexandria]] in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Etymologically it means both "the western place/land" and "the place where the sun sets". It is composed of the prefix ''ma−'', which makes a noun out of the verb [[Social:Root (linguistics)|root]], and ''gharaba'' ({{lang|ar|غرب}}, "to set", as in "setting sun"), from the gh-r-b root ({{lang|ar|غ-ر-ب}}).{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

Muslim historians and geographers divided the region into three areas: ''al-Maghrib al-Adna'' (the near Maghrib), which included the lands extending from [[Place:Alexandria|Alexandria]] to Tarabulus (modern-day [[Place:Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]) in the west; ''al-Maghrib al-Awsat'' (the middle Maghrib), which extended from Tripoli to Bijaya (Béjaïa); and ''al-Maghrib al-Aqsa'' (the far Maghrib), which extended from Tahart (Tiaret) to the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name="HareirMbaye2011">{{cite book|author1= Idris El Hareir|author2= Ravane Mbaye|title= The Spread of Islam Throughout the World|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qVYT4Kraym0C&pg=PA375|year= 2011|publisher= UNESCO|isbn= 978-92-3-104153-2|pages= 375–376}}</ref> They disagreed, however, over the definition of the eastern boundary. Some authors place it at the sea of Kulzum (the Red Sea) and thus include [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]] and the country of Barca in the Maghrib. [[Biography:Ibn Khaldun|Ibn Khaldun]] does not accept this definition because, he says, the inhabitants of the Maghreb do not consider Egypt and Barca as forming part of Maghrib. The latter commences only at the province of [[Place:Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] and includes the districts of which the country of the Berbers was composed in former times. Later Maghribi writers repeated the definition of Ibn Khaldun, with a few variations in details.<ref name="Blichfeldt1985">{{cite book|author= Jan-Olaf Blichfeldt|title= Early Mahdism: Politics and Religion in the Formative Period of Islam|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QJU3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1184|year= 1985|publisher= Brill Archive|pages= 1183–1184|isbn= 9789004078376|id= GGKEY:T7DEYT42F5R}}</ref>

The term Maghrib is used in opposition to [[Place:Mashriq|Mashriq]] in a sense near to that which it had in medieval times, but it also denotes simply Morocco when the full ''al-Maghrib al-Aqsa'' is abbreviated. Certain politicians seek a political union of the North African countries, which they call ''al-Maghrib al-Kabir'' (the grand Maghrib) or ''al-Maghrib al-Arabi'' (the Arab Maghrib).<ref name="Blichfeldt1985" /><ref name="Suliman1987">{{cite book|author= Hassan Sayed Suliman|title= The Nationalist Movements in the Maghrib: A Comparative Approach|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SsRwAAAAMAAJ|year= 1987|publisher= Scandinavian Institute of African Studies|isbn= 978-91-7106-266-6|page= 8}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Ida Ou Nadif head ornament (19th century).jpg|thumb|Maghreb head ornament (Morocco)]]

===Prehistory===
{{main|History:Prehistoric North Africa}}
Around 3,500 BC, changes in the tilt of the [[Astronomy:Earth's orbit|Earth's orbit]] appear to have caused a rapid [[Earth:Desertification|desertification]] of the Sahara region<ref>[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.htm Sahara's Abrupt Desertification Started by Changes in Earth's Orbit, Accelerated by Atmospheric and Vegetation Feedbacks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307060153/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.htm |date=7 March 2014 }}, ''Science Daily.'' "One of the most striking climate changes of the past 11,000 years caused the abrupt desertification of the Saharan and Arabia regions midway through that period. The resulting loss of the Sahara to agricultural pursuits may be an important reason that civilizations were founded along the valleys of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. German scientists, employing a new climate system model, have concluded that this desertification was initiated by subtle changes in the Earth's orbit and strongly amplified by resulting atmospheric and vegetation feedbacks in the subtropics."</ref> forming a natural barrier that severely limited contact between the Maghreb and [[Place:Sub-Saharan Africa|sub-Saharan Africa]]. The Berber people have inhabited western North Africa since at least 10,000 BC.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0810864908 ''Historical Dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen)''], by Hsain Ilahiane, (2006), p. 112. Quote: "The Siwan people are mostly Berbers, the indigenous people who once roamed the North African coast between Tunisia and Morocco. They inhabited the area as early as 10,000 B.C., first moving toward the coast but later inland as conquering powers pushed them to take refuge in the desert."
</ref>

===Antiquity===
[[File:Romtrireme.jpg|thumb|Roman trireme on a mosaic in the Bardo Museum, Tunisia]]
Partially isolated from the rest of the continent by the Atlas Mountains (stretching from present-day Morocco to present-day Tunisia) and by the Sahara desert, inhabitants of the northern parts of the Maghreb have long had commercial and cultural ties across the Mediterranean Sea to the inhabitants of the regions of [[Place:Southern Europe|Southern Europe]] and [[Place:Western Asia|Western Asia]]. These trade relations date back at least to the Phoenicians in the 1st millennium BC. (According to tradition, the Phoenicians founded their colony of Carthage  (in present-day Tunisia) {{circa | 800 BC}}).

Phoenicians and Carthaginians arrived for trade. The main Berber and Phoenician settlements centered in the Gulf of Tunis (Carthage, Utica, Tunisia) along the North African littoral, between the [[Unsolved:Pillars of Hercules|Pillars of Hercules]] and the Libyan coast east of ancient [[Place:Cyrenaica|Cyrenaica]]. They dominated the trade and intercourse of the Western Mediterranean for centuries. Rome's defeat of Carthage in the Punic Wars (264 to 146 BC) enabled Rome to establish the Province of Africa (146 BC) and to control many of these ports. Rome eventually took control of the entire Maghreb north of the Atlas Mountains. Rome was greatly helped by the defection of Massinissa (later King of Numidia, {{reign | 202 | 148 BC}}) and of Carthage's eastern Numidian [[History:Massylii|Massylii]] client-allies. Some of the most mountainous regions, such as the Moroccan [[Place:Rif|Rif]], remained outside Roman control. Furthermore, during the rule of the Romans, Byzantines, Vandals and Carthaginians the Kabyle people were the only or one of the few in North Africa who remained independent.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4CfBKvsiWeQC&pg=PA156|title=The Middle East and North Africa 2003|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9781857431322|via=Google Books|access-date=15 April 2022|archive-date=15 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315191214/https://books.google.com/books?id=4CfBKvsiWeQC&pg=PA156|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=83koAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA118|title=Sketches of Algeria During the Kabyle War|first=Hugh Mulleneux|last=Walmsley|date=10 April 1858|publisher=Chapman and Hall|via=Google Books|access-date=15 April 2022|archive-date=15 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315191255/https://books.google.com/books?id=83koAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA118|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqF8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT167|title=The Kabyle People|first=Glora M.|last=Wysner|date=30 January 2013|publisher=Read Books Ltd|isbn=9781447483526|via=Google Books|access-date=15 April 2022|archive-date=15 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315191234/https://books.google.com/books?id=wqF8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT167|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pv80AQAAMAAJ&q=Kabylia|title=The Encyclopedia Americana|date=10 April 1990|publisher=Grolier|isbn=9780717201211|via=Google Books|access-date=15 April 2022|archive-date=15 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315191229/https://books.google.com/books?id=pv80AQAAMAAJ&q=Kabylia|url-status=live}}</ref> The Kabyle people were incredibly resistible so much so that even during the Arab conquest of North Africa they still had control and possession over their mountains.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GI5CAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA45|title=The art journal London|date=10 April 1865|publisher=Virtue|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JU5CAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA93|title=The Barbary Coast|first=Henry Martyn|last=Field|date=10 April 1893|publisher=C. Scribner's Sons|via=Google Books|access-date=15 April 2022|archive-date=15 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315191254/https://books.google.com/books?id=JU5CAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA93|url-status=live}}</ref>

The pressure put on the [[Place:Western Roman Empire|Western Roman Empire]] by the Barbarian invasions (notably by the Vandals and Visigoths in Iberia) in the 5th century AD reduced Roman control and led to the establishment of the [[Place:Vandal Kingdom|Vandal Kingdom]] of North Africa in 430 A.D., with its capital at Carthage. A century later, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent (533) a force under General Belisarius that succeeded in destroying the Vandal Kingdom in 534. Byzantine rule lasted for 150 years. The Berbers contested the extent of Byzantine control.<ref>{{cite book
 | last1 = Stapleton
 | first1 = Timothy J.
 | chapter = North Africa to ca. 1870
 | title = A Military History of Africa
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XvtDAgAAQBAJ
 | volume = 1: The Precolonial Period: From Ancient Egypt to the Zulu Kingdom (Earliest Times to ca. 1870)
 | location = Santa Barbara, California
 | publisher = ABC-CLIO
 | date = 2013
 | pages = 17–18
 | isbn = 9780313395703
 | access-date = 20 September 2020
 | archive-date = 30 July 2023
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230730170923/https://books.google.com/books?id=XvtDAgAAQBAJ
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref>

After the [[Social:Spread of Islam|advent of Islam]] in Mediterranean Africa in the period from 639 to 700 AD, Arabs took control of the entire Maghreb region.

