North Africa
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 413 objects from northern Africa. These date broadly from the Fatimid period, 909–1171, to 2000. This collection contains 170 objects from Egypt, 93 from Sudan, 74 from Algeria and 71 from Morocco. Tunisia is also represented, although the material identified from here is currently restricted to five Ottoman coins. The collection includes metal vessels, various coins, stucco windows with coloured glass, arms and armour, horse equipment, textiles and embroideries. There are also dolls, musical instruments, ceramic objects, jewellery, photographs, magic-lantern slides, a skin water bottle and a Nubian gourd vessel. There is a large group of 19th century rural Berber Kabylie pottery. The collection also holds items from the battlefields of the 1898 Atbara and Umdurman Campaigns, including swords, spears, banners and other objects. Northern Africa is a predominantly Islamic region that encompasses the countries of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara, which are separated from the rest of Africa by the Sahara Desert. The region itself is divided into three areas known as the Maghreb, the Nile Valley and the Sahara, each geographically and culturally distinct. European influence has been felt in this region since the 18th century, when it was systematically colonized by France, Britain, Spain and Italy.
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