Sahara - Wikipedia

Sahara - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 Geography 2 Climate Toggle Climate subsection 2.1 Temperature 2.2 Precipitation 2.3 Desertification and prehistoric climate 2.3.1 Evidence for cycles 3 Ecoregions 4 Flora and fauna 5 History Toggle History subsection 5.1 Kiffians 5.2 Tenerians 5.3 Tashwinat Mummy 5.4 Nubians 5.5 Egyptians 5.6 Haratins 5.7 Tichitt culture 5.8 Phoenicians 5.9 Greeks 5.10 Garamantes 5.11 Islamic and Arabic expansion 5.12 Ottoman Turkish era 5.13 European colonialism 5.14 Breakup of the empires and afterwards 6 Peoples and languages 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External links Toggle the table of contents Sahara 206 languages Afrikaans Alemannisch አማርኛ Aragonés Ænglisc Obolo अंगिका العربية ܐܪܡܝܐ الدارجة مصرى অসমীয়া Asturianu Авар अवधी Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Башҡортса Basa Bali Boarisch Žemaitėška Bikol Central Беларуская (тарашкевіца) Беларуская Betawi Български भोजपुरी Bislama বাংলা བོད་ཡིག Brezhoneg Bosanski Буряад Català 閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ Нохчийн Cebuano کوردی Corsu Qırımtatarca Čeština Kaszëbsczi Чӑвашла Cymraeg Dansk Dagbanli Deutsch Thuɔŋjäŋ Zazaki Dolnoserbski डोटेली Ελληνικά Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara Estremeñu فارسی Suomi Võro Føroyskt Français Nordfriisk Furlan Frysk Gaeilge 贛語 Kriyòl gwiyannen Gàidhlig Galego Avañe'ẽ Gungbe Hausa 客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî עברית हिन्दी Fiji Hindi Hrvatski Hornjoserbsce Magyar Հայերեն Արեւմտահայերէն Interlingua Bahasa Indonesia Interlingue Ilokano ГӀалгӀай Ido Íslenska Italiano 日本語 Patois La .lojban. Jawa ქართული Qaraqalpaqsha Taqbaylit Jju Адыгэбзэ Kabɩyɛ Tyap Kumoring Қазақша ಕನ್ನಡ Yerwa Kanuri 한국어 Къарачай-малкъар Kurdî Kernowek Latina Ladino Lëtzebuergesch Лакку Лезги Lingua Franca Nova Limburgs Ladin Lombard Lietuvių Latviešu मैथिली Malagasy Олык марий Minangkabau Македонски മലയാളം Монгол मराठी Кырык мары Bahasa Melayu Malti မြန်မာဘာသာ مازِرونی Nedersaksies Plattdüütsch नेपाली नेपाल भाषा Nederlands Norsk nynorsk Norsk bokmål Occitan Ирон ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Papiamentu Picard Polski Piemontèis پنجابی پښتو Português Runa Simi Română Tarandíne Русский Русиньскый Ikinyarwanda संस्कृतम् Саха тыла ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ Sardu Sicilianu Scots سنڌي Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina ChiShona Soomaaliga Shqip Српски / srpski Seeltersk Svenska Kiswahili Ślůnski Sakizaya தமிழ் తెలుగు Тоҷикӣ ไทย Türkmençe Tagalog Toki pona Tok Pisin Türkçe Татарча / tatarça Удмурт ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche Українська اردو Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Vèneto Vepsän kel’ Tiếng Việt Volapük Walon Winaray Wolof 吴语 მარგალური ייִדיש Yorùbá 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gí 粵語中文 Edit links Article Talk English Read View source View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read View source View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Abstract Wikipedia Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikivoyage Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide Coordinates: 23°N 13°E / 23°N 13°E / 23; 13 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Desert on the African continent For other uses, see Sahara (disambiguation). "},"elevation":{"wt":""},"elevation_m":{"wt":""},"elevation_ft":{"wt":""},"elevation_ref":{"wt":""},"length":{"wt":""},"length_mi":{"wt":""},"length_km":{"wt":"4,800"},"length_orientation":{"wt":""},"length_note":{"wt":""},"width":{"wt":""},"width_mi":{"wt":""},"width_km":{"wt":"1,800"},"width_orientation":{"wt":""},"width_note":{"wt":""},"area":{"wt":""},"area_mi2":{"wt":""},"area_km2":{"wt":"9,200,000"},"depth":{"wt":""},"depth_ft":{"wt":""},"depth_m":{"wt":""},"type":{"wt":""},"age":{"wt":""},"border":{"wt":""},"topo":{"wt":""},"traversed":{"wt":""},"river":{"wt":""},"footnotes":{"wt":"'''Population'''{{space|5}}2,500,000<ref name=brit/>\n"},"map_size":{"wt":""}},"i":0}}]}'>Sahara The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 Geographical map of the Sahara Length 4,800 km (3,000 mi) Width 1,800 km (1,100 mi) Area 9,200,000 km2 (3,600,000 mi2) Naming Native name Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى aṣ-ṣaḥrā' al-kubrá "The greatest desert" Geography Countries List Algeria Chad Egypt Libya Mali Mauritania Morocco Niger Sudan Tunisia Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Coordinates 23°N 13°E / 23°N 13°E / 23; 13[[Geographic coordinate system|Coordinates]]: {{#parsoid\u0000fragment:9}}[https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Sahara&params=23_N_13_E_type:landmark_source:googlemaps_scale:30000000_dim:2400km 23°N 13°E / 23°N 13°E / 23; 13][[Category:Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas]]"}}'/> Population 2,500,000[1] The Sahara (/səˈhɑːrə/, /səˈhɛrə/) is a desert spanning North Africa. With an area of 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic.[2][3][4] The name "Sahara" is derived from Arabic: صَحَارَى, romanized: ṣaḥārā /sˤaħaːraː/, a broken plural form of ṣaḥrā' (صَحْرَاء /sˤaħraːʔ/), meaning "desert".