الله أكبر (Allahu Akbar) (Arab) ("God Is the Greatest") | |||||
| Anthem | "والله زمان يا سلاحي (Walla Zaman Ya Selahy)" | ||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Baghdad | ||||
| Other cities | East Jerusalem, Cairo, Amman | ||||
| Language | Arabic | ||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||
| Demonym | Arab | ||||
| Government | Presidential Federal Republic | ||||
| Established | 5 October 1923 | ||||
| Independence | from Ottoman Empire | ||||
| Currency | Arab dinar | ||||
The Federation of Arab Republics (Arabic: اتحاد الجمهوريات العربية Ittiḥād al-Jumhūrīyāt al-‘Arabīyah), informally known as the Arab Federation (Arabic: الاتحاد العربي al-Ittiḥād al-‘Arabī), is a sovereign country in the Middle East, but actually spans two continents, as it also includes Egypt and Sudan. The geographically Asian part of the country borders Persia to the east, Kurdistan and Syria to the north, Israel and the Red Sea to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the south; meanwhile, the African portion of the country borders the Red Sea to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Italy and French Equatorial Africa to the west, and Italian East Africa to the south.
The Arab Federation was born in the turbulent times of the Great War, when the Ottoman Empire was dissolving and losing control of most of its territories. The Arabs living in this region sought independence and an unified Arab state: a convulse period of civil wars followed, with powers of the Concert supporting one or the other faction in hopes to achieve their own geopolitical strategies. In the end, Syria and Israel were broken off the Federation and made into independent state, while Great Britain retreated from Egypt, resulting in the country establishing a republic and joining the federation.
The Arab Federation is a federal republic, and the largest state in the Middle East by both land area and population. Its vast territory includes a wide variety of diverse landscapes, including sandy deserts, fertile riverlands and rugged highlands and mountains. Virtually all of the population is of Arab ethnicity and of Muslim faith, with the majority being Sunni and a small Shia minority. The country's economy is dominated by oil extraction and processing, but other important sectors are agriculture and mining. Administratively, the country is divided into nine republics (Arabic: جمهوريات jumhūrīyāt, singular جمهورية jumhūrīyah):
- Ahwaz
- Arabia
- Dhofar
- Egypt
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Palestine
- Sudan
- Yemen