The Maghreb and Atlas Mountains

The Maghreb, from the Arabic term for "the place of sunset" or "the west," denotes the region of northwestern Africa comprising Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, sometimes extended to include Mauritania. Its defining physical feature is the Atlas mountain system, a roughly 2,500-kilometer chain running from Morocco's Atlantic coast through Algeria to Tunisia, subdivided into the High Atlas, whose peak Toubkal reaches 4,167 meters, the highest point in North Africa, along with the Middle Atlas, the Anti-Atlas, the Tell Atlas nearer the Mediterranean coast, and the Saharan Atlas marking the transition toward the desert interior. This mountain barrier separates a relatively well-watered Mediterranean coastal strip, where most of the Maghreb's population and agriculture are concentrated, from the arid Saharan plateau to the south, and its winter snowpack feeds rivers that irrigate valleys such as Morocco's Souss and the Algerian Tell.