Maghrib

Maghrib

 or Maghreb

Region of North Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It comprises the coastal plains of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and, often, Libya. In earlier times the term sometimes included parts of Muslim Spain. During Roman times the region was called Africa Minor, but, following the Muslim conquests of the 7th–8th centuries, it came to be known as the Maghrib (“West”) inasmuch as it comprised the most westerly reaches of the Muslim world. The region has since developed its own unique culture within the larger Islamic world. Berbers and Arabs are the two main ethnic groups. Arabic is the predominant language. Berber and French are also widely spoken.

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Maghreb, Maghrib

NW Africa, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and sometimes Libya

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Maghrib 

(Maghreb; Arabic, “west”), a region in Africa, composed of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco (the Maghrib proper) and also Libya, Mauritania, and the territory of Western Sahara, which together form the Great Maghrib (as opposed to the Arab east, the Mashriq). In the Middle Ages, Muslim Spain (Andalusia) and other possessions of the former Arab Caliphate in the western Mediterranean (the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, and Sicily) were also considered part of the Maghrib. Along with the Arabic literary language, Arabic dialects are widespread in the Maghrib, including the Hasania dialect (in Mauritania and the Western Sahara), Berber dialects, and the so-called Maltese language (with a writing system based on the Latin alphabet).

After Morocco and Tunisia achieved independence (1956), the king of Morocco, Muhammad V, and the prime minister of Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba, proposed the idea of creating a regional association, the Great Arab Maghrib. Conferences held in Tangier (1958) and Rabat (1963) studied the problem of unification. In 1964 the Maghrib Permanent Consultative Committee, which included the ministers of the economy of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, was established. From 1964 to 1968, branch commissions were established under the auspices of the committee, and a number of agreements on cooperation of the Maghrib countries in various economic spheres were signed. Mauritania has been participating in the committee (as an ob-server) since 1970. Libya left all of the regional organizations of the Maghrib in 1970.