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62-432: It is one of the largest seasonal saline wetlands having an average water depth between 0.5 and 1.5 metres. By October–November each year, rain water dries up and the entire area turns into saline desert. The sanctuary supports a wide variety of water birds and mammalian wildlife. It encloses a true saline desert where thousands of greater flamingo ( Phoenicopterus roseus ) nest in the world-famous ‘Flamingo City’ located in

124-405: A derivative of Arabic . However, these areas are not generally considered part of North Africa, but rather Southern Europe, due to their proximity to mainland Europe and their European-based cultures and religion. The Maghreb or western North Africa on the whole is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers and their ancestors since at least 10,000 B.C., while the eastern part of North Africa or

186-905: A coastal state in the west of India, flamingos can be observed at the Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary , Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary , Flamingo City , and in the Thol Bird Sanctuary . They remain there during the entire winter season. The greater flamingo resides in mudflats and shallow coastal lagoons with salt water. Using its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, then sucks water through its bill and filters out small shrimp , brine shrimp , other crustaceans, seeds (such as rice ), blue-green algae , microscopic organisms (such as diatoms ), insect larvae (such as chironomids ), and mollusks . The greater flamingo feeds with its head down, its upper jaw movable and not rigidly fixed to its skull. Like all flamingos, this species lays

248-403: A continental scale rather than being confined to a particular corner of Africa. In September 2019, scientists reported the computerized determination, based on 260 CT scans , of a virtual skull shape of the last common human ancestor to modern humans / H. sapiens , representative of the earliest modern humans, and suggested that modern humans arose between 260,000 and 350,000 years ago through

310-613: A date of up to 1.8 million BCE. Recent finds in Jebel Irhoud in Morocco have been found to contain some of the oldest Homo sapiens remains; This suggests that, rather than arising only in East Africa around 200,000 years ago, early Homo sapiens may already have been present across the length of Africa 100,000 years earlier. According to study author Jean-Jacques Hublin, "The idea is that early Homo sapiens dispersed around

372-612: A distinctive Maghrebi ancestry formed from a mixture of Near Eastern and African ancestry, which is still found as a part of the genome of modern Northwest Africans. Later during the Neolithic , from around 7,500 years ago onwards, there was a migration into Northwest Africa of European Neolithic Farmers from the Iberian Peninsula (who had originated in Anatolia several thousand years prior), as well as pastoralists from

434-597: A merging of populations in East and Southern Africa . The cave paintings found at Tassili n'Ajjer , north of Tamanrasset, Algeria, and at other locations depict vibrant and vivid scenes of everyday life in central North Africa during the Neolithic Subpluvial period (about 8000 to 4000 BCE). Some parts of North Africa began to participate in the Neolithic revolution in the 6th millennium BCE, just before

496-639: A narrow fertile thread that runs along the length of the country. Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains, the Nile Valley and Delta , and the Mediterranean coast are the main sources of fertile farming land. A wide variety of valuable crops including cereals, rice and cotton, and woods such as cedar and cork , are grown. Typical Mediterranean crops, such as olives, figs, dates and citrus fruits, also thrive in these areas. The Nile Valley

558-575: A second official language after Arabic. French also serves as an administrative language in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The most spoken dialects are Maghrebi Arabic , a form of ancient Arabic dating back from the 8th century AD, and Egyptian Arabic . The largest and most numerous ethnic group in North Africa are the Arabs . In Algeria and Morocco, Berbers are the second largest ethnic group after

620-410: A single chalky-white egg on a mud mound. The typical lifespan in captivity, according to Basel Zoo , is over 60 years. In the wild, the average lifespan is 30 – 40 years. Adult greater flamingos have few natural predators. Eggs and chicks may be eaten by raptors, crows, gulls, and the marabou stork ( Leptoptilos crumenifer ); an estimated half of the predation of greater flamingo eggs and chicks

