North Africa

• Consists of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan • The three main geographic features are: ØSahara Desert ØAtlas Mountains ØNile River and the delta Atlas Mountains

• Africa’s longest mountain range • Extends from southwest Morocco to northeast Tunisia • The Atlas Mountain Range consists of the Tell Atlas and the Saharan Atlas • The two ranges form natural borders along the Mediterranean coast and the Sahara Desert • In between the two regions is the Chelif River valley Sahara Desert

• Largest, hot desert in the world • Its area is 9,200,000 square kilometers • Comparable to the area of the United States • Makes up 31% of Africa • The Sahara is located in the horse latitudes which are subtropical latitudes that create high pressure • This causes air to sink and prevents evaporating water from rising, so clouds are unable to form Sahara Desert

• Harsh climate of the Sahara is characterized by extremely little rain and extremely high temperatures year round • Their primary source of rain is the Intertropical Convergence Zone • It brings a very brief rainy season in the southern Sahara • The average high temperatures are between 100 and 104ºF during its hottest months • On average, it is between 23-36 degrees cooler at night in the Sahara

Nile River and the delta

• 4,160 miles long and is the world’s longest river • Some of the world’s oldest civilizations originated along the river bank • 90% of people in Egypt live along the river or in the delta Human Geography

• Northern Africa was originally settled by hunters & gatherers about 10,000 years ago • Some of the first people to domesticate plants and animals • The ancient Egyptians developed in the Nile River Valley around 6,000 years ago and they developed sophisticated irrigation systems to water their crops • They also developed a 365 day calendar and hieroglyphics • Built pyramids as tombs for their rulers and showed off very advanced math and engineering skills North Africa Today

• There are two main ethnic groups today in North Africa • The Berbers are indigenous to North Africa and are mostly farmers • They historically were nomads who moved place to place with their animals in search of grass and water • The other major ethnic group is the Arab people • Migrated from the Arabian Peninsula around 600 AD • The Arab people are united by their language • Many were bedouins were migrated from southwest Asia in search of water