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Kairouan Mosque Courtyard.jpg|thumb|The Great Mosque of Kairouan, founded by the Arab general Uqba Ibn Nafi (in 670), is the oldest mosque in the Maghreb city of Kairouan, Tunisia.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DBqId4J_sIAC&q=kairouan+oldest+mosque+maghreb&pg=PA128|title=Art of Islam: Language and Meaning|first=Titus|last=Burckhardt|date=24 July 2009|publisher=World Wisdom, Inc|isbn=9781933316659|via=Google Books|access-date=18 October 2020|archive-date=30 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730170923/https://books.google.com/books?id=DBqId4J_sIAC&q=kairouan+oldest+mosque+maghreb&pg=PA128|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

The Arabs reached the Maghreb in early Umayyad times in the 7th century, and from then the Arab migration to the Maghreb began. Islamic Berber kingdoms such as the Almohads expansion and the spread of [[Religion:Islam|Islam]] contributed to the development of trans-Saharan trade. In addition, several Arab dynasties formed in the Maghreb region, such as the Idrisids, Aghlabids, Sulaymanids and more. While restricted due to the cost and dangers, the trade was highly profitable. Commodities traded included such goods as salt, gold, ivory, and slaves. Various Islamic variations, such as the Ibadis and the Shia, were adopted by some Berbers, often leading to scorning of Caliphal control in favour of their own interpretation of Islam.

The invasion of the [[Place:Banu Hilal|Banu Hilal]] and Banu Sulaym Arabs in the 11th century played a major role in spreading Bedouin Arabic to rural areas such as the countryside and steppes, and as far as the southern areas near the Sahara.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Duri |first=A. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32sBxqIgcZMC&pg=PA71 |title=The Historical Formation of the Arab Nation (RLE: the Arab Nation) |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-62286-8 |pages=70–74 |language=en |access-date=31 May 2023 |archive-date=30 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530120513/https://books.google.com/books?id=32sBxqIgcZMC&pg=PA71 |url-status=live }}</ref> It also heavily transformed the culture in the Maghreb into Arab culture, and spread Bedouin nomadism in areas where agriculture was previously dominant.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=el-Hasan |first=Hasan Afif |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zr2XDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |title=Killing the Arab Spring |date=2019-05-01 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=978-1-62894-349-8 |pages=82 |language=en |access-date=31 May 2023 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719164211/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zr2XDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |url-status=live }}</ref> These Bedouin tribes accelerated and deepened the Arabization process, since the Berber population was gradually [[Social:Cultural assimilation|assimilated]] by the newcomers and had to share with them pastures and seasonal migration paths. By around the 15th century, the region of modern-day Tunisia had already been almost completely Arabized.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holes |first=Clive |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzRtDwAAQBAJ |title=Arabic Historical Dialectology: Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches |date=2018-08-30 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-100506-0 |pages=42 |language=en |access-date=31 May 2023 |archive-date=30 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730171038/https://books.google.com/books?id=pzRtDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> As Arab nomads spread, the territories of the local Berber tribes were moved and shrank. The Zenata were pushed to the west and the Kabyles were pushed to the north. The Berbers took refuge in the mountains whereas the plains were Arabized.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Farida |first1=Benouis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kmaWEAAAQBAJ |title=An Architecture of Light. Islamic Art in Algeria. |last2=Houria |first2=Chérid |last3=Lakhdar |first3=Drias |last4=Amine |first4=Semar |publisher=Museum With No Frontiers, MWNF (Museum Ohne Grenzen) |isbn=978-3-902966-14-8 |pages=9 |language=en |access-date=31 May 2023 |archive-date=30 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530120515/https://books.google.com/books?id=kmaWEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> These Arabs had been set upon the Berbers by the Fatimids in punishment for their Zirid former Berber clients who defected and abandoned Shiism in the 11th century. Throughout this period, the Maghreb most often was divided into three states, roughly corresponding to modern Morocco, western Algeria, and eastern Algeria and Tunisia. The Maghreb region was occasionally briefly unified, as under the [[Place:Almohad Caliphate|Almohad Caliphate]], [[Religion:Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimids]] and briefly under the Zirids. The Hammadids also managed to conquer land in all countries in the Maghreb region.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvTjCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA42|title=Saladin, the Almohads and the Banū Ghāniya: The Contest for North Africa (12th and 13th centuries)|first=Amar S.|last=Baadj|date=11 August 2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004298576|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huOBwihhwyQC&dq=%22hammadids+extended+their+empire+to+Morocco%22&pg=PA614|title=Islam: Art and Architecture: Pg 614|isbn=9783833111785|last1=Hattstein|first1=Markus|last2=Delius|first2=Peter|year=2004|access-date=15 April 2022|archive-date=30 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730170924/https://books.google.com/books?id=huOBwihhwyQC&dq=%22hammadids+extended+their+empire+to+Morocco%22&pg=PA614|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0E8qp_k515oC&pg=PA55|title=Historical Dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen)|first=Hsain|last=Ilahiane|date=17 July 2006|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810864900|via=Google Books|access-date=15 April 2022|archive-date=30 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730171425/https://books.google.com/books?id=0E8qp_k515oC&pg=PA55|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Early modern history===
[[File:Guillaume Delisle North West Africa 1707.jpg|thumb|1707 map of northwest Africa by [[Guillaume Delisle]], including the Maghreb
After the Middle Ages, the [[Place:Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]] loosely controlled the area east of Morocco.]]

===Modern history===
After the 19th century, areas of the Maghreb were colonized by {{wipe|France}}, {{wipe|Spain}} and later Italy.

Today, more than two and a half million Maghrebi immigrants live in France, many from Algeria and Morocco. In addition, as of 1999 there were 3 million French of Maghrebi origin (defined as having at least one grandparent from Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cairn.info/revue-population-english-2004-1-page-49.htm|title=An Estimation of the Foreign-Origin Populations of France, Michèle Tribalat|access-date=31 December 2008|archive-date=20 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220114511/http://www.cairn.info/revue-population-english-2004-1-page-49.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> A 2003 estimate suggests six million French residents were ethnic Maghrebi.<ref>"Estimé à six millions d'individus, l'histoire de leur enracinement, processus toujours en devenir, suscite la mise en avant de nombreuses problématiques...", « Être Maghrébins en France » in ''Les Cahiers de l’Orient'', n° 71, troisième trimestre 2003</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Drouhot |first=Lucas G. |date=2020 |title=Income Segregation and the Incomplete Integration of Islam in the Paris Metropolitan Area |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2378023119899585 |journal=Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World |language=en |volume=6 |pages=237802311989958 |doi=10.1177/2378023119899585 |s2cid=211257408 |issn=2378-0231 |access-date=26 June 2023 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719210539/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2378023119899585 |url-status=live |hdl=21.11116/0000-0005-95C8-1 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

==Population==
{{multiple image |align=left |direction=vertical
 |image1=Botanical Garden Hamma.jpg |caption1=[[Place:Algiers|Algiers]], Algeria |width1=
 |image2=Casablanca - Morocco 008.jpg|caption2=[[Place:Casablanca|Casablanca]], Morocco |width2=
}}
[[File:Geschichte des Kostüms (1905) (14580573400).jpg|thumb|upright|People of Maghreb]]

