North Africa or
Northern Africa is the northernmost region of
Africa.
Geopolitically, the
United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes seven countries Orleans territories;
Algeria,
Egypt,
Libya,
Morocco,
Sudan,
Tunisia, and
Western Sahara. Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and often
Mauritania and Western
Sahara are the
Maghreb, while Egypt and Sudan comprise the
Nile Valley (so named after the
Nile River, which has two tributaries; the
White Nile and
Blue Nile).
Egypt is a
transcontinental country because of the
Sinai Peninsula, which geographically lies in
West Asia. North Africa also includes a number of
Spanish possessions (
Ceuta and
Melilla and tiny Spanish islets off the coast of Morocco). The
Canary Islands and the
Portuguese Madeira Islands, in the
North Atlantic Ocean northwest of the African mainland, are sometimes included in considerations of the region.