Heather Bickenheuser
Zachariah Douglas
North African Region
Heather Bickenheuser
Zachariah Douglas
World Regional Geography
11/24/2003
Abstract
The North Africa Region consists of Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria. These countries are often grouped with the Middle East; however, this paper focuses on only the mainland countries of North Africa. Topics discussed include, physical environment, economic geography, social geography, including people and population, historical geography, and political geography. Throughout the paper there are comparisons of this region to the United States and comparisons of the individual countries to each other within the region. Lastly, development of the region is discussed. Included are individual perspectives of the region.
North African Region 1
Physical Environment 2
Economic Geography 3
Social Geography 4
Historical Geography and Land Degradation 6
Political Geography 6
Development 7
Perspectives and Conclusions 9
Physical Environment
All regions possess some degree of internal homogeneity, some characteristic that is typical of the region and less typical of other neighboring areas. The three most common climate types found in the North Africa region include desert, steppe (semi desert), and Mediterranean. The North Africa region commonly is pictured as one big desert. Aridity or dryness is the dominant climatic feature in North Africa (Clawson, 2001). The majority of the region is too dry to support any type of vegetation. Extensive areas of barren rock, gravel and sand are found in this region. Due to this dryness, water and oil are valuable resources that cause a problem for this region.
Despite the desert and semi desert conditions that are prevalent in this region, there are some important exceptions. All of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, except Libya and Egypt, have some subtropical, dry summer climates. This Mediterranean climate experiences rainfall mostly in the winter and early spring. While little or no rainfall in the summer and fall (Clawson, 2001).
Algeria’s climate is arid to semiarid; with mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers along the coast. On the high plateau, the winters are colder and the summers are hotter (World Fact Book, 2003). The terrain is mostly high plateau and desert. There are some mountains and a narrow discontinuous coastal plain. Egypt’s climate is desert with hot, dry summers and moderate winters. The terrain consists of vast desert plateau, interrupted by the Nile Valley and delta. An important geography note is that Egypt controls the Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal (World Fact Book, 2003).
Libya’s climate is Mediterranean along the coast; however, the interior is dry, extreme desert. The terrain is mostly barren, flat to undulating plains, plateaus, and depressions. An essential fact is that more than 90 percent of the country is desert or semi desert. Morocco’s climate is Mediterranean, but is becoming more extreme in the interior. The northern coast and interior are mountainous with large areas of bordering plateaus, interior valleys and rich coastal plains. Morocco is located along the Strait of Gibraltar, a strategic location. Tunisia’s climate is temperate in the north with mild rainy winters, and hot, dry summers. There is desert in the south. North Tunisia is mountainous, while the interior has a hot, dry central plain. The semiarid south merges into the Sahara desert. Tunisia is strategically located in the central Mediterranean (World Fact Book, 2003).
Economic Geography
North African countries, on average, fall into the middle-income group. Most of the regions countries regions import more than is exported. The average export is $20 million per year while the import is $25 million per year. Beginning in the late 1980s, many of the MENA economies were committed to far-reaching economic reforms to restore macroeconomic balances and promote private sector-led development. As a result, the late 1990s saw improvements with the average gross national income per capita for the region increasing from $1,800, in 1985 to $2,080 in 2000. The annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the region also remained steady at 3.1 percent for the past decade (Clawson, 2001).
Despite the improved performance in 2000, the region continues to face important economic and social challenges, the most significant of which being unemployment, with a conservative estimate of over 15 percent of the workforce. Over 20 percent of the workforce is unemployed in Algeria, Libya, and Morocco. Unemployment is only slightly less pressing in Tunisia. Jobless rates among youth are twice the regional average in some countries, requiring the region to create about 4 million jobs a year in the next few years to accommodate new entrants into the labor market.Upgrading the education system, therefore, is an important component of the World Bank’s strategy to promote knowledge-based economic development, which thrives on quality education and people’s creativity, and to facilitate the economic transition of countries in MENA.Population is the largest resource this region has and improving education could lead to a great improvement in the economy.
Social Geography
Through the five countries in this region a population of 147.3 million is held consistently, and in many countries growing at an average of two percent per year. Egypt has the stronghold in the region with a population of 66.4 million. As noted in the previous section population may be the regions greatest resource. With the proper education and employment the region could be on to a great developmental future. Population may be high in this region but there are many factors that need to be examined to determine the power of this population in the region. The United States has a reported a population for 2003 as approximately 290 million people, nearly doubling that of North Africa (World Factbook, 2003)
The largest ethnic group in North Africa is Arab. They account for over 50 percent of the inhabitants of the region. However, there are some other important ethnic groups in the region. Most of these are found in the higher mountainous areas where physical isolation has protected them from cultural assimilation (Clawson, 2001). For example, the majority of Morocco’s population is Berber. Algeria also has a significant number of Berber people. Tedas are living in Libya and Bejas are living in Egypt. As seen, there is some diversity within the ethnicity of the people of this region.
Ethnic groups in the United States are broken down into 77% white, 12.9% black, 4.2% Asian and a few other small categories (World Factbook, 2003). Here most of the population lives east of the Mississippi River. The uneven population distribution is due to many influences including natural environment, early settlement areas, and mobility (Clawson, 2001).
Religion is another important cultural aspect to look at when studying a region. In North Africa Islam is the dominant religion. For all the countries in North Africa about 98 percent of its inhabitants are Sunni Muslim. However, in Egypt, Coptic Christians make up about 6 percent, which is more than any other North African country (World Factbook, 2003). These numbers are very different for the United States. In the U.S. religion is split 56% Protestant, 28% Roman Catholic, 2% Jewish, 4% other, and 10% none (World Factbook, 2003).