682-648: Is "no or scanty evidence" of human presence in the Egyptian Nile Valley during these periods, which may be due to problems in site preservation. Several scholars have argued that the African origins of the Egyptian civilisation derived from pastoral communities which emerged in both the Egyptian and Sudanese regions of the Nile Valley in the fifth millennium BCE. When Egypt entered the Bronze Age,

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744-662: Is a significant minority of Coptic Christians . The Copts are the largest Christian denomination in the Middle East and North Africa . The Maghreb formerly had a significant Jewish population, almost all of whom emigrated to France or Israel when the North African nations gained independence. Prior to the modern establishment of Israel, there were about 500,000 Jews in Northern Africa, including both Sephardi Jews (refugees from Spain, France and Portugal from

806-454: Is from the yellow-legged gull ( Larus michahellis ). The primary threats to flamingo populations are bacteria, toxins, and pollution in water supplies, which is usually run-off from manufacturing companies, and encroachment on their habitat. The first recorded zoo hatch was in 1959 at Zoo Basel. In Zoo Basel's breeding program , over 400 birds have been hatched with between 20 and 27 per year since 2000. The oldest known greater flamingo

868-775: Is heavily patrolled by the Border Security Force in India with much of this sanctuary being closed to civilians after crossing the India Bridge at Kala dungar (Black hill), Khavda . Tourists and researchers can only enter here with special permission from the BSF. In the area controlled and patrolled by the Border Security Force (BSF) after crossing the "India Bridge", several hundred square kilometers of Rann appear like pure white snow with heavy deposits of salt crystals. The marshy Rann here becomes white and flat as far as

930-641: Is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of the Western Sahara in the west, to Egypt and Sudan's Red Sea coast in the east. The most common definition for the region's boundaries includes Algeria , Egypt , Libya , Morocco , Tunisia , and Western Sahara , the territory disputed between Morocco and the partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic . The United Nations ' definition includes all these countries as well as

992-642: Is particularly fertile and most of Egypt lives close to the river. Elsewhere, irrigation is essential to improve crop yields on the desert margins. The inhabitants of North Africa are roughly divided in a manner corresponding to the principal geographic regions of North Africa: the Maghreb , the Nile valley, and the Sahel . The countries making up North Africa all have Modern Standard Arabic as their official language. Additionally, Algeria and Morocco recognize Berber as

1054-648: Is shot on location in the Great Rann of Kutch and other locations in the Kutch district of Gujarat , India. This film is inspired by the famous story by Keki N. Daruwalla and set in the Great Rann of Kutch. It is titled "LOVE ACROSS THE SALT DESERT" which is included as one of the short stories in the School Standard XII syllabus English text book of NCERT in India. From the city of Bhuj various ecologically rich and wildlife conservation areas of

1116-948: Is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. Common in the Old World , they are found in Northern (coastal) and Sub-Saharan Africa , the Indian Subcontinent (south of the Himalayas ), the Middle East , the Levant , the Persian Gulf , the Gulf of Aden , the Red Sea , and the Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe . The greater flamingo was described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. It

1178-584: The Afroasiatic language family . The Tuareg Berber languages are notably more conservative than those of the coastal cities. Over the years, Berbers have been influenced by contact with other cultures: Egyptians , Greeks , Punic people , Romans , Vandals , Arabs , Europeans , and Africans . The cultures of the Maghreb and the Sahara therefore combines Arab, indigenous Berber and African elements. In

1240-804: The Camargue , Greece , Italy , Slovenia , Malta , Monaco , Montenegro , North Macedonia , Portugal , Spain and the Balearic Islands , and Turkey . The most northern breeding spot is the Zwillbrocker Venn in western Germany , close to the border with the Netherlands . They have been recorded breeding in the United Arab Emirates at three different locations in the Abu Dhabi Emirate. In Gujarat ,

