What's the best way to refer to this area of Africa?

[bbernardini]

I want to refer to the "top left" portion of Africa, the section that includes Algiers, Senegal, Liberia, etc. What would be the best term to refer to this area? Western? Northwestern? The sticky-outy bit? Perhaps there's a more formal academic term for that region?

(My apologies if I have referred to some of the countries above by incorrect names. I'm just working off a basic map from Google.)

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. Until now, I would've said 'northwestern'

But I've fallen totally in love with "The sticky-outy bit." :rofl:

[zanne]

2. The "sticky-outy bit" has a ring to it. nt

[querelle]

3. Maghreb

From Wikipedia:

The Maghreb (المغرب العربي al-Maġrib al-ʿArabī; also rendered Maghrib (or rarely Moghreb), meaning "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic, is the region of Africa north of the Sahara Desert and west of the Nile — specifically, coinciding with the Atlas Mountains. Geopolitically, the area includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, Western Sahara, and sometimes Mauritania, which is often placed in West Africa instead. An inhabitant of the Maghreb is called a Maghrebian or Maghrebi.

Q