Sahara

The great desert of North Africa, nearly the size of the United States and the largest hot desert on Earth.

Specifications & Metrics

area

~9.2 million km²

Core Principles & Analysis

• It was green savanna with lakes and hippos as recently as 6,000 years ago.
• Caravan routes crossed it for a millennium, trading gold and salt between West Africa and the Mediterranean.
• Its sand dunes are the minority: most of the Sahara is rocky plateau and mountain.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Sahara