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Sahara Desert ( ‫)الصحراء الكبرى‬

Desert

A satellite image of the Sahara by NASA

World Wind
Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea,
Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco,
Countries
Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, Western
Sahara
Range Tibesti Mountains
Landmark Pyramids of Giza
River Nile River
Highest point Emi Koussi 11,204 ft (3,415 m)
 - coordinates
Lowest point Qattara Depression -436 ft (−132.9 m)
 - coordinates
Length 4,800 km (2,983 mi), E/W
Width 1,800 km (1,118 mi), N/S
Area 9,400,000 km² (3,629,360 sq mi)
Biome Desert
Tadrart Acacus desert in western Libya, part of the Sahara

The top image shows the Safsaf Oasis on the surface of the Sahara. The bottom (using radar)
is the rock layer underneath, revealing black channels cut by the meandering of an ancient
river that once fed the oasis.

The Sahara (Arabic: ‫الصحراء الكبرى‬, aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Greatest Desert") is the world's
largest hot desert. At over 9,400,000 square kilometres (3,630,000 sq mi), it covers most of
Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The only larger
desert in the world is Antarctica, classified as such due to very low precipitation rates. The
Sahara stretches 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 that comprises the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan
Africa.

Some of the sand dunes can reach 180 metres (590 ft) in height.[1] The name comes from the
Arabic word for desert: (‫)صحراء‬,
َ "ṣaḥrā´" ( ‫( صحراء‬help·info); [sˤɑħrɑːʔ]).[2][3]

Contents
[hide]

 1 Overview
 2 Geography
 3 Climate history
o 3.1 Snow and ice
 4 Ecoregions
 5 Flora and fauna
 6 History
o 6.1 Berbers
o 6.2 Egyptians
o 6.3 Nubians
o 6.4 Phoenicians
o 6.5 Greeks
o 6.6 Urban civilization
o 6.7 Trans-Saharan trade
o 6.8 European imperialism
o 6.9 Modern times
 7 Peoples and languages
 8 See also
 9 References
o 9.1 Notes
o 9.2 Bibliography
 10 External links

[edit] Overview
The Sahara's boundaries 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 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 Air Mountains (a region of desert mountains
and high plateaus), Ténéré desert and the Libyan desert (the most arid region). The highest
peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi (3,415 m/11,204 ft) in the Tibesti Mountains in northern
Chad.

The Sahara divides the continent of Africa into 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 and the Congo River Basin. Most of the Sahara consists of rocky
hamada; ergs (large sand dunes) form only a minor part.

People lived on the edge of the desert thousands of years ago[4] since the last ice age. The
Sahara was then a much wetter place than it is today. Over 30,000 petroglyphs of river
animals such as crocodiles [5] survive, with half found in the Tassili n'Ajjer in southeast
Algeria. Fossils of dinosaurs, including Afrovenator, Jobaria and Ouranosaurus, have also
been found here. The modern Sahara, though, is not lush in vegetation, except in the Nile
Valley, at a few oases, and in the northern highlands, where Mediterranean plants such as the
olive tree are found to grow. The region has been this way since about 5000 years ago. Some
2.5 million people currently 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 Toubou, Nubians,
Zaghawa, Kanuri, Peul (Fulani), Hausa and Songhai. Important cities located in the Sahara
include Nouakchott (the capital of Mauritania), Tamanrasset, Ouargla, Bechar, Hassi
Messaoud, Ghardaia, and El Oued (Algeria), Timbuktu (Mali), Agadez (Niger), Ghat (Libya),
as well as Faya-Largeau (Chad).

[edit] Geography

A geographical map of Africa, showing the ecological break that defines the Saharan area

The Sahara covers large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco,
Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia. It is one of three distinct physiographic provinces
of the African massive physiographic division.

The desert landforms of the Sahara are shaped by wind (Aeolian processes) or by occasional
rains, and include sand dunes and dune fields or sand seas (erg), stone plateaus (hamada),
gravel plains (reg), dry valleys (wadi), and salt flats (shatt or chott).[6] Unusual landforms
include the Richat Structure in Mauritania.

Several deeply dissected mountains and mountain ranges, 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.

Most of the rivers and streams in the Sahara are seasonal or intermittent, the chief exception
being the Nile River, which crosses the desert from its origins in central Africa to empty into
the Mediterranean. Underground aquifers sometimes reach the surface, forming oases,
including the Bahariya, Ghardaïa, Timimoun, Kufrah, and Siwah.
The central part of the Sahara is hyper-arid, with little 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.

To the north, the Sahara reaches to the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt and portions of Libya, but
in Cyrenaica and the Magreb, the Sahara borders Mediterranean forest, woodland, and scrub
ecoregions of northern Africa, which have a Mediterranean climate characterized by a winter
rainy season. According to the botanical criteria of Frank White[7] and geographer Robert
Capot-Rey,[8][9] the northern limit of the Sahara corresponds to the northern limit of Date Palm
cultivation (Phoenix dactylifera), and the southern limit of Esparto (Stipa tenacissima), 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.[10]

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.[8][9] According to climatic criteria, the southern limit of the Sahara
corresponds to the 150 mm (5.9 in) isohyet of annual precipitation (note that this is a long-
term average, since precipitation varies strongly from one year to another).[10]

An oasis in the Ahaggar Mountains. Oases are crucial to support life in very arid deserts.