=== Ethnic groups ===
The Maghreb is primarily inhabited by peoples of Arab and Berber ancestral origin. Arabs inhabit Algeria (70%<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qBm4-HivM0C&pg=PA8 |title=The Report: Algeria 2007 |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford Business Group |isbn=978-1-902339-70-2 |language=en |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410070904/https://books.google.com/books?id=3qBm4-HivM0C&pg=PA8 |url-status=live }}</ref> to 80%<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Laaredj-Campbell |first=Anne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7UvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |title=Changing Female Literacy Practices in Algeria: Empirical Study on Cultural Construction of Gender and Empowerment |date=2015-12-10 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-658-11633-0 |language=en |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164800/https://books.google.com/books?id=C7UvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |url-status=live }}</ref>), [[Place:Libya|Libya]] (97%<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Malcolm |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_l87ixBRpKIC&pg=PA62 |title=Libya |last2=Losleben |first2=Elizabeth |date=2004 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=978-0-7614-1702-6 |language=en |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410070902/https://books.google.com/books?id=_l87ixBRpKIC&pg=PA62 |url-status=live }}</ref>), Morocco (67%<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fs0Fog7XneUC&pg=PA11 |title=The Report: Morocco 2012 |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford Business Group |isbn=978-1-907065-54-5 |language=en |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307021801/https://books.google.com/books?id=fs0Fog7XneUC&pg=PA11 |url-status=live }}</ref>), and Tunisia (98%<ref>{{Citation |title=Tunisia |date=2022-12-02 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/tunisia/ |work=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en |access-date=2022-12-12 |archive-date=10 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110024851/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/tunisia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>). Berbers inhabit Algeria (20%<ref name=":0" />), [[Place:Libya|Libya]] (10%<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zurutuza |first=Karlos |title=Berbers fear ethnic conflict |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/1/6/libyas-berbers-fear-ethnic-conflict |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en |archive-date=29 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129190339/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/1/6/libyas-berbers-fear-ethnic-conflict |url-status=live }}</ref>), Morocco (35%<ref>{{Cite book |last=Danver |first=Steven L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vf4TBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |title=Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues |date=2015-03-10 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-46400-6 |language=en |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=15 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315191149/https://books.google.com/books?id=vf4TBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |url-status=live }}</ref>), and Tunisia (1%<ref>{{Cite news |date=2004-03-12 |title=Q&A: The Berbers |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3509799.stm |access-date=2022-12-12 |archive-date=12 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112181804/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3509799.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>). Ethnic French, Spanish, West African, and Sephardic Jewish populations also inhabit the region. Centuries of [[Social:Arabization|Arabization]] and Arab migration to the Maghreb since the 7th century shifted the demographic scope of the Maghreb in favor of the Arabs.

Various other influences are also prominent throughout the Maghreb. In northern coastal towns, in particular, several waves of European immigrants influenced the population in the Medieval era. Most notable were the moriscos and muladies, that is, the indigenous Spaniards (Moors) who were forcibly converted to Catholicism and later expelled, together with ethnic Arab and Berber Muslims, during the [[Social:Reconquista|Spanish Catholic Reconquista]]. Other European contributions included French, Italian, and English crews and passengers taken captive by corsairs. In some cases, they were returned to families after being ransomed; in others, they were used as slaves or assimilated and adopted into tribes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml |first=Robert |last=Davis |title=British Slaves on the Barbary Coast |access-date=5 November 2009 |website=BBC |archive-date=25 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425235016/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

Historically, the Maghreb was home to significant historic Jewish communities called Maghrebim, who predated the 7th-century introduction and conversion of the region to Islam. These were later augmented by Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal who, fleeing the Spanish Catholic Inquisition of the 15th and 16th centuries, established a presence in North Africa. They settled primarily in the urban trading centers.

Another significant group is Turks, who migrated with the expansion of the [[Place:Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]].

Africans from south of the Sahara joined the population mix during centuries of trans-Saharan trade. Traders and slaves went to the Maghreb from the [[Place:Sahel|Sahel]] region. On the Saharan southern edge of the Maghreb are small communities of black populations, sometimes called Haratine.

In Algeria especially, a large European minority, known as the "pied noirs", immigrated to the region, settling under French colonial rule in the late 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = University Press of Florida| isbn = 978-0-8130-3096-8| pages = 9–23,&nbsp;14| last = Naylor| first = Phillip Chiviges| title = France and Algeria: A History of Decolonization and Transformation| year = 2000| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMUb8R3Cs-MC&q=pied+noir+alienation&pg=PA9| access-date = 20 June 2023| archive-date = 30 July 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230730171429/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMUb8R3Cs-MC&q=pied+noir+alienation&pg=PA9| url-status = live}}</ref> As of the last census in French-ruled Algeria, taken on 1 June 1960, there were 1,050,000 non-Muslim civilians (mostly Catholic, but including 130,000 Algerian Jews) in Algeria, 10 per cent of the population.<ref name="Cook" /> They established farms and businesses. The overwhelming majority of these, however, left Algeria during and following the war for independence.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files_156/north-africa_5493/france-and-maghreb_5495/an-enhanced-partnership-with-the-maghreb-20.03.07_8821.html |title=France and Maghreb – An enhanced partnership with the Maghreb (March 20, 2007) |access-date=11 July 2007 |website=French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs |archive-date=29 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929161242/http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files_156/north-africa_5493/france-and-maghreb_5495/an-enhanced-partnership-with-the-maghreb-20.03.07_8821.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In comparison to the population of France, the Maghrebi population was one-eighth of France's population in 1800, one-quarter in 1900, and equal in 2000. The Maghreb is home to 1% of the global population as of 2010.<ref>Brunel, Claire, ''Maghreb regional and global integration: a dream to be fulfilled'', Peterson Institute, 2008, p.1</ref>

=== Genetics ===
{{further|Biology:Genetic history of North Africa}}
The Y-chromosome genetic structure of the Maghreb population seems to be modulated chiefly by geography. The Y-DNA Haplogroups E1b1b and [[Biology:Haplogroup J (Y-DNA)|J]] make up the vast majority of the genetic markers of the populations of the Maghreb. Haplogroup E1b1b is the most frequent among Maghrebi groups, especially the downstream lineage of E1b1b1b1a, which is typical of the indigenous Berbers of North-West Africa. [[Biology:Haplogroup J-M267|Haplogroup J1]] is the second most frequent among Maghrebi groups and is more indicative of [[Place:Middle East|Middle East]] origins, and has its highest distribution among populations in Arabia and the Levant. Due to the distribution of E-M81(E1b1b1b1a), which has reached its highest documented levels in the world at 95–100% in some populations of the Maghreb, it has often been termed the "Berber marker" in the scientific literature.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} The second most common marker, [[Biology:Haplogroup J (Y-DNA)|Haplogroup J]], especially J1,<ref>combined (Semino et al. 2004 30%) & (Arredi et al. 2004 32%)</ref><ref>{{cite journal| title=Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area| journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics| doi=10.1086/386295| pmid=15069642| pmc=1181965| volume=74| issue=5| pages=1023–1034| date=May 2004| last1=Semino| first1=Ornella| last2=Magri| first2=Chiara| last3=Benuzzi| first3=Giorgia| last4=Lin| first4=Alice A| last5=Al-Zahery| first5=Nadia| last6=Battaglia| first6=Vincenza| last7=MacCioni| first7=Liliana| last8=Triantaphyllidis| first8=Costas| last9=Shen| first9=Peidong| last10=Oefner| first10=Peter J| last11=Zhivotovsky| first11=Lev A| last12=King| first12=Roy| last13=Torroni| first13=Antonio| last14=Cavalli-Sforza| first14=L. Luca| last15=Underhill| first15=Peter A| last16=Santachiara-Benerecetti| first16=A. Silvana}}</ref> which is typically Middle Eastern and originates in the Arabian peninsula, can reach frequencies of up to 35% in the region.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Alshamali F, Pereira L, Budowle B, Poloni ES, Currat M |title=Local population structure in Arabian Peninsula revealed by Y-STR diversity |journal=Hum. Hered. |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=45–54 |year=2009 |pmid=19339785 |doi=10.1159/000210448 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">*Alshamali et al. 2009 81% (84/104) *Malouf et al. 2008: 70% (28/40) *Cadenas et al. 2008:45/62 = 72.6% J1-M267</ref> Its highest density is found in the [[Place:Arabian Peninsula|Arabian Peninsula]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> [[Biology:Haplogroup R1|Haplogroup R1]],<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=17909833|year=2008|last1=Robino|first1=C|title=Analysis of Y-chromosomal SNP haplogroups and STR haplotypes in an Algerian population sample|journal=International Journal of Legal Medicine|volume=122|issue=3|pages=251–5|last2=Crobu|first2=F|last3=Di Gaetano|first3=C|last4=Bekada|first4=A|last5=Benhamamouch|first5=S|last6=Cerutti|first6=N|last7=Piazza|first7=A|last8=Inturri|first8=S|last9=Torre|first9=C|doi=10.1007/s00414-007-0203-5|s2cid=11556974}}</ref> a Eurasian marker, has also been observed in the Maghreb, though with lower frequency. The Y-DNA haplogroups shown above are observed in both Arabic speakers and Berber-speakers.

