The Atlas Mountains
The Atlas Mountains are the great mountain range of northwest Africa, running for approx. 2,500 km across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. They separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts from the vast Sahara Desert to the south. The Atlas has been the homeland of the Berber peoples for over 4,000 years, long before the Arabs reached North Africa.
- Lengthapprox. 2,500 kmAcross northwest Africa
- Countries3Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
- Highest peakJbel Toubkal4,167 m, in Morocco
- Range parts7+High Atlas, Anti-Atlas, Middle Atlas, etc.
- Famous peopleBerbers / AmazighLived here for over 4,000 years
- WildlifeBarbary macaquesPlus jackals, gazelles and the rare Atlas mountain leopard
The Atlas Mountains compared
The Atlas is roughly the same length as the Himalayas but much lower in elevation. It is by far the most important mountain range in Africa.
What are the Atlas Mountains?
The Atlas Mountains are not a single chain but a series of ranges across northwest Africa. The main components are the High Atlas (the highest section, in central Morocco), the Middle Atlas (north of the High Atlas), the Anti-Atlas (south of the High Atlas, near the Sahara), the Saharan Atlas and Tell Atlas (in Algeria), and the Aures in eastern Algeria and Tunisia. Together they form a long wall separating the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastal regions from the Sahara.
Where the name comes from
The mountains take their name from the Greek god Atlas, who was punished by Zeus to hold up the sky on his shoulders. Greek mythology placed Atlas in northwest Africa, near the Atlantic Ocean (also named after him). The Atlas Mountains were thus the place where the Greek world ended; beyond was the unknown.
The Berber people
The original people of North Africa are the Berbers (or Amazigh, as they call themselves). They have lived in the Atlas Mountains and surrounding regions for at least 4,000 years, long before the Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries AD. While most of urban North Africa is now Arabic-speaking, many Berber communities in the mountains still speak Berber languages (Tamazight, Tashelhit, Tarifit and others). Traditional Berber communities live in mud-brick villages on the mountain slopes, farming wheat and olives on terraced fields, and grazing sheep and goats.
Berber culture is now actively celebrated and protected. The Tamazight language was recognised as an official language of Morocco in 2011 and Algeria in 2016.
Climate and the rain shadow
The Atlas Mountains create a dramatic rain shadow. The northern and western slopes catch wet air blowing in from the Mediterranean and Atlantic, getting enough rain to support forests of cedar, oak and pine. Beyond the crest, the southern slopes are in the rain shadow and get almost no precipitation. The southern foothills of the Anti-Atlas blend directly into the Sahara Desert. The contrast between the green northern slopes and the desert south is one of the most striking landscapes on the African continent.
Wildlife of the Atlas
The Atlas Mountains are home to several species found nowhere else. The Barbary macaque is the only monkey species native to Europe and North Africa (a small population also lives on Gibraltar). The endangered Atlas cedar tree grows in the Middle Atlas forests. The Barbary lion, North Africa's great cat, became extinct in the wild in the 1960s but a captive-bred population still exists in zoos and is being considered for reintroduction.
Deeper dive: African tectonics, the Sahara connection and the Almoravid heritage
The Atlas Mountains formed by a similar process to the Alps and Pyrenees, through the collision of the African plate with the Eurasian plate. About 80 million years ago Africa began drifting north and colliding with Iberia. The compression squeezed the rocks of what is now northwest Africa into folded ranges. The collision also closed off the western end of the Tethys ocean, which had separated Africa from Eurasia. The Atlas Mountains are sometimes considered geologically related to the Alps and the Pyrenees, forming a single "Alpine system" across the western Mediterranean. Modest mountain-building is still ongoing; minor earthquakes are common in northern Morocco and Algeria.
The Atlas Mountains are the wall that keeps the Sahara at bay. Without the Atlas to wring moisture from northbound wet air, the Mediterranean coast of North Africa would be arid like the desert south. Conversely, the Sahara extends right up to the southern slopes of the Anti-Atlas because the mountains block the moisture. The famous Berber salt caravans that crossed the Sahara for over a thousand years started from oases just south of the Atlas. The trans-Saharan trade in salt (from the desert) and gold (from West Africa) made cities like Sijilmasa, Marrakech and Fez immensely wealthy in the medieval period.
The Atlas Mountains have been the heartland of several major African empires. The Almoravid dynasty (1040 to 1147) emerged from the High Atlas as a Berber religious and military movement and went on to conquer much of North Africa and southern Spain. They founded the city of Marrakech in 1062 as their capital. The successor Almohad dynasty (1121 to 1269), also originally from the High Atlas, ruled a similar territory and built many of Morocco's most famous monuments, including the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech and the Giralda in Seville. The Atlas thus exported its Berber culture across the western Mediterranean.
The country is mostly Morocco. The desert just to the south is the Sahara.