'Northwest Africa' or 'Northwestern Africa' is a variably defined
region of the
African
continent. The term is commonly used in various disciplines: geopolitics, archaeology, anthropology, and genetics. Incorporating
cardinal directions, the term is preferred over use of
Maghreb and similar terms possibly due to the cultural underpinnings of those terms.
The countries and territories in Northwestern Africa include:
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Algeria
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Libya
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Morocco
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Mauritania
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Tunisia
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Western Sahara
Maghreb,
Barbary and
Tamazgha are more or less synonymous with Northwestern Africa.