==== Haplogroup E ====
Haplogroup E is thought to have emerged in prehistoric North Africa or East Africa,<ref name="Cruciani2004">{{cite journal |last1=Cruciani |first1=Fulvio |last2=La Fratta |first2=Roberta |last3=Santolamazza |first3=Piero |last4=Sellitto |first4=Daniele |last5=Pascone |first5=Roberto |last6=Moral |first6=Pedro |last7=Watson |first7=Elizabeth |last8=Guida |first8=Valentina |last9=Colomb |first9=Eliane Beraud |last10=Zaharova |first10=Boriana |last11=Lavinha |first11=João |last12=Vona |first12=Giuseppe |last13=Aman |first13=Rashid |last14=Calì |first14=Francesco |last15=Akar |first15=Nejat |date=May 2004 |title=Phylogeographic Analysis of Haplogroup E3b (E-M215) Y Chromosomes Reveals Multiple Migratory Events Within and Out Of Africa |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=74 |issue=5 |pages=1014–1022 |doi=10.1086/386294 |pmc=1181964 |pmid=15042509 |last16=Richards |first16=Martin |last17=Torroni |first17=Antonio |last18=Novelletto |first18=Andrea |last19=Scozzari |first19=Rosaria}}</ref> and would have later dispersed into West Asia. The major subclades of haplogroup E found amongst Berbers belong to [[Biology:Haplogroup E-Z827|E-Z827]], which is believed to have emerged in North Africa. Common subclades include E1b1b1a, E1b1b1b and E1b1b1*. E1b1b1b is distributed along a west-to-east cline with frequencies that can reach as high as 100 percent in Northwest Africa. E1b1b1a has been observed at low to moderate frequencies among Berber populations with significantly higher frequencies observed in Northeast Africa relative to Northwest Africa.<ref name="pmid15069642">{{cite journal |last1=Semino |first1=Ornella |last2=Magri |first2=Chiara |last3=Benuzzi |first3=Giorgia |last4=Lin |first4=Alice A. |last5=Al-Zahery |first5=Nadia |last6=Battaglia |first6=Vincenza |last7=Maccioni |first7=Liliana |last8=Triantaphyllidis |first8=Costas |last9=Shen |first9=Peidong |last10=Oefner |first10=Peter J. |last11=Zhivotovsky |first11=Lev A. |last12=King |first12=Roy |last13=Torroni |first13=Antonio |last14=Cavalli-Sforza |first14=L. Luca |last15=Underhill |first15=Peter A. |date=May 2004 |title=Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=74 |issue=5 |pages=1023–1034 |doi=10.1086/386295 |pmc=1181965 |pmid=15069642 |last16=Santachiara-Benerecetti |first16=A. Silvana}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kujanová |first1=Martina |last2=Pereira |first2=Luísa |last3=Fernandes |first3=Verónica |last4=Pereira |first4=Joana B. |last5=Černý |first5=Viktor |date=October 2009 |title=Near Eastern Neolithic genetic input in a small oasis of the Egyptian Western Desert |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=140 |issue=2 |pages=336–346 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21078 |pmid=19425100}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fadhlaoui-Zid |first1=Karima |last2=Martinez-Cruz |first2=Begoña |last3=Khodjet-el-khil |first3=Houssein |last4=Mendizabal |first4=Isabel |last5=Benammar-Elgaaied |first5=Amel |last6=Comas |first6=David |date=October 2011 |title=Genetic structure of Tunisian ethnic groups revealed by paternal lineages |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=146 |issue=2 |pages=271–280 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21581 |pmid=21915847}}</ref> Loosdrecht et al. 2018 demonstrated that E1b1b is most likely indigenous to [[Place:North Africa|North Africa]] and migrated from [[Place:North Africa|North Africa]] to the [[Place:Near East|Near East]] during the [[Earth:Paleolithic|Paleolithic]].<ref name="Loosdrecht et al 2018">{{cite journal |last1=van de Loosdrecht |first1=Marieke |last2=Bouzouggar |first2=Abdeljalil |last3=Humphrey |first3=Louise |last4=Posth |first4=Cosimo |last5=Barton |first5=Nick |last6=Aximu-Petri |first6=Ayinuer |last7=Nickel |first7=Birgit |last8=Nagel |first8=Sarah |last9=Talbi |first9=El Hassan |last10=El Hajraoui |first10=Mohammed Abdeljalil |last11=Amzazi |first11=Saaïd |last12=Hublin |first12=Jean-Jacques |last13=Pääbo |first13=Svante |last14=Schiffels |first14=Stephan |last15=Meyer |first15=Matthias |date=4 May 2018 |title=Pleistocene North African genomes link Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African human populations |journal=Science |volume=360 |issue=6388 |pages=548–552 |bibcode=2018Sci...360..548V |doi=10.1126/science.aar8380 |pmid=29545507 |doi-access=free |last16=Haak |first16=Wolfgang |last17=Jeong |first17=Choongwon |last18=Krause |first18=Johannes}}</ref>

==== Haplogroup J1 ====
[[File:Haplogrupo_J_(Y-DNA).png|thumb|300x300px|Distribution of Haplogroup J (Y-DNA)]]
[[Biology:Haplogroup J-M267|Haplogroup J-M267]] is another very common haplogroup in the Maghreb, being the second most-frequent haplogroup in the Maghreb.<ref name=":932">{{Cite journal |last=Genet |first=Am J Hum |date=June 2002 |title=Genetic Evidence for the Expansion of Arabian Tribes into the Southern Levant and North Africa |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=70 |issue=6 |pages=1594–1596 |doi=10.1086/340669 |pmid=11992266 |pmc=379148 }}</ref> It originated in the [[Place:Middle East|Middle East]], and its highest frequency of 30%–62.5% has been observed in Muslim Arab populations in the Middle East.<ref name=":932"/> A study found out that the majority of J1 (Eu10) chromosomes in the Maghreb are due to the recent gene flow caused by the Arab migrations to the Maghreb in the first millennium CE. The J-M267 chromosome pool in the Maghreb is derived not only from early [[History:Neolithic|Neolithic]] dispersions but to a much greater extent from recent expansions of Arab tribes from the [[Place:Arabian Peninsula|Arabian Peninsula]], during which both southern Qahtanite and northern Adnanite Arabs added to the heterogenous Maghrebi ethnic melting pot.<ref name=":932" /> A study from 2017 suggested that these Arab migrations were a demographic process that heavily implied gene flow and remodeled the genetic structure of the Maghreb, rather than a mere cultural replacement as claimed by older studies.<ref name=":232">{{Cite journal |last=Evol |first=Mol Biol |date=February 2017 |title=Recent Historical Migrations Have Shaped the Gene Pool of Arabs and Berbers in North Africa |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=318–329 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msw218 |pmid=27744413 |pmc=5644363 }}</ref>

Recent genome-wide analysis of North Africans found substantial shared ancestry with the [[Place:Middle East|Middle East]], and to a lesser extent [[Place:Sub-Saharan Africa|sub-Saharan Africa]] and [[Earth:Europe|Europe]]. The recent gene flow caused by the Arab migrations to the Maghreb increased genetic similarities between Maghrebis and Middle Easterners.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=November 2013 |title= Genome-Wide and Paternal Diversity Reveal a Recent Origin of Human Populations in North Africa|journal=PLOS ONE|pmc=3842387 |last1= Fadhlaoui-Zid|first1= K.|last2= Haber|first2= M.|last3= Martínez-Cruz|first3= B.|last4= Zalloua|first4= P.|last5= Benammar Elgaaied|first5= A.|last6= Comas|first6= D.|volume= 8|issue= 11|pages= e80293|doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0080293|pmid= 24312208|bibcode= 2013PLoSO...880293F|doi-access= free}}</ref> Haplogroup J1-M267 accounts for around 30% of Maghrebis and has spread from the Arabian Peninsula, second after E1b1b1b which accounts for 45% of Maghrebis. A study from 2021 has shown that the highest frequency of the Middle Eastern component ever observed in North Africa so far was observed in the Arabs of Wesletia in Tunisia, who had a Middle Eastern component frequency of 71.8%.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Rep |first=Sci |date=August 2021 |title=  Insights into the Middle Eastern paternal genetic pool in Tunisia: High prevalence of T-M70 haplogroup in an Arab population|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=11 |issue=1 |page=15728 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-95144-x |pmid=34344940 |pmc=8333252 |bibcode=2021NatSR..1115728E }}</ref> According to a study from 2004, Haplogroup J1 had a frequency of 35% in Algerians and 34.2% in Tunisians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Genet |first=Am J Hum |date=May 2004 |title=Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=74 |issue=5 |pages=1023–1034 |doi=10.1086/386295 |pmid=15069642 |pmc=1181965 }}</ref>

