The Maghreb (المغرب العربي al-MaÄ¡rib al-Ê¿ArabÄ«; also rendered Maghrib (or rarely Moghreb), meaning "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic, is the region of Africa north of the Sahara Desert and west of the Nile — specifically, coinciding with the Atlas Mountains. Geopolitically, the area includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, Western Sahara, and sometimes Mauritania, which is often placed in West Africa instead. An inhabitant of the Maghreb is called a Maghrebian or Maghrebi. It is worth noting however that Libya may also be described as part of the Mashriq which also encompasses Egypt.
Maghrebis are of mixed origins. They are mainly of Berber and/or Arab origins; the resulting mix is sometimes (particularly in Mauritania) termed Moorish. The Trans-Saharan trade brought in numerous West Africans, whose average contribution to the population increases as one goes south. In the northern coastal towns, conversely, several waves of European immigrants have influenced the population — notably Moriscos, Spanish Muslims who fled the Reconquista, Turks who came over with the Ottoman Empire, and French, Italians, Spanish, and others captured by the corsairs. Jewish communities have historically been present in the older cities, and have contributed to the wider gene pool through conversion. In Algeria especially, a large European minority, the "pied noirs", immigrated under French colonial rule; the overwhelming majority of these, however, left immediately following independence.
The region is almost entirely Muslim in religion, following the Sunni Maliki school, although small Ibadi communities remain in some areas. A strong tradition of venerating marabouts and saint's tombs is found throughout the region, still commemorated by the proliferation of "Sidi"s on any map of the region, though this tradition has substantially decreased over the twentieth century. A network of zaouias traditionally helped proliferate basic literacy and knowledge of Islam in rural regions.
