Geography of the Arab League

Geography of the Arab League

Continent	Asia and Africa
Area	Ranked 2nd
• Total	13,333,296 km^2 (5,148,014 sq mi)
Highest point	Jbel Toubkal 4,165 m[1]
Lowest point	Lac Assal −155 m[2]
Longest river	Nile 6,853 km

The Arab League is a regional organization of Arab states in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean. It covers a combined area of 13 million km². The League extends from Morocco in the west, southward to the Comoros, eastward to Somalia, and northward to Iraq.

Geography of each state

The Arab League has 22 member states. See the geography of each state:

Algeria Bahrain Comoros Djibouti Egypt Iraq

Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Mauritania Morocco

Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Somalia Sudan

Syria Tunisia UAE Yemen

Regions

The Arab League has a high population density, with an estimated 350 million inhabitants. Geographical terrains in the area can be divided into three: the large arid desert covering most of it, the fertile south and north, and finally the high mountains of the Atlas, Ahaggar, Zagros and the Anti-Lebanon mountains, along with the Hijaz Mountain range.

The Arab League can also be divided into two main geographical regions: an Asian part, which has 12 states, and a larger African part, which has 10 states. Adjacent to the League are 14 land neighbors and 4 sea neighbors.

Culturally, the Arab states can be divided into 6 regions:

• The Maghreb, which includes Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
• The Mashriq, which includes Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan.
• The Nile Valley, which includes the Fertile lands of Egypt and Sudan.
• The Arab Gulf, which includes the oil rich states of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq.
• The Bab-el-Mandeb, which includes Yemen, Somalia and Djibouti.
• The Indian Ocean, which includes the Comoros.

Geographically, the Arab League member states are further subdivided into four regions:

Western Asia Bahrain Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria UAE Yemen

North Africa Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia

Horn of Africa Djibouti Somalia

Indian Ocean islands Comoros

Landscape

Aerial View of the Arab world

Most of the Arab League falls in the driest region of the world. Almost 80% of the Arab world is covered in desert, stretching from Mauritania and Morocco to Oman and the UAE. The second most common terrain is the semi-arid terrain, which found in all Arab countries except Lebanon and Comoros.

Several deserts span the Arab League:

Africa Sahara Desert Bayuda Desert Eastern Desert Libyan Desert Danakil Desert Nubian Desert White Desert Eritrean coastal desert

Asia Arabian Desert Ad-Dahna Desert Naqab Desert Nefud Desert Rub' al Khali Desert Syrian Desert Tihamah Desert

The highest point in the Arab League is in Morocco called Jbel Toubkal, standing 4,165m tall, making it the 40th highest place on earth, and 6th in Africa,^[1] next comes Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb (at 3,666 m)^[1] in Yemen and Cheekha Dar (at 3,611 m)^[3] in Iraq.

The lowest point in the Arab League is the Dead sea between Jordan and Palestine. At 1,312 feet (400 meters) below sea level it is also the lowest point on Earth.^[4]

Climate

The hottest temperature recorded in the Arab League took place in Sudan on June 25, 2010, reaching 49.6 °C (121.3 °F) in Dongola, breaking a record set in 1987.^[5]

See also

• Geography of the Horn of Africa
• Geography of North Africa
• Geography of West Asia

References

1. "Africa Ultra-Prominences" Peaklist.org. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
2. Warren, John K. (23 February 2006). Evaporites: sediments, resources and hydrocarbons. Birkhäuser. p. 280. ISBN 978-3-540-26011-0. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
3. "Cheekha Dar, Iraq/Iran" Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
4. About: What is the lowest point in the world?
5. Masters, Jeff. "NOAA: June 2010 the globe's 4th consecutive warmest month on record". Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog. Weather Underground.