Northwest Africa
Northwest Africa is the region of Northern Africa, west of Egypt and the Nile Valley. The desert plains and hills of the Sahara dominate the landscape along with the rocky uplands of the Atlas Mountains in the north (the highest point, Mount Toubkal, reaches a peak of 4167 metres) and the high Ahaggar Mountains (or the Hoggar) in southeast Algeria rises to 2918 metres at Mount Tahat. Very few people live in the inhospitable interior and the most populous parts of the region are found along the milder Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts.
Countries within this region include Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia and Western Sahara.
The economies of Algeria and Libya were transformed by the discovery of oil and natural gas reserves in the deserts. Morocco's major exports are phosphates and agricultural produce, and as in Tunisia, the tourist industry is essential to the economy. This has been greatly affected recently due to political unrest, and ongoing civil unrest in the region.