Special Incident ~

The components of The Sahara Desert have changed greatly over time .

Originally, before and during the last ice age , The Sahara was larger and just as dry as it is now. By the end of the ice age , the area of The Sahara had shrunk and become wetter but by 2500 BC , the monsoons ( caused by changes in pressure and melting of ice sheets from the ice age) retreated.

The Sahara Desert returned to its dry inhospitable climate, and it remains that way today.

Special Mention (:

1. The Sahara Desert is the second largest desert in the world after Antartica and the largest HOT desert in the world.


2. The Sahara has some of the tallest sand dunes and these can reach 189 meters in height. The land area also has stone plateaus, large gravel plains , dry valleys and even sand flats.

People Of The Desert

The majority of people living in The Sahara Desert are nomads , which means that these people are always moving from place to place .

Another group of people who lives in The Sahara Desert are the Bebers. Earlier in their history the Bebers lived across the whole northern part of Africa which was where the Sahara is located at. In the 1600's the Arabs invaded North Africa and pushed the Bebers towards other areas near the Sahara. Today, most of the Bebers live in Morocco and Algeria .

Climate & Natural Vegetation

Climate:

The sahara's climate consists of basically two sub-climates, a dry subtropical climate in the north and a dry tropical climate in the south.

The dry tropical climate is generally characterized by mild , dry winters, a hot dry season just before the rainy season, and an annual temperatue cycle. The dry subtropical climate, however is characterized by annually high temperatue ranges , cold winters, hot summers and two rainy seasons.

Natural Vegetation :

The Sahara desert is sparsely covered with various types of vegetation ranging from grasses, shrubs, and trees in highlands which are saline-tolerant plants found in saline depressions.

One characteristic of the vegetation found in the Sahara is that these species must be able to adapt to unreliable precipitation and excessive heat.

The most common types of grasses found on the plains include Eragrotis , Panicum and Aristida.

The Sahara Desert

The Sahara Desert , in english means The Great Desert is the world's largest hot desert . It covers most of Northern Africa at over 9,400,000 square kilometers making it almost as large as Europe or the United states.