1302-607: The Canary Islands , which are all closer or as close to the African continent than Europe. Northwest Africa has been inhabited by Berbers since the beginning of recorded history , while the eastern part of North Africa has been home to the Egyptians . In the seventh and eighth centuries, Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula swept across the region during the early Muslim conquests . The Arab migrations to

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1364-432: The Levant , both of whom also significantly contributed to the ancestry of modern Northwest Africans. The proto-Berber tribes evolved from these prehistoric communities during the late Bronze - and early Iron ages. The majority of the people of the Maghreb and the Sahara regions speak varieties of Arabic and almost exclusively follow Islam. The Arabic and Berber languages are distantly related, both being members of

1426-600: The Middle Ages much of the area was loosely under the control of the Ottoman Empire . The Barbary pirates operated from the largely independent Barbary states located on the coast of North Africa. The Spanish Empire conquered several coastal cities between the 16th and 18th centuries. After the 19th century, the imperial and colonial presence of France , the United Kingdom , Spain and Italy left

1488-572: The Middle East / West Asia , a process that began with the Neolithic Revolution c.  10,000 BC and pre Dynastic Egypt. The countries of North Africa are also a major part of the Arab world . The Islamic and Arab influence in North Africa has remained dominant ever since, with the region being major part of the Muslim world . North Africa is associated with the Middle East in

1550-625: The Nile River , Libya , Morocco , and Tunisia ), portions of Sub-Saharan Africa ( Kenya , Madagascar , Rwanda , Tanzania , Uganda ), Southern Asia (coastal Bangladesh , Pakistan , India, and Sri Lanka ), the Middle East (Bahrain, Cyprus , Iraq , Iran , Oman , Israel , Kuwait , Lebanon , Qatar , and the United Arab Emirates ) and Southern Europe (including Albania , Bulgaria , Corsica , Croatia , France in

1612-649: The Nile Valley has mainly been home to the Egyptians and Nubians . Ancient Egyptians record extensive contact in their Western desert with people that appear to have been Berber or proto-Berber. As the Tassili n'Ajjer and other rock art findings in the Sahara have shown, the Sahara also hosted various populations before its rapid desertification in 3500 B.C and even today continues to host small populations of nomadic trans-Saharan peoples . Laboratory examination of

1674-523: The Strait of Gibraltar , whereupon they overcame the fickle Roman defense. The loss of North Africa is considered a pinnacle point in the fall of the Western Roman Empire as Africa had previously been an important grain province that maintained Roman prosperity despite the barbarian incursions, and the wealth required to create new armies. The issue of regaining North Africa became paramount to

1736-742: The Sudan . The African Union defines the region similarly, only differing from the UN in excluding the Sudan. The Sahel , south of the Sahara Desert , can be considered as the southern boundary of North Africa. North Africa includes the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla , and the plazas de soberanía . It can also be considered to include Malta , as well as other Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish regions such as Lampedusa and Lampione , Madeira , and

1798-748: The Uan Muhuggiag child mummy and Tin Hanakaten child, suggested that the Central Saharan peoples from the Epipaleolithic , Mesolithic , and Pastoral periods possessed dark skin complexions. The archaeological evidence from the Holocene period has shown that Nilo-Saharan speaking groups had populated the central and southern Sahara before the influx of Berber and Arabic speakers, around 1500 years ago, who now largely populate

1860-509: The carotenoid pigments in the organisms that live in their feeding grounds. Secretions of the uropygial gland also contain carotenoids. During the breeding season, greater flamingos increase the frequency of their spreading uropygial secretions over their feathers and thereby enhance their color. This cosmetic use of uropygial secretions has been described as applying "make-up". It is found in parts of Northern Africa (including coastal areas of northern Algeria , Egypt further inland along

1922-488: The hammada , a level rocky plateau without soil or sand; and the reg , a desert pavement . The Sahara covers the southern part of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, and most of Libya. Only two regions of Libya are outside the desert: Tripolitania in the northwest and Cyrenaica in the northeast. Most of Egypt is also desert, with the exception of the Nile River and the irrigated land along its banks. The Nile Valley forms

