Levant

The Levant (Arabic: بلاد الشام bilād ash-shām) is one of the five regions of the Arab Union. Home to approximately 70 million people (13% of the Arab Union's total population), the Levant consists of four republics of the Arab Union: Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. 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. 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 greater proportion of religious minorities than anywhere else in the Arab Union, most notably including Shias, Christians, Jews, Druze and Samaritans.

The region's English-language name stems from its location at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, where (relative to Europe) the sun rises (levant being French for "rising" or "risen"). Compare the Maghreb, the Arab Union's westernmost region, where the sun sets.

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 region of the union which periodically experiences light snowfall during the winter months. Its landscape is also the most diverse, consisting of some sandy and scrub deserts juxtaposed against green rolling hills, plains and pastures with expanses of farmland, mountains, valleys and temperate and subtropical forests. The Arab Union's most popular alpine and beach resorts are located in the region, often relatively close to one another. The region also has the highest standard of living in the Arab Union and the highest per capita annual income.