Dictionary of Meaning
<<Back
Please select a letter:
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
U |
V |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |
0-9
Click here for Shopping
Sahara
*** Shopping-Tip: Sahara
{{otheruses}}
Image:Sahara satellite.jpg thumb|right|300px|Satellite image
The '''Sahara''' is the world's largest non-polar
desert, over 9,000,000 km² (3,500,000 mi²), about the same size 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 language Arabic (صحراء {{Audio|ar-Sahara.ogg|arabic pronunciation}}).
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 (region) 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.
Image:Sahara desert.jpg thumb|right|
The Sahara divides the
continent of
Africa into
North Africa 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 (region) 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
petroglyphs of river animals such as
crocodiles 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
oasis oases, and in the northern highlands, where Mediterranean plants such as the
olive tree grow. It has been this way since about
3rd millennium BC 3000 BC.
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
Arabised
Berber groups such as the
Hassaniya speaking Maure/
Moors (also known as
Sahrawis) and various "black
African" ethnicities including
Tubu,
Nubians,
Zaghawa,
Kanuri,
Peul or
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
domestication of the
pig (see [http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pigs.htm]) in the Sahara and
Ancient Egypt ancient Egypt has been cited as a likely primary contributor to the
desertification of the Sahara (see
Sahara Desert (ecoregion)#Settings 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.
By
6000 BC predynastic Egyptians in the southwestern corner of
Egypt were
herding cattle and
construction constructing large buildings. Subsistence in organized and permanent
town settlements in
Predynastic Egypt predynastic Egypt by the middle of the
6th millennium BC centered predominantly on
cereal and animal
agriculture:
cattle,
goats,
pigs and
sheep [http://www.touregypt.net/ebph5.htm].
Metal objects replaced prior ones of
Rock (geology) stone [http://www.touregypt.net/ebph5.htm].
Tanning animal skins,
pottery and
weaving are commonplace in this era also [http://www.touregypt.net/ebph5.htm]. There are indications of seasonal or only temporary occupation of the
Al Fayyum in the
6th millennium BC, with food activities centering on fishing, hunting and food-gathering [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/fayum/fayumb.html]. Stone
arrowheads,
knives and
scrapers are common [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/fayum/fayumb.html].
Burial items include pottery,
jewelry,
farming and
hunting equipment, and assorted foods including dried meat and fruit [http://www.touregypt.net/ebph5.htm]. The dead are buried facing due west [http://www.touregypt.net/ebph5.htm].
Berber Period
The use and forging of iron came about from trade with the
Phoenicians (c.
13th century BC 1220 BC). They created a confederation of kingdoms across the entire Sahara to
Egypt, generally settling on the coasts but sometimes in the desert also.
By
twenty fifth century BC 2500 BC the Sahara was as dry as it is today and it became a largely impenetrable barrier to humans, with only scattered
town settlements around the oases, but little trade or commerce through the desert. The one major exception was the
Nile Nile Valley. The Nile, however, was impassable at several
Cataracts_of_the_Nile cataracts making trade and contact difficult.
Sometime between 633 and 530 BC
Hanno the Navigator either established or reinforced
Phoenician colonies in the
Western Sahara, but all ancient remains have vanished with virtually no trace. See
History of Western Sahara.
By
500 BC a new influence arrived in the form of the
Ancient Greece 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
Garamantes, arose around this time in the heart of the Sahara, in a valley that is now called the Wadi al-Ajal in
Fazzan, in
Libya. The Garamantes achieved this development by digging tunnels far into the mountains flanking the valley to tap
fossil water and bring it to their fields. The Garamantes grew populous and strong, conquering their neighbors and capturing many slaves (which were put to work extending the tunnels. The ancient
Ancient Greece Greeks and the
Ancient Rome Romans knew of the Garamantes and regarded them as uncivilized nomads. However, they traded with the Garamantes, and a
Roman bath has been found in the Garamantes capital of Garama.
Archaeologists have found eight major towns and many other important settlements in the Garamantes territory. The Gartamantes civilization eventually collapsed after they had depleted available water in the
aquifers, and could no longer sustain the effort to extend the tunnels still further into the mountains.
The greatest change in the history of the Sahara arrived with the
Arab invasion that brought
camels 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
horses. From the Sahara itself
Edible salt 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 (region) 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
Phosphate phosphates in
Morocco and
Western Sahara.
Mitochondrial DNA mtDNA analyses (see [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11393336 Z. Brakez et al., "Human mitochondrial DNA sequence variation in the Moroccan population of the Souss area" extract]) found that various populations have contributed to the present-day gene pool of the
Souss region of southern Morocco, including
Berbers,
Arabs,
Phoenicians,
Sephardic Jews, and sub-Saharan Africans. Throughout the Sahara, Berbers, Arabs, and sub-Saharan Africans are significantly represented genetically.
See also
*
Arabian-Nubian Shield
*
Desertification
*
Nile
*
Red Sea
*
Richat Structure
*
Trans-Saharan trade
*
Western Sahara
*
Zaara
References
*Michael Brett and Elizabeth Frentess. The Berbers. Blackwell Publishers. 1996.
*Hugh Kennedy. Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus. Longman, 1996.
*Abdallah Laroui. The History of the Maghrib: An Interpretive Essay. Princeton, 1977.
*Charles-Andre Julien. History of North Africa: From the Arab Conquest to 1830. Praeger, 1970
*White, Kevin and Mattingly, David J. 2006. Ancient Lakes of the Sahara. ''American Scientist''. Volume 94 Number 1 (January-February, 2006). pp. 58-65.
*Keys, David. 2004. Kingdom of the Sands. ''Archaeology''. Volume 57 Number 2, (March/April 2004)[http://www.archaeology.org/0403/abstracts/sands.html] - retrieved
March 13 2006
-
Fezzan Project - Palaeoclimate and environment - retrieved
March 15 2006
External links
-
Trans-Sahara routes
-
Google Satellite image of the Sahara (Northern Africa)
-
Sahara pictures from Algerian UN Permanent Mission website
{{Commons|Category:Sahara}}
Category:Deserts of Africa
Category:Ecoregions
Category:Sahara *
Category:Geography of Africa
Category:Arabic words
an:Disierto d'o Sajara
ar:صØراء كبرى
bg:Сахара
ca:SÃ hara
cy:Sahara
cs:Sahara
da:Sahara
de:Sahara
et:Sahara
es:Desierto del Sahara
eo:Saharo
fr:Désert du Sahara
ga:An Sahára
gl:Deserto do Sáhara
ko:사하� 사막
io:Sahara
id:Sahara
is:Sahara
it:Deserto del Sahara
he:מדבר סהרה
lt:Sachara
lv:SahÄ?ras tuksnesis
mk:Сахара
nl:Sahara
ja:サãƒ?ãƒ©ç ‚æ¼
pih:Sahara
pl:Sahara
pt:Deserto do Saara
ru:ПуÑ?тынÑ? Сахара
scn:Sahara
simple:Sahara Desert
sl:Sahara
sr:Сахара
fi:Sahara
sv:Sahara
ta:சஹாரா
th:ทะเลทรายซาฮารา
wa:Sara
zh:撒哈拉沙æ¼
{{catmore}}
Category:Deserts of Africa
ca:SÃ hara
ko:분류:사하� 사막
pl:Sahara
ru:КатегориÑ?:ПуÑ?тынÑ? Сахара
*** Shopping-Tip: Sahara
