what are Arab countries ?
Arabic Countries:
Arab world to all the countries in which Arabic-speaking majority, and also to all the member countries of the Arab League. By extension, this name also designates the global community of people who are the ones with the Arab-in its many variants, such as language.
The existence of the Arab world is a consequence of the Islamic conquest from the year 622, the first of the Hegira. The original Arabs inhabited the Arabian Peninsula and some surrounding regions. The mainly Muslim conquerors spread their religion, Islam, and Islam the official state language, Arabic. The implementation of both in the conquered areas varied populations. Thus, there were people who took both, as are most of the currently make up the Arab world, predominantly Muslim religion. There was, however, who adopted the Arabic language but not Islam, as in the case of many Christian minorities that exist today in many Arab countries (Maronites, Nestorians, Copts, Mozarabic in the missing Al-Andalus, etc.). . There were also others who adopted Islam but not the Arabic language: the case of non-Arab minorities in these countries (Berbers, Kurds, Nubians) or early region is conquered and maintained their original language, as with Iran , Turkey and Pakistan.
The concept of Arab, therefore, though it is closely tied to Islam in historical and cultural reasons, is purely linguistic and should not be confused with "Muslim", which is the community of people whose religious faith is Islam. In fact, 80% of Muslims are not Arabic-speaking, and moreover many Arabs are Christians.
The concept of Arab or Arab nation is relatively modern and is linked to European nationalisms that link the language with the political structure. Competes to some extent with the concept of Umma or community of Muslims.
The pan-Arabism or Arab nationalism is the ideology that seeks to establish the union of all Arab countries in a single political entity. He was responsible for the concept of Arab nation .
Geography :
The Arab world stretches over nearly 7,840 miles away from La Guera in Western Sahara to the eastern tip of Oman, near the city of Sur. It covers North Africa and the southwestern part of Asia called the Middle East. In Libya, the border is traditionally divided the Arab world in two: the Maghreb and Mashreq Poniente or Levante. Today, Libya is politically framed within the first Member State and the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA).
Its total area is of the magnitude of all Spanish speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere (12.9 million square kilometers), larger than Europe (10.4 million km ²), Canada (10 million km ²), China ( 9.6 million km ²), United States (9.6 million km ²) and Brazil (8.7 million km ²) but with a large percentage of land uninhabited desert. Only Russia with 17 million square kilometers (the largest country in the world) and the Anglophone North America (U.S. and Canada together, with 18 million km ²) are still major geo-cultural units.
The Arabic term often connotes the Middle East, but most populous region and the Arab world is North Africa. Its approximately 8 million square kilometers, including the two largest countries in the African continent, Sudan (2,505 million km ²) in the southeastern region and Algeria (2.381 million square kilometers) in the center, each around three-quarters the size of India, or about one and half times the size of Alaska, the largest state in the United States. The largest country in the Arab Middle East is Saudi Arabia (2.149 million square kilometers).
At the other extreme, the smallest Arab country in North Africa and the Middle East is Lebanon (10,452 km ²) and the smallest Arab country is the island of Baréin with a surface of 665 km ².
Notably, all Arab countries have as a sea border or the ocean, with the exception of the Arab region in northern Chad.
The Arab world is often referred to in Arabic with the words "Gulf to the Ocean" (min al-ila l-muhit jaliy من الخليج إلى المحيط), referring to two major geographical features that define it: the Persian Gulf ( "Arabian Gulf" in Arabic) to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
The types of relief are located in Arab countries are: Nafud deserts of Dahna and Al-Rub Al-Khali in the Arabian Peninsula and the Sahara Desert in northern Africa. In the Sahara beds are located Ahaggar and Aïr, and in the northwestern uplands of the Great Atlas. The mountain range that runs parallel to the Red Sea in the Arabian peninsula. The valley of the Nile in northeast Africa, and the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris in the Mesopotamian region.
States and territories :
Today, they are considered an integral part of the Arab world following member states of the Arab League:
Saudi Arabia
Baréin
taste
Comoros
Egypt
United Arab Emirates
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Morocco
Palestine
Mauritania
Oman
Syria
Somalia
Sudan
Tunisia
Yemen
Djibouti
The Western Sahara (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic), occupied by Morocco, is also part of the Arab World. Although not recognized by the Arab League, yes it is for many members of this country and many others in the world.
The Palestinian Authority is a member of the Arab League, but is not recognized by Israel or the United States. There are Arabic-speaking minorities in neighboring countries like Chad, Turkey, Iran, Israel and others. The total some 200 million Arabic speaking people.
The climate is predominantly dry desert. The temperature of the summer months in many places reaches to 49 º C and rainfall is very low, averaging less than 100 mm annually. Another feature of this type of climate is that it presents high temperatures during the day and intense cold at night. In coastal regions of the Arab Mediterranean climate.
The perennial rivers are scarce. The most important are: The Nile (the second longest in the world, with 6,671 km in length) in the northeastern region of Africa. The Tigris and Euphrates in the Mesopotamian region in Asia.
