The Atlas Mountain Country (Atlas Mountains, Atlas) is an ancient mountain system located along the northwestern part of the African coast and crossing the countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
The length of the Atlas Mountains is almost 2000 km. The Atlas reaches its highest height of 4145 m in the Rif (Moroko) ridge of Mount Toubkal. In total, the mountain system has 4 largest ranges: Tell Atlas, High Atlas, Sahara Atlas, Middle Atlas. Between the ridge zones lies a strip of plains and plateaus, such as the Moroccan Meseta, the High Plateau. Most of the rivers are concentrated in the northern and western parts of this mountainous country.
History of the Atlas Mountains
It is interesting that the locals do not have any name for these mountains, only the ridges and large peaks have their own names. The Europeans, brought up on ancient myths, began to call them in honor of the ancient Greek hero Atlas, the titan, who was so strong that he could prop up the pillars holding the heavenly vault (this is how the ancient Greeks imagined the structure of the earth). Atlas was punished by the god Perseus for the lack of proper hospitality - turned into a mountain.
The existence of the Atlas Mountains becomes known in antiquity from reports on the travels of the Phoenicians. The first person to cross the mountains was a Roman named Gaius Suetonius Paulinus in 42 AD. e. Sufficiently detailed descriptions of the mountainous country can be found in the notes of Maximus from Tire (2nd century AD). The Atlas Mountains are of great interest among tourists and now, there are a huge number of hiking trails here.
Nature of the Atlas Mountains
The Atlas Mountains are like a huge mountainous country. They are so extended that the climate and natural conditions in their separate parts differ quite strongly from each other - mountains, deserts, flowering oases, alpine meadows, salt lakes, rivers replace each other as they move, as well as the subtropical zone becomes tropical. So, in the northwestern regions of the mountains there are forests with thickets of shrubs, cork oaks, typical of the Mediterranean, and the southern territories have an arid climate, and cannot boast of an abundance of vegetation.
The fauna of the Atlas Mountains has become quite impoverished due to its constant extermination. Nevertheless, there are such species of African and southern European animals as monkeys, jackals, hyenas, hyenas, jerboas, hares, wild cats, numerous snakes and lizards.
Currently, the Atlas Mountains are developing deposits of iron ores, copper, lead, lime, rock salt, marble and others.
