The Sahara ("The Great Desert") is the world's
largest hot desert and the world's second largest desert after Antarctica. At
over 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi), it covers most parts of
Northern Africa; an area stretching from the Red Sea, including parts of the
Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it
is delimited by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna separating the
Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Sahara is almost as large as the continental United States, and is larger
than Australia. The Sahara has an intermittent history that may go back as much
as 3 million years. Some of the sand dunes can reach 180 meters (600 feet) in
height. Its name comes from the Tamajaq Tuareg language word Tenere, which means
the desert, translated into the Arabic it gave Sahara "desert": But the original
name of the Sahara is: Tinariwen (the deserts), as for the indigenous people of
the Sahara, the Tuareg people, the Sahara is not a desert, but many deserts,
distinct and different in nature and landscapes.
