The Arab World & Arab Countries

[Mo Madhoun]

Arab countries are a group of countries that share common interests, goals, and culture. The Arab world consists of the 22 Arab countries which are members of the Arab League. A majority of these countries are located in Western Asia, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa; the southernmost member, the Comoros, is an island country off the coast of East Africa.

Arab World Geography

The region stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Indian Ocean in the southeast. The eastern part of the Arab world is known as the Mashriq, and the western part as the Maghreb. Arabic Language is used as the lingua franca throughout the Arab world.

The Arab World stretches across more than 13,000,000 square kilometers. The term “Arab” often connotes the Arabian Peninsula, but the larger (and more populous) part of the Arab World is North Africa. Its eight million square kilometers include two of the largest countries of the African continent.

Many of the modern borders of the Arab World were drawn by European imperial powers during the 19th and early 20th century. However, some of the larger states (in particular Egypt and Syria) have historically maintained geographically definable boundaries, on which some of the modern states are roughly based. Largest cities in the Arab world include Cairo, Baghdad, Riyadh, and Khartoum.

Demographics

The majority of people in the Arab world adhere to Islam, and the religion has official status in most countries. The Arab League was formed in 1945 to represent the interests of the Arabs, and especially to pursue the political unification of the Arab world, a project known as Pan-Arabism.

Different forms of government are represented in the Arab World: Some of the countries are monarchies: Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The other Arab countries are all republics such as Egypt, Libya, and Iraq.

The 22 members of the Arab League as of 2018 were Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

One of the most famous Arabic cities in the world is Dubai. The city of Dubai is one of the United Arab Emirates. it is located in the southeast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dubai government aims to attract 20 million visitors annually. the most important tourist attractions in the city of Dubai are: Burj Al Arab, Burj Khalifa, The Palm Island, The Dubai Fountain, Palm Jumeirah.