Levant

The Levant (Arabic: بلاد الشام bilād ash-shām) is one of the five regions of the Arab Union. Home to nearly 70 million people (approximately 13% of the Arab Union's total population), the Levant consists of four republics: Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. The region's English-language name stems from its location at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, where (relative to Europe) the sun rises (levant being French for "rising" or "risen"). Compare the Maghreb, the Arab Union's westernmost region, whose name is a reference to the setting of the sun.

Levantine Arabic is the primary dialect group spoken in the region; while its regional dialects can vary considerably, all are mutually intelligible and distinct from other major dialect groups. Hebrew is the region's second-most widely used language, spoken by nearly 8 million Jews mostly in Palestine. Other minority languages of the region include Kurdish, Turkish, Turkmen, Armenian, Neo-Aramaic and Coptic. Most of the population of the Levant are Muslims (mostly Sunnis), although the region has a larger proportion of religious minorities than elsewhere in the Arab Union, including Shias, Christians (mostly Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Melkites, Jacobites, Roman Catholics, Copts and Armenian Apostolics), Jews, Druze and Samaritans; the region also has a noticeably larger proportion of both atheists/agnostics and adherents of Eastern religions (primarily Hindus and Buddhists).

The Levant is considered to be the most fertile region of the Arab Union, as well as the mildest in terms of weather. It is the only Arab region home to highlands which periodically experience light snowfall during the winter months. Its landscape is also the most diverse, consisting of sandy and scrub desert areas juxtaposed against green rolling hills, plains and pastures with expanses of farmland, mountains, valleys, temperate and subtropical forests, white sand beaches with coral reefs, floodplains, salt lakes, wadis and seasonal streams and rivers. Some of the country's most popular alpine and beach resorts are located in the Levant, often relatively close to one another, and the region also boasts the most historical sites and artifacts and archaeological ruins, making it the country's most popular destination for tourism. The Levant is also the most urbanised region of the Arab Union, and has the highest standard of living and highest per capita annual income in the country.