The Great Mosque of Algiers, also called the Djamaa el Djazaïr, has a minaret that reaches a record 867 feet above the city. The mosque complex was finished in 2019 at the cost of around $1 billion. At over 1.3 million square feet, it is able to accommodate 37,000 worshippers. The previous title of world’s tallest minaret was held by Casablanca’s Hassan II Mosque, at 689 feet tall.

Derived from the name of an Indigenous tribe based along the Gulf of Sidra (in the Mediterranean Sea), “Libya” was a word created by ancient Greeks. Still the name of the north-central African nation today, Libya was also used at times to reference the entire continent of Africa.

With an estimated fortune of over $400 billion at today’s valuations, Mali’s Mansa Musa is considered by some to be the richest man in history. Mali’s gold and salt resources in the 14th century were the basis of his wealth, and his empire owned roughly half of the gold in the world at the time.

Mount Toubkal in Morocco reaches a height of 13,671 feet, making it the highest peak in the Atlas range and the highest mountain in all of North Africa. Unlike the majority of the Atlas Mountains, Mount Toubkal is formed by volcanic rock. The mountain is part of the Toubkal National Park, which is covered by juniper forests.

The nation of Western Sahara is split into two regions: Saguia el-Hamra, which makes up the northern third of the country, and Rio de Oro (“River of Gold”), which covers the southern two-thirds. Río de Oro is bounded by Cape Blanco and Cape Bojador, covering 71,000 square miles. The climate in Río de Oro has an extreme range, from as low as 32 degrees Fahrenheit at night to as high as 122 degrees during the day.

Djerba is a 200-square-mile island in the Mediterranean Sea, connected to mainland Tunisia by a four-mile-long causeway. The island, the largest in North Africa, is located in the Gulf of Gabes, and its sandy beaches have made it a draw for tourists. Ancient Romans called it the “Land of the Lotus Eaters,” and control of the island changed hands from Roman to Arab to Norman to Sicilian to French and other powers over the centuries.

Green is a color strongly associated with Islam, and between the years of 1977 and 2011, green was the only color on the Libyan flag. During this time period, Libya was the only country with a simple one-color flag. In 2011, the flag was changed with the addition of three horizontal stripes (red, black, and green) and a central crescent moon symbol alongside a star.

The Sahara Desert covers parts of 11 countries: Egypt, Algeria, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Western Sahara, and Tunisia. Only about a quarter of the Sahara Desert is actually covered in sand, with the rest of it made up of salt flats, gravel plains, mountains, and even volcanoes. The highest point of the Sahara Desert is Chad’s Mount Koussi, which is an extinct volcano that reaches 11,200 feet above sea level.

The Medina of Fes El-Bali is a city home to over 150,000 people — and zero cars. According to Guinness World Records, this makes it the most populous car-free urban area in the world. The ancient city doesn’t have streets, and is instead connected by alleys that are only about two feet wide. Instead of cars, goods are transported by donkey or mule cart within the city.

Director George Lucas chose the southern deserts of Tunisia as the filming location for several scenes set in Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s childhood home. The Tunisian city of Tataouine served as a base for Lucas and his crew while they researched the area, and it inspired the planet’s name.

The Clash spelled it with a “C” when they wailed to “Rock the Casbah” in their 1982 hit, but you can still visit the famed Kasbah of Algiers on the coast of Algeria. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is an outstanding example of an early settlement in Mediterranean Muslim culture. The area, where nearly 50,000 people still reside, holds many preserved examples of traditional homes, palaces, hammams, and mosques.

Ceuta is a small military post and free port on the northern tip of Morocco that belongs to Spain. The autonomous region has been administered by Spain since 1580, when it passed from Portuguese control. Ceuta is one of five small areas that make up what is known as Spanish North Africa, including Alhucemas, Melilla, the Chafarinas Islands, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. They have a combined area of just 12 square miles.

Covering 919,600 square miles, Algeria is the largest nation in Africa and the 10th-largest country on Earth. Algeria borders Mali, Niger, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Mauritania. While Algeria covers a massive amount of land, its population density is relatively low — the country’s total population of about 45 million makes it about one-fifth the population size of Nigeria.

The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow channel that links the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with Spain to the north and Morocco to the south. The strait is 36 miles long, and at its thinnest point, only eight miles separate the continents of Europe and Africa. The eastern end of the strait is 14 miles between points known as the Pillars of Hercules.

Made up of semolina, which itself is composed of granules of durum wheat, couscous is considered the national dish of several North African countries — including Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. Couscous comes from the Berber words “seksu” or “kesksu,” which mean well-rolled, well-formed, or rounded. The dish can be topped with meat, spices, and various vegetables.

The Atlas Mountains stretch for over 1,200 miles, beginning in the Moroccan port of Agadir in the southwest and running through the Tunisian capital of Tunis in the northeast. The mountains separate the Mediterranean Sea basin and the Sahara Desert, forming a trade and cultural border between regions.

North Africa is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, and by some definitions extends as far as the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the east. Other definitions of North Africa limit the region to just Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, and place Egypt in the Middle East.

Unlike Morocco’s more populous cities of Casablanca and Marrakesh, Rabat isn’t typically on the radar for most visitors to the North African country. However, this city along Morocco’s Atlantic coast has been the country’s political center since 1912, when it was established as an administrative center under French rule. It became the national capital when Morocco gained independence in 1956 and was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.

There are approximately 313 million people worldwide that speak Arabic and 25 countries in which Arabic is an official or co-official language. That list includes the North African countries of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. Modern Standard Arabic is the official dialect in these countries, but there are many different regional dialects of Arabic spoken throughout North Africa.

There is some disagreement on what countries belong to the region of North Africa, but whatever nations you include, the Mediterranean Sea forms the region’s northern border. The African nations that border the Mediterranean include Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. Egypt’s city of Alexandria is the biggest of African Mediterranean cities, with a population of over 5 million.