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Algeria
PHYSICAL SETTING
Unavailable
Figure 4. Topography and Drainage
Algeria comprises 2,381,741 square kilometers, more than four-fifths
of which is desert. Its Arabic name, Al Jazair (the islands),
is believed to derive from the rocky islands along the Mediterranean
coastline. The northern portion, an area of mountains, valleys,
and plateaus between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert,
forms an integral part of the section of North Africa known as
the Maghrib
(see Glossary). This area includes Morocco, Tunisia, and the northwestern
portion of Libya known historically as Tripolitania (see
fig. 4).
Data as of December 1993
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