[5][6][7][8] The desert covers much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and the Sudan.[1] It stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, where the landscape gradually changes from desert to coastal plains. To the south it is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna around the Niger River valley and the Sudan region of sub-Saharan Africa. The Sahara can be divided into several regions, including the western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains, the Ténéré desert, and the Libyan Desert. For several hundred thousand years, the Sahara has alternated between desert and savanna grassland in a 20,000-year cycle[9] caused by the precession of Earth's axis (about 26,000 years) as it rotates around the Sun, which changes the location of the North African monsoon. Geography The main biomes in Africa A 2002 satellite image of the Sahara by NASA WorldWind The Sahara covers large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Western Sahara and Sudan, and parts of southern Morocco and Tunisia. It covers 9 million square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi), 31% of the African continent. If all areas with a mean annual precipitation of less than 250 mm (9.8 in) were included, the Sahara would be 11 million square kilometres (4,200,000 sq mi). It is one of three distinct physiographic provinces of the African massive physiographic division. The Sahara is so large and bright that, in theory, it could be detected from other stars as a surface feature of Earth, with near-current technology.[10] The Sahara is a highly diverse desert region composed of hamada (rocky plateaus), ergs (sand seas covered with sand dunes), gravel plains (reg), dry valleys (wadi), dry lakes, and salt flats (shatt or chott).[11] Many of its sand dunes rise over 180 metres (590 ft),[12] and its landscapes are shaped by wind and rare rainfall. The region also includes mountain massifs, volcanic uplands, oases, and unusual landforms such as the Richat Structure in Mauritania. [citation needed] Several deeply dissected mountains, many volcanic, rise from the desert, including the Aïr Mountains, Ahaggar Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Tibesti Mountains, Adrar des Iforas, and the Red Sea Hills. The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi, a shield volcano in the Tibesti range of northern Chad. [citation needed] The central Sahara is hyperarid, with sparse vegetation. The northern and southern reaches of the desert, along with the highlands, have areas of sparse grassland and desert shrub, with trees and taller shrubs in wadis, where moisture collects. In the central, hyperarid region, there are many subdivisions: Tanezrouft, the Ténéré, the Libyan Desert, the Eastern Desert, the Nubian Desert and others. These extremely arid areas often receive no rain for years. [citation needed] To the north, the Sahara skirts the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt and portions of Libya, but in Cyrenaica and the Maghreb, the Sahara borders the Mediterranean forest, woodland, and scrub eco-regions of northern Africa, all of which have a Mediterranean climate characterized by hot summers and cool and rainy winters. According to the botanical criteria of Frank White[13] and geographer Robert Capot-Rey,[14][15] the northern limit of the Sahara corresponds to the northern limit of date palm cultivation and the southern limit of the range of esparto, a grass typical of the Mediterranean climate portion of the Maghreb and Iberia. The northern limit also corresponds to the 100 mm (3.9 in) isohyet of annual precipitation.[16] To the south, the Sahara is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of dry tropical savanna with a summer rainy season that extends across Africa from east to west. The southern limit of the Sahara is indicated botanically by the southern limit of Cornulaca monacantha (a drought-tolerant member of the Chenopodiaceae), or northern limit of Cenchrus biflorus, a grass typical of the Sahel.[14][15] According to climatic criteria, the southern limit of the Sahara corresponds to the 150 mm (5.9 in) isohyet of annual precipitation (this is a long-term average, since precipitation varies annually).[16] Important cities located in the Sahara include Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania; Tamanrasset, Ouargla, Béchar, Hassi Messaoud, Ghardaïa, and El Oued in Algeria; Timbuktu in Mali; Agadez in Niger; Ghat in Libya; and Faya-Largeau in Chad. [citation needed] Climate An oasis in the Ahaggar Mountains The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert.[17][18] It is located in the horse latitudes under the subtropical ridge, a significant belt of semi-permanent subtropical warm-core high pressure where the air from the upper troposphere usually descends, warming and drying the lower troposphere and preventing cloud formation. [citation needed] The permanent absence of clouds allows unhindered light and thermal radiation. The stability of the atmosphere above the desert prevents any convective overturning, thu…