WHY WHEN PEOPLE THINK ABOUT AFRICA, NORTH AFRICA IS IGNORED?

It's based on ethnic descent and religion North Africa was inhabited by the Berber tribes who converted to Islam with the ingress of Arabs. They relate more with the middle east than with the sub Saharan Africans as they have a common language and a common religion Sub Saharan Africans are of a different appearance and even when they are Muslim (Chad for example) they are looked down on by the Ethnic Berber and Arab North Africans

look at my country we try to associate with other Africans.hell we even play a main rule in the African union but i've been hearing black Africans saying "look at the silly Arabs thinking that they are Africans" they are not helping 2. and the Berbers "native north Africans" will call themselves Africans no matter how pale they look, my Berber friend has blue-eyes and call himself african not Arab.

This is true many Americans who know little about africa only mention countries like Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt! they some times mention the east, like many mention Somalia and Ethiopia, due to the stertypes those countries have. But over all hmm....

I dunno, I've asked myself this Q many times before... I'm Moroccan Berber and I identify myself as African and so do most of my Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian friends.

I feel the biggest reason for that is because North Africans & Sub-Saharan Africans are very different from each other in regards to culture & the influence of the media but I do think their are other reasons that have influenced this. The biggest reason is how both regions have treated one another. I remember reading a article about a American women wanted to travel all over Africa but started her travels in North Africa(specifically Morocco) first then go to other regions. This lady mentioned how some of the people their were a little prejudiced against the Sub-Saharan Africans. She mentioned one time she went to the market and told a man in the market how she was traveling around Africa and the man mentioned to her why do you want to go down there they all(he meant Sub-Saharan Africa) have Aids & are poor down there. She was shocked, she enjoyed her trip there but she did acknowledge this attitude; but this attitude is also with Sub-Sahara Africans as well. I have personally experience Sub-Saharan Africans write North Africans off, they don't even acknowledge them because their opinion is North Africans are the ones that distant themselves from the rest of Africa in the first place for so long, claiming the middle East and looking down on them(Sub-Saharan Africans) that they just don't acknowledge them when Africa is being mentioned(some of them don't consider North Africans real Africans). Plus When I was in college I have experienced this distance too, there was a african club and middle eastern club, all the North Africans were in the middle eastern club & all the Sub-Saharan Africans were in the Africans club, so what message do you think they are sending? I'm not saying all North Africans but some of them have distant themselves for decades from the association with the continent of Africa that they succeeded in it. So not only with Sub-Saharan countries but with people outside of Africa just sometimes knowingly or unknowingly just don't mention North Africans. You can't have your cake & eat it too. that's why when people think of Africa they think of South Africans, Kenyans, Ethiopians, & Nigerians and etc as you mentioned but North Africa never comes up unless Ancient Egypt is brought up. Although that's the case I don't think there is a big divide between between the two regions like the divide between Haiti & Dominica Republic. The divide between Haiti & Dominica Republic is 10x times worse then this divide.

I'm going to be real I think North & Sub-Saharan culture is beautiful but to me the reason North Africa is ignored is because North Africa seems like a second middle east not Africa, their culture is the product of the middle east, now they are still African in a sense but that's where it ends. lets face it Sub-Saharan Africans are the modern day representation of Africa today; the good & the bad. Look at the world cup, if you ask anybody what African teams are currently playing they will remember South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, but forget to mention that the Algerian team is also in the world cup & is in Africa.

Well North Africa is mostly desert and boring and Sub-Saharan Africa is where all the fun and drama, culture, music and Safari tourism is. and hey, the richest countries in Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Gabon, Sycheles, Mauritias etc.

This is too long to read, but I'll answer your title question: I don't care, when someone asks a question about Africa, I include North Africa in my answer :) ---------- @ Libyan girl above me: Not much poverty in North Africa? Have you ever been to Egypt??

Because there's such a different cultures. And Sub-Saharan Africa is the only one portrayed in the news etc. And because, in the North, we don't have much poverty etc, that's mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa. I'm Libyan and would say I'm Arab, rather than I'm African. :)