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1984-420: The plumage is pinkish-white, but the wing coverts are red and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. The bill is pink with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking. Chicks are covered in gray fluffy down. Subadult flamingos are paler with dark legs. Adults feeding chicks also become paler, but retain the bright pink legs. The coloration comes from

2046-668: The Arab majority. Arabs constitute 70% to 80% of the population of Algeria, 92% 97% of Libya, 67% to 70% of Morocco and 98% of Tunisia's population. The Berbers comprise 20% of Algeria, 10% of Libya, 35% of Morocco and 1% of Tunisia's population. The region is predominantly Muslim with a Jewish minority in Morocco and Tunisia , and significant Christian minority—the Copts —in Egypt , Algeria , Morocco, Libya, and Tunisia. In 2001,

2108-674: The Greater Rann, are plenty of fossils of vertebrates , invertebrates and plants. Fossils of dinosaurs , crocodiles (of the 'Dinosaurian period') and whales (dating from the Tertiary period ) have been recorded to have been recovered from here. Fossilized trees and forests are found here in the rocks belonging to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossils of invertebrates here include those of sea urchins , ammonites and such others. J. P. Dutta 's Bollywood film Refugee

2170-590: The Kutch / Kachchh district can be visited such as Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary , Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary, Narayan Sarovar Sanctuary , Kutch Bustard Sanctuary , Banni Grasslands Reserve and Chari-Dhand Wetland Conservation Reserve etc. Across the border in Pakistan , the Rann of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary preserves 566,375 hectares. Greater flamingo The greater flamingo ( Phoenicopterus roseus )

2232-399: The Maghreb began immediately after, which started a long process of Islamization and Arabization that has defined the cultural landscape of North Africa ever since. Many but not all Berbers and Egyptians gradually merged into Arab - Islamic culture . The countries and people of North Africa share a large amount of their genetic, ethnic, cultural and linguistic identity and influence with

2294-514: The Maghreb remained focused on small-scale subsistence in small, highly mobile groups. Some Phoenician and Greek colonies were established along the Mediterranean coast during the 7th century BCE. The most notable nations of antiquity in western North Africa are Carthage , Numidia and Mauretania . The Phoenicians colonized much of North Africa including Carthage and parts of present-day Morocco (including Chellah , Essaouira and Volubilis ). The Carthaginians were of Phoenician origin, with

2356-633: The Renaissance era) as well as indigenous Mizrahi Jews . Today, less than 3,000 remain in the region, almost all in Morocco and Tunisia, and are mostly part of a French-speaking urban elite. (See Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries .) Due to the recent African origin of modern humans , the history of Prehistoric North Africa is important to the understanding of pre-hominid and early modern human history in Africa. Some researchers have postulated that North Africa rather than East Africa served as

2418-554: The Roman myth of their origin being that Dido , a Phoenician princess, was granted land by a local ruler based on how much land she could cover with a piece of cowhide. She ingeniously devised a method to extend the cowhide to a high proportion, thus gaining a large territory. She was also rejected by the Trojan prince Aeneas according to Virgil , thus creating a historical enmity between Carthage and Rome , as Aeneas would eventually lay

2480-633: The Romans, resulting in the Carthaginian North African territories becoming the Roman province of Africa in 146 B.C. This led to tension and eventually conflict between Numidia and Rome. The Numidian wars are notable for launching the careers of both Gaius Marius , and Sulla , and stretching the constitutional burden of the Roman republic as Marius required a professional army, something previously contrary to Roman values, to overcome

2542-420: The Sahara in the modern era. After migrating to North Africa in the 1st millennium BC, Semitic Phoenician settlers from the Levant established over 300 coastal colonies throughout the region and built a powerful empire that controlled most of the region from the 8th century BC until the middle of the 2nd century BC. Several waves of Arab migrations to the Maghreb began in the 7th century, including