==== Table ====
The Maghreb [[Biology:Y chromosome|Y chromosome]] pool (including both Arab and Berber populations) may be summarized for most of the populations as follows, where only two haplogroups E1b1b and [[Biology:Haplogroup J (Y-DNA)|J]] comprise generally more than 80% of the total chromosomes:<ref name="Bosch et al., 2001">{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/319521 |pmid=11254456 |title=High-Resolution Analysis of Human Y-Chromosome Variation Shows a Sharp Discontinuity and Limited Gene Flow between Northwestern Africa and the Iberian Peninsula |date=April 2001 |vauthors=Bosch E, Calafell F, Comas D, etal |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=1019–29 |issn=0002-9297 |pmc=1275654}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/340669 |pmid=11992266 |title=Genetic Evidence for the Expansion of Arabian Tribes into the Southern Levant and North Africa |date=June 2002 |vauthors=Nebel A, Landau-Tasseron E, Filon D, etal |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=70 |issue=6 |pages=1594–6 |issn=0002-9297 |pmc=379148}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/386295 |pmid=15069642 |pmc=1181965 |title=Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area |date=May 2004 |vauthors=Semino O, Magri C, Benuzzi G, etal |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=74 |issue=5 |pages=1023–34 |last12=King |first12=R |last13=Torroni |first13=A |last14=Cavalli-Sforza |first14=LL |last15=Underhill |first15=PA |last16=Santachiara-Benerecetti |first16=AS |issn=0002-9297}}</ref><ref name=Arredi>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/423147 |pmid=15202071 |pmc=1216069 |title=A Predominantly Neolithic Origin for Y-Chromosomal DNA Variation in North Africa |date=August 2004 |vauthors=Arredi B, Poloni ES, Paracchini S, etal |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=338–345 |issn=0002-9297}}</ref><ref name=Cruciani>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/386294 |pmid=15042509 |pmc=1181964 |title=Phylogeographic Analysis of Haplogroup E3b (E-M215) Y Chromosomes Reveals Multiple Migratory Events Within and Out Of Africa |date=May 2004 |vauthors=Cruciani F, La Fratta R, Santolamazza P, etal |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=74 |issue=5 |pages=1014–22 |last12=Vona |first12=G |last13=Aman |first13=R |last14=Cali |first14=F |last15=Akar |first15=N |last16=Richards |first16=M |last17=Torroni |first17=A |last18=Novelletto |first18=A |last19=Scozzari |first19=R |issn=0002-9297}}</ref><ref name=Robino>{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s00414-007-0203-5 |pmid=17909833 |title=Analysis of Y-chromosomal SNP haplogroups and STR haplotypes in an Algerian population sample |date=May 2008 |vauthors=Robino C, Crobu F, Di Gaetano C, etal |journal=International Journal of Legal Medicine |volume=122 |issue=3 |pages=251–5 |s2cid=11556974 |issn=0937-9827}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.fsigss.2007.10.173 |title=Y-chromosome markers distribution in Northern Africa: High-resolution SNP and STR analysis in Tunisia and Morocco populations |date=August 2008 |vauthors=Onofri V, Alessandrini F, Turchi C, etal |journal=Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=235–6}}</ref><ref>Bekada A, Fregel R, Cabrera VM, Larruga JM, Pestano J, et al. (2013) [http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0056775 Introducing the Algerian Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Profiles into the North African Landscape] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022204901/http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0056775 |date=22 October 2014 }}. PLoS ONE 8(2): e56775. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056775</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
! Haplogroup !! Marker !! Sahara/Mauritania !! Morocco !! Algeria !! Tunisia !! Libya
|-
! n
|  || 189 || 760 || 156 || 601 || –
|-
! A
|  || – || 0.26 || – || – || –
|-
! B
|  || 0.53 || 0.66 || – || 0.17 || –
|-
! C
|  || – || – || – || – || –
|-
! DE
|  || – || – || – || – || –
|-
! E1a
| M33 || 5.29 || 2.76 || 0.64 || 0.5 || –
|-
! E1b1a
| M2 || 6.88 || 3.29 || 5.13 || 0.67 || –
|-
! E1b1b1
| M35 || – || 4.21 || 0.64 || 1.66 || –
|-
! E1b1b1a
| M78 || – || 0.79 || 1.92 || – || –
|-
! E1b1b1a1
| V12 || – || 0.26 || 0.64 || – || –
|-
! E1b1b1a1b
| V32 || – || – || – || – || –
|-
! E1b1b1a2
| V13 || – || 0.26 || 0.64 || – || –
|-
! E1b1b1a3
| V22 || – || 1.84 || 1.28 || 3 || –
|-
! E1b1b1a4
| V65 || – || 3.68 || 1.92 || 3.16 || –
|-
! E1b1b1b
| M81 || 65.56 || 67.37 || 64.23 || 72.73 || –
|-
! E1b1b1c
| M34 || 11.11 || 0.66 || 1.28 || 1.16 || –
|-
! F
| M89 || – || 0.26 || 3.85 || 2.66 || –
|-
! G
| M201 || – || 0.66 || – || 0.17 || –
|-
! H
| M69 || – || – || – || – || –
|-
! I
|  || – || 0.13 || – || 0.17 || –
|-
! J1
|  || 3.23 || 6.32 || 1.79 || 6.64 || –
|-
! J2
|  || – || 1.32 || 4.49 || 2.83 || –
|-
! K
|  || – || 0.53 || 0.64 || 0.33 || –
|-
! L
|  || – || – || – || – || –
|-
! N
|  || – || – || – || – || –
|-
! O
|  || – || – || – || – || –
|-
! P, R
|  || – || 0.26 || – || 0.33 || –
|-
! Q
|  || – || – || 0.64 || – || –
|-
! R1a1
|  || – || – || 0.64 || 0.5 || –
|-
! R1b
| M343 || – || – || – || – || –
|-
! R1b1a
| V88 || 6.88 || 0.92 || 2.56 || 1.83 || –
|-
! R1b1b
| M269 || 0.53 || 3.55 || 7.04 || 0.33 || –
|-
! R2
|  || – || – || – || – || –
|-
! T
| M70 || – || – || – || 1.16 || –
|}

==Religion==
[[File:Panorama du Medracen.jpg|thumb|right|The mausoleum of Madghacen]]
The original religions of the peoples of the Maghreb seem<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com/grasshoff.html|title=The central position of women in the life of the Berbers of Northern-Africa exemplified by the Kabyles|website=www.second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com|access-date=29 January 2010|archive-date=28 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928052219/http://second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com/grasshoff.html|url-status=live}}</ref> to have been based in and related to fertility cults of a strong matriarchal pantheon. This theory is based on the social and linguistic structures of the Amazigh cultures that antedated all Egyptian and eastern Asian, northern Mediterranean, and European influences.

Historic records of religion in the Maghreb region show its gradual inclusion in the Classical World, with coastal colonies established first by Phoenicians, some Greeks, and later extensive conquest and colonization by the Romans. By the 2nd century of the common era, the area had become a center of Phoenician-speaking Christianity. Its bishops spoke and wrote in Punic, and Emperor Septimius Severus was noted by his local accent. Roman settlers and Romanized populations converted to Christianity. Carthage subsequently exercised informal [[Religion:Primate (bishop)|primacy]] as an archdiocese, being the most important center of [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] in the whole of Roman Africa, corresponding to most of today's Mediterranean coast and inland of Northern Africa.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire|title=Carthage|pages=97–98|first=Matthew|last=Bunson|location=New York|publisher=Facts On File|series=Facts on File library of world history|isbn=9781438110271|year=2002|edition=Rev.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5tic2VunRoC&pg=PA97}}</ref> The region produced figures such as Christian church writer Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 202); and Christian martyrs or leading figures such as Perpetua, and Felicity (martyrs, c. 200 CE); St. Cyprian of Carthage (+ 258); St. Monica; her son the philosopher St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo I (+ 430) (1); and St. Julia of Carthage (5th century). Donatist Christianity mainly spread among the indigenous Berber population,<ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient African Christianity: An Introduction to a Unique Context and Tradition|first=Toyin|last=Falola|year=2017|isbn=9781135121426|pages=344–345|publisher=Taylor & Francis}}</ref> and from the late fifth and early sixth century, the region included several Christian Berber kingdoms.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Christianity in Africa: From Antiquity to the Present|first=Elizabeth |last=Isichei |year=1995| isbn= 978-1-4674-2081-5| page =42|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|quote=}}</ref>

===Islam===
[[File:University of Al Qaraouiyine.jpg|thumb|upright|al-Qarawiyyin Mosque]]
[[Religion:Islam|Islam]] arrived in 647 and challenged the domination of Christianity. The first permanent foothold of Islam was the founding in 667 of the city of Kairouan, in present-day Tunisia. Carthage fell to Muslims in 698 and the remainder of the region fell by 709. Islamization proceeded slowly.

