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The Sahara is the world's largest Hot Desert , over 9,000,000 km&2 (3,500,000 mi&2), almost as large as the United States . The Sahara is located in northern Africa and is 2.5 million years old. Its name, ''Sahara'', is an English pronunciation of the word for ''desert'' in Arabic (صحراء ). OVERVIEW The boundaries of the Sahara are the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea on the north, the Red Sea and Egypt on the east, and the Sudan and the valley of the Niger River on the south. The Sahara is divided into western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains , the Tibesti Mountains , the Aïr Mountains (a region of desert mountains and high plateaus), Tenere desert and the Libyan Desert (the most arid region). The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi (3415 m) in the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad . The Sahara divides the Continent of Africa into North and Sub-Saharan Africa . The southern border of the Sahara is marked by a band of semiarid Savanna called the Sahel ; south of the Sahel lies the lusher Sudan and the Congo River Basin . Humans have lived on the edge of the desert for almost 500,000 years. During the last Ice Age , the Sahara was a much wetter place than it is today. Over 30,000 Petroglyph s of river animals such as Crocodile s survive in total with half found in the Tassili N'Ajjer in southeast Algeria . Fossils of Dinosaurs , like Afrovenator , have also been found here. The modern Sahara, though, is not as lush in vegetation, except in the Nile Valley, at a few Oases , and in the northern highlands, where Mediterranean plants such as the Olive Tree grow. It has been this way since about 3000 BCE . 2.5 million people live in the Sahara, most of these in Egypt , Mauritania , Morocco and Algeria . Dominant ethnicities in the Sahara are various Berber groups including Tuareg tribes, various Arab ised Berber groups such as the Hassaniya speaking Maure/ Moors (also known as Sahrawis ) and various "black Africa n" ethnicities including Tubu , Nubians , Zaghawa , Kanuri , Peul (Fulani), Hausa and Songhai . The largest city in the Sahara is Cairo , in the Nile Valley and Egypt's capital. Other important cities are Nouakchott , the capital of Mauritania ; Tamanrasset , Algeria; Timbuktu , Mali ; Agadez , Niger ; Ghat , Libya ; and Faya , Chad . HISTORY Cattle Period The has been cited as a likely primary contributor to the Desertification of the Sahara (see Sahara Desert (ecoregion) ). On the other hand, the Sahara has been alternating between humid and arid phases for a long time, and some scientists attribute these changes to oscillations in the Earth's orbital parameters and/or changes in glacial coverage of the Earth's surface. The Sahara is currently as dry as it was about 13,000 years ago.White, Kevin and Mattingly, David J. 2006. Ancient Lakes of the Sahara. American Scientist. Volume 94 Number 1 (January-February, 2006). pp. 58-65. By s, Knive s and Scraper s are common . Burial items include pottery, Jewelry , Farming and Hunting equipment, and assorted foods including dried meat and fruit . The dead are buried facing due west . Berber Period The Phoenicians created a confederation of kingdoms across the entire Sahara to Egypt , generally settling on the coasts but sometimes in the desert also. By 2500 BCE the Sahara was as dry as it is today and it became a largely impenetrable barrier to humans, with only scattered Settlements around the oases, but little trade or commerce through the desert. The one major exception was the Nile Valley . The Nile, however, was impassable at several Cataract s making trade and contact difficult. Sometime between 633 and 530 BCE Hanno The Navigator either established or reinforced Phoenicia n colonies in the Western Sahara , but all ancient remains have vanished with virtually no trace. See History Of Western Sahara . By 500 BCE a new influence arrived in the form of the Greeks and Phoenicians . Greek traders spread along the eastern coast of the desert, establishing trading colonies along the Red Sea coast. The Carthaginians explored the Atlantic coast of the desert. The turbulence of the waters and the lack of markets never led to an extensive presence further south than modern Morocco. Centralized states thus surrounded the desert on the north and east; it remained outside of the control of these states. Raids from the nomadic Berber people of the desert were a constant concern of those living on the edge of the desert. An urban civilization, the 2006 The greatest change in the history of the Sahara arrived with the Arab invasion that brought Camel s to the region. For the first time an efficient trade across the Sahara desert could be conducted. The kingdoms of the Sahel , especially the Ghana Empire and the later Mali Empire , grew rich and powerful exporting Gold and salt to North Africa . The emirates along the Mediterranean sent south manufactured goods and Horse s. From the Sahara itself Salt was exported. This process turned the scattered oasis communities into trading centres, and brought them under the control of the empires on the edge of the desert. This trade persisted for several centuries until the development in Europe of the Caravel allowed ships, first from Portugal but soon from all Western Europe, to sail around the desert and gather the resources from the source in Guinea . The Sahara was rapidly remarginalized. The colonial powers also largely ignored the region, but the modern era has seen a number of mines and communities develop to exploit the desert's natural resources. These include large deposits of oil and gas in Algeria and Libya and large deposits of Phosphates in Morocco and Western Sahara . region of southern Morocco, including Berber s, Arab s, Phoenicia ns, Sephardic Jew s, and sub-Saharan Africans. Throughout the Sahara, Berbers, Arabs, and sub-Saharan Africans are significantly represented genetically. SEE ALSO
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