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2604-444: The Sahara, the distinction between sedentary oasis inhabitants and nomadic Bedouin Arabs and Tuaregs is particularly marked. Egyptians over the centuries have shifted their language from Egyptian (in its late form, varieties of Coptic ) to modern Egyptian Arabic while retaining a sense of national identity that has historically set them apart from other people in the region. Most Egyptians are Sunni Muslim , although there

2666-696: The Western Empire, but was frustrated by Vandal victories. The focus of Roman energy had to be on the emerging threat of the Huns . In 468 AD, the Romans made one last serious attempt to invade North Africa but were repelled. This perhaps marks the point of terminal decline for the Western Roman Empire . The last Roman emperor was deposed in 476 by the Heruli general Odoacer . Trade routes between Europe and North Africa remained intact until

2728-401: The coming of Islam. Some Berbers were members of the Early African Church (but evolved their own Donatist doctrine ), some were Berber Jews , and some adhered to traditional Berber religion . African pope Victor I served during the reign of Roman emperor Septimius Severus . Furthermore, during the rule of the Romans, Byzantines, Vandals, Ottomans and Carthaginians the Kabyle people were

2790-438: The continent and elements of human modernity appeared in different places, and so different parts of Africa contributed to the emergence of what we call modern humans today." Early humans may have comprised a large, interbreeding population dispersed across Africa whose spread was facilitated by a wetter climate that created a "green Sahara", around 330,000 to 300,000 years ago. The rise of modern humans may thus have taken place on

2852-458: The eleventh century, a reformist movement made up of members that called themselves the Almoravid dynasty expanded south into Sub-Saharan Africa . North Africa's populous and flourishing civilization collapsed after exhausting its resources in internal fighting and suffering devastation from the invasion of the Banu Sulaym and Banu Hilal . Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert. After

2914-479: The entirety of the region under one form of European occupation. In World War II from 1940 to 1943 the area was the setting for the North African Campaign . During the 1950s and 1960s all of the North African states gained independence. There remains a dispute over Western Sahara between Morocco and the Algerian -backed Polisario Front . The wider protest movement known as the Arab Spring began with revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt which ultimately led to

2976-438: The exit point for the modern humans who first trekked out of the continent in the Out of Africa migration. The earliest inhabitants of central North Africa have left behind significant remains: early remnants of hominid occupation in North Africa, for example, were found in Ain el Hanech, near Saïda ( c.  200,000 BCE ); in fact, more recent investigations have found signs of Oldowan technology there, and indicate

3038-410: The eye can see, after the rain water has dried up during winter. Buried nearby to the breeding field of the flamingoes, is the ancient excavated city of Dholavira from the Harappan civilization , attracting archeologists from all over the world. This sanctuary has some other ancient attractions as well. Embedded in the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks on Khadir , Kuvar and Pachchham bet islands in

3100-411: The foundations for Rome. Ancient Carthage was a commercial power and had a strong navy, but relied on mercenaries for land soldiers. The Carthaginians developed an empire in the Iberian Peninsula , Malta , Sardinia , Corsica and northwest Sicily , the latter being the cause of First Punic War with the Romans . Over a hundred years and more, all Carthaginian territory was eventually conquered by

3162-417: The migration of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym westward into the Maghreb in the eleventh century, which introduced Arab culture and language to the countryside. Historians mark their movement as a critical moment in the Arabization of North Africa. As Arab nomads spread, the territories of the local Berber tribes were moved and shrank. The Zenata were pushed to the west and the Kabyles were pushed to

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3224-440: The mud flats of the Rann, about 10 km from Nir outpost on the Kala Dungar hill, where flamingoes used to congregate during their breeding season in the past. As per a television series, National Security by Rajya Sabha TV , the flamingo city is now a dead patch of land and flamingos do not come to breed here any longer. The northern boundary of this sanctuary forms the international border between India and Pakistan and