From the end of the 7th century, over a period of more than 400 years, the region's peoples converted to Islam. Many left during this time for Italy, although surviving letters showed correspondence from regional Christians to Rome up until the 12th century. Christianity was still a living faith. Although there were numerous conversions after the conquest, Muslims did not become a majority until some time late in the 9th century. During the 10th century, Islam became by far the dominant religion in the region.<ref>''Staying Roman,'' Jonathan Conant, pp.&nbsp;362–368, 2012</ref> Christian bishoprics and dioceses continued to be active and continued their relations with the Christian Church of Rome. As late as the reign of Pope Benedict VII (974–983), a new Archbishop of Carthage was consecrated. From the 10th century, Christianity declined in the region.<ref>Insoll, T. (2003) "The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa", ''Cambridge World Archaeology,'' http://content.schweitzer-ne.de/static/content/catalog/newbooks/978/052/165/9780521651714/9780521651714_Excerpt_001.pdf{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> By the end of the 11th century, only two bishops were left in Carthage and Hippo Regius. Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) consecrated a new bishop for Hippo. Christianity seems to have suffered several shocks that led to its demise. First, many upper-class, urban-dwelling, Latin-speaking Christians left for Europe after the Muslim conquest. The second major influence was the large-scale conversions to Islam from the end of the 9th century. Many Christians of a much reduced community departed in the mid-11th century, and remnants were evacuated in the 12th by the Norman rulers of Sicily. The Latin-African language lingered a while longer.

There was a small but thriving Jewish community, as well as a small Christian community. Most Muslims follow the Sunni Maliki school. Small Ibadi communities remain in some areas. A strong tradition of venerating [[Religion:Marabout|marabout]]s and saints' tombs is found throughout regions inhabited by Berbers. This practice was also common among the Jews of the region. Any map of the region demonstrates the tradition by the proliferation of "Sidi"s, showing places named after the marabouts. This tradition has declined through the 20th century. A network of ''zaouias'' traditionally helped teach basic literacy and knowledge of Islam in rural regions.

===Christianity===
[[File:Kabylie Christian family.jpg|thumb|upright|Christian Berber family from Kabylia]]
Communities of Christians, mostly Catholics and Protestant, persist in Algeria (100,000–380,000),<ref>Deeb, Mary Jane. "Religious minorities", ''Algeria (Country Study)''. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress; ed., Helen Chapin Metz, December 1993. ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the [[Social:Public domain|public domain]].[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/about.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120710004153/lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/about.html|date=10 July 2012}}''</ref> Mauritania (10,000),<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South|first=Mark |last=A. Lamport|year= 2021| isbn=9781442271579| page =497|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|quote= Influences—Christian influences in Mauritanian society are limited to the approximately 10,000 foreign nationals living in the country}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/mauritania/|title=Mauritania – Open Doors USA – Open Doors USA|website=www.opendoorsusa.org|access-date=21 January 2021|archive-date=1 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401134238/https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/mauritania/|url-status=live}}</ref> Morocco (~380,000),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/morocco/|title=Africa :: Morocco — The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=9 November 2021|access-date=24 January 2021|archive-date=2 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202191738/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/morocco/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Place:Libya|Libya]] (170,000), and Tunisia (100,750).<ref>{{cite web |author=Fr Andrew Phillips |url=http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/maghreb.htm |title=The Last Christians Of North-West Africa: Some Lessons For Orthodox Today |publisher=Orthodoxengland.org.uk |access-date=8 January 2013 |archive-date=19 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919094611/http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/maghreb.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Most of the Roman Catholics in Greater Maghreb are of French, Spanish, and Italian descent, with ancestors who immigrated during the colonial era. Some are foreign missionaries or immigrant workers. There are also Christian communities of Berber or Arab descent in Greater Maghreb,<ref name = "Decolonization" /> made up of persons who converted mostly during the modern era, or under and after French colonialism.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ly4DgtT3LkC&q=Moroccan+christianity&pg=PA653|title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity|first1=Erwin|last1=Fahlbusch|first2=Geoffrey William|last2=Bromiley|first3=Jan Milie|last3=Lochman|first4=John|last4=Mbiti|first5=Jaroslav|last5=Pelikan|first6=David B.|last6=Barrett|first7=Lukas|last7=Vischer|date=24 July 1999|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=9780802824158|via=Google Books|access-date=18 October 2020|archive-date=30 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730171427/https://books.google.com/books?id=7ly4DgtT3LkC&q=Moroccan+christianity&pg=PA653|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="worldreview.info">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldreview.info/content/rising-numbers-christians-islamic-countries-could-pose-threat-social-order|title=Rising numbers of Christians in Islamic countries could pose threat to social order|work=World Review|access-date=6 December 2015|archive-date=20 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320051546/http://www.worldreview.info/content/rising-numbers-christians-islamic-countries-could-pose-threat-social-order|url-status=live}}</ref>

Prior to independence, Algeria was home to 1.4 million ''pieds-noirs'' (ethnic French who were mostly Catholic),<ref name="Cook">{{Cite book | author=Cook, Bernard A. | title=Europe since 1945: an encyclopedia | url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaeuro01acoo | url-access=limited | year=2001 | publisher=Garland | location=New York | isbn=978-0-8153-4057-7 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaeuro01acoo/page/n461 398]}}</ref><ref name="Decolonization">{{cite book|last1=Greenberg|first1=Udi|last2= A. Foster|first2=Elizabeth|title=Decolonization and the Remaking of Christianity|year=2023|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Pennsylvania|isbn=9781512824971|pages=105}}</ref> and Morocco was home to half a million Europeans,<ref name = "Decolonization" /><ref>De Azevedo, Raimondo Cagiano (1994) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=N8VHizsqaH0C&pg=PA25 Migration and development co-operation.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429204819/https://books.google.com/books?id=N8VHizsqaH0C&pg=PA25 |date=29 April 2023 }}''. Council of Europe. p. 25. {{ISBN|92-871-2611-9}}.</ref> Tunisia was home to 255,000 Europeans,<ref name = "Decolonization" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Angus Maddison|title=Contours of the World Economy 1–2030 AD:Essays in Macro-Economic History: Essays in Macro-Economic History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EeWy7a6nAHcC&pg=PA214|access-date=26 January 2013|date=20 September 2007|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-922721-1|page=214|archive-date=16 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216160710/https://books.google.com/books?id=EeWy7a6nAHcC&pg=PA214|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Place:Libya|Libya]] was home to 145,000 Europeans.<ref name = "Decolonization" /> In religion, most of the ''pieds-noirs'' in Maghreb are Catholic. Due to the exodus of the ''pieds-noirs'' in the 1960s, more North African Christians of Berber or Arab descent now live in {{wipe|France}} than in Greater Maghreb. Prior to independence, the European Catholic settlers had historic legacy and powerful presence in Maghreb countries.<ref name = "Decolonization" />

Recently, the Protestant community of Berber or Arab descent has grown significantly as additional individuals convert to Christianity, especially to [[Religion:Evangelicalism|Evangelicalism]]. This has occurred in Algeria,<ref>*{{in lang|fr}} [http://matoub.kabylie.free.fr/kabylie/article.php3?id_article=174 Sadek Lekdja, ''Christianity in Kabylie'', Radio France Internationale, 7 mai 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018134716/http://matoub.kabylie.free.fr/kabylie/article.php3?id_article=174 |date=18 October 2017 }}</ref> especially in the [[Place:Kabylie|Kabylie]],<ref>Lucien Oulahbib, ''Le monde arabe existe-t-il ?'', page 12, 2005, Editions de Paris, Paris.</ref> Morocco,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f4361e72.html|title=Refworld &#124; Morocco: General situation of Muslims who converted to Christianity, and specifically those who converted to Catholicism; their treatment by Islamists and the authorities, including state protection (2008–2011)|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|last=Refugees|website=Refworld|access-date=24 July 2020|archive-date=1 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301151201/https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f4361e72.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Al-Maghred, the Barbary Lion: A Look at Islam| first=Nat |last= Carnes|year= 2012| isbn= 9781475903423| page =253|publisher=University of Cambridge Press|quote=. In all an estimated 40,000 Moroccans have converted to Christianity}}</ref> and in Tunisia.<ref name=report>[https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90222.htm "International Religious Freedom Report 2007": Tunisia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309212647/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90222.htm |date=9 March 2021 }}. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (14 September 2007). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the [[Social:Public domain|public domain]].''</ref> The Catholic population in Libya is estimated to number 100,000, The Catholics are the largest Christian denomination, followed by {{circa}} 60,000 Copts and a small number of Anglicans.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Jason |last1=Morgan|first2=Toyin |last2=Falola|first3=Bukola Adeyemi |last3=Oyeniyi|title=Culture and Customs of Libya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R65iYMCuK6gC|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-37860-7|page=40}}</ref>