Historical Geography and Land Degradation
The physical environment of North Africa has changed in major ways over thousands of years of human occupancy. Deforestation has been the greatest pressure on the region (Clawson, 2001). The forested upland valley bottoms are most vulnerable to deforestation. These uplands are very important to the lowlands. Originally large forests were found in the uplands. However, most of these forests have been removed, and only remnants survive in the higher and more inaccessible places or in protected lands near sacred sites. Both agricultural clearing and lowland cities’ heavy demand for timber placed heavy demands on the forest resources of the land (Clawson, 2001).
Political Geography
Formal colonialism of North Africa took place at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885. Despite the relatively short time between colonization and the 1950s to 1960s, when most African countries gained their independence, the imprints of colonialism were deep. France controlled Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, while Italy controlled Libya and the United Kingdom controlled Egypt (World Fact Book, 2003).
Country / Government Type / Independence Day / Controlled by / Capital / SuffrageAlgeria / Republic / March 2, 1956 / France / Algiers / 18 years
Tunisia / Republic / March 20, 1956 / France / Tunis / 20 years
Libya / Jamahiriya / December 24, 1951 / Italy / Tripoli / 18 years
Egypt / Republic / February 28, 1922 / United Kingdom / Cairo / 18 years
Morocco / Constitutional Monarchy / July 5, 1962 / France / Rabat / 18 years
United States / Constitution / July 4, 1776 / Great Britain / Washington, D.C. / 18 years
Table 1: Political Indicators
Morocco’s government is different despite being colonized by the French, who also had control over Algeria and Tunisia. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy and is governed under a 1972 constitution as revised in 1992. The king holds effective power and appoints the prime minister. The legal system is based on French civil law, Islamic law and Spanish civil law. Morocco is a member of the United Nations and the Arab League (Zartman, 1982).
Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt have a republic government. Algeria’s executive branch is headed by a president, who is popularly elected for a five year term. The prime minister is appointed by the president. Algeria’s legal system is based on French and Islamic law (World Factbook, 2003). Egypt is different than other countries in this region. Egypt gained its independence from the United Kingdom in February 1922. The legal system is based on English common law, Islamic law and Napoleonic codes. Tunisia is a republic and is governed under a 1959 constitution that has been revised in 1988. The legal system is based on French civil law system and Islamic law. Similar to Algeria, a president is elected by popular vote every five years.
Libya’s government is Jamahiriya (a state of the masses) in theory. It is governed by the populace through local councils, in fact, a military dictatorship. The legal system is based on Italian civil law system and Islamic law.
The United States of America is a constitution-based federal republic with strong democratic tradition. The US gained its independence from Great Britain in July of 1776. The legal system is based on English common law. President and Vice President are elected on the same ticket, every four years (World Factbook, 2003).
Development
The World Bank classifies all the countries making up the region of North Africa as less developed countries (LCD’s). Many factors have contributed to the development progress of these countries. In particular, Egypt has been able to improve the well being of its people over the last three decades dramatically. The education and health service provisions have improved considerably for the people of Egypt. Life expectancy increased from 53 to 67.1 years, and the infant mortality rate declined from 110 to 35, deaths out of 1000 live births (Juma, 2003). At this time primary school enrollment increased from 63 to 93 percent. From 1980 to 2001, the fertility rate fell from 2.5 to 2.1 percent (Juma, 2003).
From independence in 1962, until the early 1980s, Algeria boasted one of the best social and physical infrastructures in the region. Compromised of extensive social protection, large investments in human development such as health and education services, and a relatively large middle class helped their development progress (Juma, 2003). However, collapsing oil prices in 1986 and continuing political and economic crisis during the 1990s has deterred further development in the region. Table 2 shows a comparison of the North African countries with the United States of America. The data was found at the CIA website under The World Factbook.
Development Indicators as of 2003 / Exports as Percent / Percent of Pop. w/ / Literacy RatesCountry / Per Capita GDP / of GDP / Access to Sanitation / Life Expectancy / Male/Female
United States / $37,600 / 6.60% / 99% / 77.14 years / 97%, 97%
Algeria / $5,300 / 11.70% / 91% / 70.54 years / 78.8%, 61%
Egypt / $3,900 / 2.60% / 88% / 70.41 years / 68.3%, 46.9%
Libya / $7,600 / 2.90% / 98% / 76.07 years / 92.4%, 72%
Morocco / $3,900 / 6.50% / 58% / 70.04 years / 64.1%, 39.4%
Tunisia / $6,500 / 10.80% / 80% / 74.4 years / 84%, 64.4%
Table 2: Development Indicators
Perspectives and Conclusions
The North African Region has many similarities between its countries. Religion is almost homogenous across the area, and is very different than that of the United States. This region is facing many hardships and challenges in order to improve the living standards and development of the region. They must focus on education and some countries need to work on access to sanitation to improve the living conditions for the population. Poverty and unemployment are abundant in this area, slowing down the developmental process.
Works Cited
Clawson, D. (2001). World regional geography: a development approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Juma, S. (2003). Middle East and North African Region. The World Bank Group. Retrieved Oct. 21, 2003, http://www-wds.worldbank.org
Rand McNally (1998). Atlas of World Geography. Prentice-Hall.
(2003). The World Factbook. Retrieved Oct. 21, 2003, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html
Zartman, I. (1982). Political Elites in Arab North Africa. New York, NY: Longman, Inc.
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