3286-482: The north. The Berbers took refuge in the mountains whereas the plains were Arabized. This heavily shifted the demographics of the Maghreb. The trans-Saharan slave trade resulted in increased levels of sub-Saharan African ancestry in North Africa. The Haratin are commonly perceived as an endogamous group of former slaves or descendants of slaves. DNA studies of Iberomaurusian peoples at Taforalt , Morocco dating to around 15,000 years ago have found them to have

3348-417: The number of Christians in North Africa was estimated at 9 million, the majority of whom live in Egypt, with the remainder live in Maghreb countries. The inhabitants of the Spanish Canary Islands are of mixed Spanish and North African Berber ancestry, and the people of Malta are of primarily Southern Italian/Sicilian, as well as, to a lesser extent, North African and Middle Eastern ancestry and speak

3410-485: The only or one of the few in North Africa who remained independent. The Kabyle people were incredibly resistible so much so that even during the Arab conquest of North Africa they still had control and possession over their mountains. The early Muslim conquests included North Africa by 640. By 700, most of North Africa had come under Muslim rule. Indigenous Berbers subsequently started to form their own polities in response in places such as Fez and Sijilmasa . In

3472-412: The rapid desertification of the Sahara around 3500 B.C. largely due to a tilt in the Earth's orbit. It was during this period that domesticated plants and animals were introduced in the region, spreading from the north and east to the southwest. There has been an inferred connection between areas of rapid drying and the introduction of livestock in which the natural (orbital) aridification was amplified by

3534-448: The realm of geopolitics to form the Middle East-North Africa region. North Africa has three main geographic features: the Sahara desert in the south, the Atlas Mountains in the west, and the Nile River and delta in the east. The Atlas Mountains extend across much of northern Algeria , Morocco , and Tunisia . These mountains are part of the fold mountain system that also runs through much of Southern Europe . They recede to

3596-597: The south and east, becoming a steppe landscape before meeting the Sahara desert, which covers more than 75 percent of the region. The tallest peaks are in the High Atlas range in south-central Morocco, which has many snow-capped peaks. South of the Atlas Mountains is the dry and barren expanse of the Sahara desert, the largest sand desert in the world. In places the desert is cut by irregular watercourses called wadis —streams that flow only after rainfall but are usually dry. The Sahara's major landforms include ergs , large seas of sand that sometimes form into huge dunes ;

3658-442: The spread of shrubs and open land due to grazing. Nevertheless, changes in northern Africa's ecology after 3500 BCE provided the backdrop for the formation of dynastic civilizations and the construction of monumental architecture such as the Pyramids of Giza . Archaeological evidence has attested that population settlements occurred in Nubia as early as the Late Pleistocene era and from the 5th millennium BC onwards, whereas there

3720-406: The talented military leader Jugurtha . Kingdom of Mauretania remained independent until being annexed to the Roman Empire by Emperor Claudius in 42 AD. North Africa remained a part of the Roman Empire, producing notable citizens, including Augustine of Hippo , until incompetent leadership from Roman commanders in the early fifth century allowed the Germanic peoples , the Vandals , to cross

3782-411: Was a bird at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia that died at the age of at least 83 years. The bird's exact age is not known; it was already a mature adult when it arrived in Adelaide in 1933. It was euthanized in January 2014 due to complications of old age. North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa ) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There

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3844-605: Was previously thought to be the same species as the American flamingo ( Phoenicopterus ruber ), but because of coloring differences of its head, neck, body, and bill, the two flamingos are now most commonly considered separate species. The greater flamingo has no subspecies and is therefore monotypic . The greater flamingo is the largest living species of flamingo, averaging 110–150 cm (43–59 in) tall and weighing 2–4 kg (4.4–8.8 lb). The largest male flamingos have been recorded to be up to 187 cm (74 in) tall and to weigh 4.5 kg (9.9 lb). Most of

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