A 2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria.<ref name="Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background">{{Cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census | journal=IJRR|first=Duane A.|last=Miller |via=www.academia.edu |access-date=6 December 2015 |archive-date=13 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313222442/https://www.academia.edu/16338087/Believers_in_Christ_from_a_Muslim_Background_A_Global_Census|url-status=live}}</ref> The number of Moroccans who converted to Christianity (most of them secret worshipers) are estimated between 40,000<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/438j9m/house-churches-and-silent-masses-the-converted-christians-of-morocco-are-praying-in-secret |title='House-Churches' and Silent Masses —The Converted Christians of Morocco Are Praying in Secret |website=www.vice.com |date=23 March 2015 |access-date=24 July 2020 |archive-date=8 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200908093740/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/438j9m/house-churches-and-silent-masses-the-converted-christians-of-morocco-are-praying-in-secret |url-status=live}}</ref>-150,000.<ref name="Morocco: No more hiding for Christians">[http://evangelicalfocus.com/world/2370/Morocco_No_more_hiding_for_Christians_interview Morocco: No more hiding for Christians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114054124/http://evangelicalfocus.com/world/2370/Morocco_No_more_hiding_for_Christians_interview |date=14 November 2017 }}, Evangelical Focus</ref><ref>[http://www.ossin.org/marocco/convertiti-marocchini-ain-leuh-brother-rachid.html Osservatorio Internazionale: "La tentazione di Cristo"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427124745/http://www.ossin.org/marocco/convertiti-marocchini-ain-leuh-brother-rachid.html |date=27 April 2015 }} April 2010</ref> The International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 estimates thousands of Tunisian Muslims have converted to Christianity.<ref name=report /> A 2015 study estimate some 1,500 believers in Christ from a Muslim background living in Libya.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Johnstone| first1=Patrick| last2=Miller| first2=Duane Alexander| title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census| journal=IJRR| date=2015| volume=11| issue=10| pages=1–19| url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087| access-date=30 October 2015| archive-date=13 March 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313222442/https://www.academia.edu/16338087/Believers_in_Christ_from_a_Muslim_Background_A_Global_Census| url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2019, the proportion of Melillans that identify themselves as Roman Catholic was 65.0%,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=El complejo urbano transfronterizo Melilla-Nador|url=https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/99969/1/Investigaciones_Geograficas_72_05.pdf|journal=Investigaciones Geográficas|issue=72|pages=101–124|year=2019|first1=Gabino|last1=Ponce Herrero|first2=Pablo|last2=Martí Ciriquián|doi=10.14198/INGEO2019.72.05|issn=1989-9890|location=Alicante|publisher=San Vicente del Raspeig|hdl=10045/99969|s2cid=213966829|hdl-access=free|access-date=26 June 2023|archive-date=19 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219053800/https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/99969/1/Investigaciones_Geograficas_72_05.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> the Roman Catholic churches in Melilla belong to the Diocese of Málaga.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.laopiniondemalaga.es/malaga/2014/05/31/37-declaraciones-renta-malaga-marcan-28626751.html|website=La Opinión de Málaga|title=El 37% de las declaraciones de la Renta en Málaga marcan la X para la Iglesia|date=31 May 2014|first=José Vicente|last=Rodríguez|access-date=26 June 2023|archive-date=23 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423155127/https://www.laopiniondemalaga.es/malaga/2014/05/31/37-declaraciones-renta-malaga-marcan-28626751.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Roman Catholicism is the largest religion in Ceuta, in 2019, the proportion of Ceutans that identify themselves as Roman Catholic was 60.0%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cis.es/cis/export/sites/default/-Archivos/Marginales/3260_3279/3263/Marginales/es3263mar_Ceuta.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204181940/http://www.cis.es/cis/export/sites/default/-Archivos/Marginales/3260_3279/3263/Marginales/es3263mar_Ceuta.pdf |archive-date=2020-02-04 |url-status=live |author=''Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas'' (Centre for Sociological Research)|title=Macrobarómetro de octubre 2019, Banco de datos – Document 'Población con derecho a voto en elecciones generales y residente en España, Ciudad Autónoma de Ceuta |date=October 2019|page=20 |accessdate=4 February 2020 |language=Spanish}}</ref> The Roman Catholic churches in Ceuta belong to the Diocese of Cádiz y Ceuta.

===Maghrebi traders in Jewish history===
In the 10th century, as the social and political environment in [[Place:Baghdad|Baghdad]] became increasingly hostile to Jews, some Jewish traders emigrated to the Maghreb, especially Kairouan, Tunisia. Over the following two or three centuries, such Jewish traders became known as the Maghribi, a distinctive social group who traveled throughout the Mediterranean world. They passed this identification on from father to son. Their tight-knit pan-Maghreb community had the ability to use social sanctions as a credible alternative to legal recourse, which was weak at the time anyway. This unique institutional alternative permitted the Maghribis to very successfully participate in the Mediterranean trade.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Avner Greif | title = Contract Enforceability and Economic Institutions in Early Trade: The Maghribi Traders' Coalition | publisher = [[Organization:American Economic Association|American Economic Association]] | journal =[[Finance:American Economic Review|American Economic Review]] | date = June 1993 | url = http://www.stanford.edu/~avner/Greif_Papers/SSRNAUG202008.pdf | access-date = 11 July 2007 |  archive-date = 24 January 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120124051112/http://www.stanford.edu/~avner/Greif_Papers/SSRNAUG202008.pdf | url-status = live }}. See also Greif's "Reputation and Coalitions in Medieval Trade: Evidence on the Maghribi Traders", in ''Journal of Economic History'' Vol. XLIX, No. 4 (Dec. 1989) pp.857–882</ref> This facilitated contacts between the Maghrebi and European Jewish communities, particularly in trade in the pre-colonial period. The most important points of contact were Livorno in Italy with its harbour frequented by Tunisian merchants and Marseille in France with its counterpart, the harbour for Algeria and Morocco. The Maghreb region produced spices and leather, from shoes to handbags. As many of the Maghrebi Jews were craftsmen and merchants, they had contact with their European customers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lubrich |first=Naomi |date=2023-11-30 |title=Who were the Jews of North Africa? Four Questions to Daniel Zisenwine |url=https://www.juedisches-museum.ch/en/jews-of-north-africa/ |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=Jüdisches Museum Schweiz}}</ref> Today, among Arab countries, the largest Jewish community now exists in Morocco with about 2,000 Jews and in Tunisia with about 1,000.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rosenberg|first=Jerry M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdAdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|title=The Rebirth of the Middle East|date=2009-09-28|publisher=Hamilton Books|isbn=978-0-7618-4846-2|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishagency.org/jewish-population-5782/|title=Jewish Population Rises to 15.2 million Worldwide|date=15 September 2021|publisher=Jewish agency|access-date=20 June 2023|archive-date=25 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230725112325/https://www.jewishagency.org/jewish-population-5782/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Geography==
===Ecoregions===
The Maghreb is divided into a [[Earth:Mediterranean climate|Mediterranean climate]] region in the north, and the [[Earth:Arid|arid]] Sahara in the south. The Maghreb's variations in elevation, rainfall, temperature, and soils give rise to distinct communities of plants and animals. The [[Organization:World Wide Fund for Nature|World Wide Fund for Nature]] (WWF) identifies several distinct [[Earth:Ecoregion|ecoregion]]s in the Maghreb.

====Mediterranean Maghreb====
[[File:Chamaerops humilis argentea1.jpg|thumb|[[Biology:Chamaerops|Dwarf fan palm]], grown in Maghrebi countries]]
The portions of the Maghreb between the Atlas Mountains and the [[Place:Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean Sea]], along with coastal Tripolitania and [[Place:Cyrenaica|Cyrenaica]] in Libya, are home to Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub. These ecoregions share many species of plants and animals with other portions of [[Place:Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean Basin]]. The southern extent of the Mediterranean Maghreb corresponds with the {{convert|100|mm|in|abbr=on}} [[Contour line#Precipitation and air moisture|isohyet]], or the southern range of the [[Biology:Olive|European Olive]] ''(Olea europea)''<ref>Dallman, Peter R. (1998) ''Plant Life in the World's Mediterranean Climates''. California Native Plant Society/University of California Press, Berkeley. {{ISBN|0-520-20809-9}}</ref> and [[Biology:Esparto|Esparto Grass]] ''(Stipa tenacissima)''.<ref name="Wickens">Wickens, Gerald E. (1998) ''Ecophysiology of Economic Plants in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands''. Springer, Berlin. {{ISBN|978-3-540-52171-6}}</ref>
* Mediterranean acacia-argania dry woodlands and succulent thickets (Morocco, Canary Islands (Spain), Western Sahara)
* Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia)
* Mediterranean woodlands and forests (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia)
* Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Spain)
* Mediterranean High Atlas juniper steppe (Morocco)

====Saharan Maghreb====
The Sahara extends across northern Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Its central part is hyper-arid and supports little plant or animal life, but the northern portion of the desert receives occasional winter rains, while the strip along the Atlantic coast receives moisture from marine fog, which nourishes a greater variety of plants and animals. The northern edge of the Sahara corresponds to the 100&nbsp;mm isohyet, which is also the northern range of the [[Biology:Date palm|date palm]] ''(Phoenix dactylifera)''.<ref name="Wickens"/>
* North Saharan steppe and woodlands: This ecoregion lies along the northern edge of the Sahara, next to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of the Mediterranean Maghreb and Cyrenaica. Winter rains sustain shrublands and dry woodlands that form a transition between the [[Earth:Mediterranean climate|Mediterranean climate]] regions to the north and the hyper-arid Sahara proper to the south. It covers 1,675,300 square km (646,800 square miles) in Algeria, [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]], [[Place:Libya|Libya]], Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=pa1321|name=North Saharan steppe and woodlands|access-date=31 December 2007}}</ref>
* Atlantic coastal desert: The Atlantic coastal desert occupies a narrow strip along the [[Earth:Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast, where fog generated offshore by the cool [[Earth:Canary Current|Canary Current]] provides sufficient moisture to sustain a variety of [[Biology:Lichen|lichen]]s, [[Biology:Succulent plant|succulents]], and shrubs. It covers {{convert|39,900|km2|sqmi}} in Western Sahara and Mauritania.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=pa1304|name=Atlantic coastal desert|access-date=31 December 2007}}</ref>
* Sahara desert: This ecoregion covers the hyper-arid central portion of the Sahara where rainfall is minimal and sporadic. Vegetation is rare, and this ecoregion consists mostly of sand dunes ''([[Earth:Erg (landform)|erg]])'', stone plateaus ''(hamada)'', gravel plains ''([[Earth:Desert pavement|reg]])'', dry valleys ''([[Earth:Wadi|wadi]])'', and salt flats. It covers 4,639,900 square km (1,791,500 square miles) of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Sudan.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=pa1327|name=Sahara desert|access-date=31 December 2007}}</ref>
* Saharan halophytics: Seasonally flooded saline depressions in the Maghreb are home to halophytic, or salt-adapted, plant communities. The Saharan halophytics cover 54,000 square km (20,800 square miles), including Tunisian salt lakes of central Tunisia, Chott Melghir in Algeria, and other areas of Egypt, Algeria, Mauritania, and Western Sahara.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=pa0905|name=Saharan halophytics|access-date=31 December 2007}}</ref>

==Culture==
[[File:Cuscus.jpg|thumb|Cuscus]]

The countries of the Maghreb share many cultural similarities and traditions. Among these is a culinary tradition that Habib Bourguiba defined as Western Arab, where bread or couscous are the staple foods, as opposed to Eastern Arab, where bread, crushed wheat or white rice are the staple foods.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} In terms of food, some similarities beyond the starches are found throughout the Arab world.

Among other cultural and artistic traditions, [[Engineering:Jewellery of the Berber cultures|jewellery of the Berber cultures]] worn by Amazigh women and made of silver,<ref>{{cite book |author1=Jonathan M. Bloom |author2=Sheila S. Blair |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC&pg=PA358 |title=Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set |publisher=Oxford University Press USA |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-530991-1 |location=New York |pages=378 |access-date=20 June 2023 |archive-date=20 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230620212532/https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC&pg=PA358 |url-status=live }}</ref> beads and other applications was a common trait of Berber identities in large areas of the Maghreb up to the second half of the 20th century.<ref>See, for example, Rabaté, Marie-Rose (2015). ''Les bijoux du Maroc: du Haut-Atlas à la vallée du Draa.'' Paris: ACR ed. and Rabaté, Marie-Rose; Jacques Rabaté; Dominique Champault (1996). ''Bijoux du Maroc: du Haut Atlas à la vallée du Draa''. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud/Le Fennec, as well as Gargouri-Sethom, Samira (1986). ''Le bijou traditionnel en Tunisie: femmes parées, femmes enchaînées.'' Aix-en-Provence: Edisud.</ref>

In 2020, couscous was added to [[Organization:UNESCO|UNESCO]]'s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.<ref>{{cite web |title=UNESCO adds couscous to list of intangible world heritage |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/16/unesco-adds-couscous-to-list-of-intangible-world-heritage |website=Al Jazeera English |date=December 16, 2020 |language=en |access-date=May 19, 2022 |archive-date=8 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808144248/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/16/unesco-adds-couscous-to-list-of-intangible-world-heritage |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Economy ==
=== Maghreb countries by GDP (PPP) ===
{| style="font-size:85%;"
|-
| width="33%" align="center" | '''List by the [[Organization:International Monetary Fund|International Monetary Fund]] (2013)'''
| width="33%" align="center" | '''List by the [[Organization:World Bank|World Bank]] (2013)'''
| width="33%" align="center" | '''List by the CIA World Factbook (2013)'''
|- valign="top"
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"
|- bgcolor="#ececec"
! Rank !! Country !! GDP (PPP) $M
|-
|44|| Algeria||285,541
|-
|58|| Morocco||179,240
|-
|70|| Tunisia||108,430
|-
|81|| [[Place:Libya|Libya]]||70,386
|-
|148|| Mauritania||8,241
|-
|}
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"
|- bgcolor="#ececec"
! Rank !! Country !! GDP (PPP) $M
|-
| 34 || Algeria || 421,626
|-
| 55 || Morocco || 241,757
|-
| 70 || Libya || 132,695
|-
| 75 || Tunisia || 120,755
|-
| 143 || Mauritania || 11,835
|-
|}
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"
|- bgcolor="#ececec"
! Rank !! Country !! GDP (PPP) $M
|-
| 45 || Algeria || 284,700
|-
| 58 || Morocco || 180,000
|-
| 68 || Tunisia || 108,400
|-
| 81 || Libya || 73,600
|-
| 151 || Mauritania || 8,204
|-
|}
|}

{| style="font-size:85%;"
|-
| width="33%" align="center" | '''List by the [[Organization:International Monetary Fund|International Monetary Fund]] (2019)'''
| width="33%" align="center" | '''List by the [[Organization:World Bank|World Bank]] (2017)'''
| width="33%" align="center" | '''List by the CIA World Factbook (2017)'''
|- valign="top"
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"
|- bgcolor="#ececec"
! Rank !! Country !! GDP (PPP) $M
|-
|35|| Algeria||681,396
|-
|54|| Morocco||328,651
|-
|76|| Tunisia||149,190
|-
|101|| [[Place:Libya|Libya]]||61,559
|-
|143|| Mauritania||19,811
|-
|}
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"
|- bgcolor="#ececec"
! Rank !! Country !! GDP (PPP) $M
|-
| 35 || Algeria || 631,150
|-
| 55 || Morocco || 298,230
|-
| 76 || Tunisia || 137,358
|-
| 78 || Libya || 125,142
|-
| 143 || Mauritania || 17,458
|-
|}
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"
|- bgcolor="#ececec"
! Rank !! Country !! GDP (PPP) $M
|-
| 35 || Algeria || 629,300
|-
| 55 || Morocco || 300,100
|-
| 76 || Tunisia || 135,900
|-
| 102 || Libya || 63,140
|-
| 148 || Mauritania || 17,370
|-
|}
|}

==Medieval regions==
* [[Place:Ifriqiya|Ifriqiya]] (currently Tunisia, Constantinois and Tripolitania)
* Djerid
* Sous
* M'zab
* Draa Valley
* Hodna
* [[Place:Rif|Rif]]
* Tamesna 
* Tripolitania 
* Maghreb al-Awsat (Central Maghreb – currently Northern Algeria)
* Maghreb al-Aqsa (Western Maghreb – currently Morocco)
* Maghreb al-Adna (Eastern Maghreb – currently Libya and Tunisia)

==See also==

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Organization:Arab Maghreb Union|Arab Maghreb Union]]
* [[Place:Barbary Coast|Barbary Coast]]
* Berber people
* History of Algeria
* History of Libya
* History of Mauritania
* History of Morocco
* History of Tunisia
* History of Western Sahara
* Maghreb French
* Maghreb toponymy
* Maghrebi script
* Maghrebi Arabs
* Maghrebi Jews
* [[Place:Mashriq|Mashriq]], "place of sunrise", which contrasts Maghreb, "place of sunset"
* Miloud
* Moors
* [[Earth:Occident|Occident]]
* Mughrabi (disambiguation)
* Plazas de soberanía
* [[Place:Tamazgha|Tamazgha]]
* [[Place:Sahel|Sahel]]
* Juliette Bessis, Maghreb scholar
{{div col end}}

==Notes and references==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Wikivoyage}}
* [http://www.north-africa.com/ Politics, economics, and human affairs analysis in the Maghhreb]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181212025015/http://www.radiomaghreb.net/ Maghreb Radio Stations]
* [http://www.magharebia.com/ News and Views of the Maghreb]
* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/127200908/Peacekeeping-mission-in-Maghreb-The-MINURSO Peacekeeping mission in Maghreb: The MINURSO]
* [https://www.statista.com/statistics/804633/total-population-of-the-mena-countries/ Total population of the MENA countries 2018]

{{Regions of the world|state=expanded}}


{{Coord|30|N|5|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

[[Category:Regions of Africa]]

{{Sourceattribution|Maghreb}}