An intense Saharan dust storm sent a massive dust plume northwestward over the Atlantic
Ocean on March 2, 2003

[edit] Climate history

The climate of the Sahara has undergone enormous variation between wet and dry over the
last few hundred thousand years.[11] During the last glacial period, the Sahara was even bigger
than it is today, extending south beyond its current boundaries.[12] The end of the glacial
period brought more rain to the Sahara, from about 8000 BC to 6000 BC, perhaps due to low
pressure areas over the collapsing ice sheets to the north.[13]

Once the ice sheets were gone, northern Sahara dried out. In the southern Sahara though, the
drying trend was soon counteracted by the monsoon, which brought rain further north than it
does today. The monsoon is due to heating of air over the land during summer. The hot air
rises and pulls in cool, wet air from the ocean, which causes rain. Thus, though it seems
counterintuitive, the Sahara was wetter when it received more insolation in the summer. This
was caused by a stronger tilt in Earth's axis of orbit than today, and perihelion occurred at the
end of July.[14]

By around 3400 BC, the monsoon retreated south to approximately where it is today,[15]
leading to the gradual desertification of the Sahara.[16] The Sahara is now as dry as it was
about 13,000 years ago.[11] These conditions are responsible for what has been called the
Sahara pump theory.

The Sahara has one of the harshest climates in the world. The prevailing north-easterly wind
often causes the sand to form sand storms and dust devils.[17] Half of the Sahara receives less
than 20 mm (0.79 in) of rain per year, and the rest receives up to 10 cm (3.9 in) per year.[18]
The rainfall happens very rarely, but when it does it is usually torrential when it occurs after
long dry periods, which can last for years.

The southern boundary of the Sahara, as measured by rainfall, was observed to both advance
and retreat between 1980 and 1990. As a result of drought in the Sahel, the southern
boundary moved south 130 kilometres (81 mi) overall during that period.[19] Deforestation has
also caused the Sahara to advance south in recent years[citation needed], as trees and bushes
continue to be used as fuel source.

Recent signals indicate that the Sahara and surrounding regions are greening due to increased
rainfall. Satellites show extensive regreening of the Sahel between 1982 and 2002, and in
both Eastern and Western Sahara a more than 20 year long trend of increased grazing areas
and flourishing trees and shrubs has been observed by climate scientist Stefan Kröpelin.[20]

[edit] Snow and ice

On February 18, 1979, snowfall in several places in southern Algeria, including a half-hour
snowstorm that stopped traffic in Ghardaïa, was reported in newspapers around the world as
'[snow in the Sahara] for the first time in living memory'.[21] The snow was gone within hours.
[22]

Several Saharan mountain ranges, however, receive snow on a more regular basis. Although
relative humidity is low in the arid environment, the absolute humidity is sufficiently high to
condense when driven up a mountain range. In winter, temperatures drop low enough on the
3,003 meters (9,852 ft) Tahat summit, highest peak of the Ahaggar Mountains, to cause snow
every third year; the inaccessible Tibesti Mountains are said to receive snow on peaks over
2,500 meters (8,202 ft) every seventh year.[23][24]
[edit] Ecoregions

The major topographic features of the Saharan region.

The Sahara comprises several distinct ecoregions, whose variations in temperature, rainfall,
elevation, and soils harbor distinct communities of plants and animals. According to the
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the ecoregions of the Sahara include:

 Atlantic coastal desert: The coastal desert occupies a narrow strip along the Atlantic
coast, where fog generated offshore by the cool Canary Current provides sufficient
moisture to sustain a variety of lichens, succulents, and shrubs. It covers 39,900
square kilometers (15,400 square miles) in Western Sahara and Mauritania.[25]
 North Saharan steppe and woodlands: This ecoregion lies along the northern desert,
next to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of the northern
Maghreb and Cyrenaica. Winter rains sustain shrublands and dry woodlands that form
a transition between the Mediterranean climate regions to the north and the hyper-arid
Sahara proper to the south. It covers 1,675,300 square kilometers (646,800 square
miles) in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.
[26]

 Sahara desert: This ecoregion covers the hyper-arid central portion of the Sahara
where rainfall is minimal and sporadic. Vegetation is rare, and this ecoregion consists
mostly of sand dunes (erg, chech, raoui), stone plateaus (hamadas), gravel plains
(reg), dry valleys (wadis), and salt flats. It covers 4,639,900 square km (1,791,500
square miles) of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Sudan.[27]
 South Saharan steppe and woodlands: The South Saharan steppe and woodlands
occupy a narrow band running east and west between the hyper-arid Sahara and the
Sahel savannas to the south. Movements of the equatorial Intertropical Convergence
Zone (ITCZ) bring summer rains during July and August which average 100 to 200
mm (3.9 to 7.9 in), but vary greatly from year to year. These rains sustain summer
pastures of grasses and herbs, with dry woodlands and shrublands along seasonal
watercourses. The ecoregion covers 1,101,700 km2 (425,400 mi2) in Algeria, Chad,
Mali, Mauritania, and Sudan.[28]
 West Saharan montane xeric woodlands: Several volcanic highlands in the western
portion of the Sahara provide a cooler, moister environment that supports Saharo-
Mediterranean woodlands and shrublands. The ecoregion covers 258,100 km2
(99,700 mi2), mostly in the Tassili n'Ajjer of Algeria, with smaller enclaves in the Aïr
 of Niger, the Dhar Adrar of Mauritania, and the Adrar des Iforas of Mali and Algeria.
[29]

 Tibesti-Jebel Uweinat montane xeric woodlands: The Tibesti and Jebel Uweinat
highlands foster higher, more regular rainfall and cooler temperatures, which support
woodlands and shrublands of palms, acacias, myrtle, oleander, Tamarix, and several
rare and endemic plants. The ecoregion covers 82,200 km2 (31,700 mi2) in the Tibesti
of Chad and Libya, and Jebel Uweinat on the border of Egypt, Libya, and Sudan.[30]
 Saharan halophytics: Seasonally flooded saline depressions in the Sahara are home to
halophytic, or salt-adapted, plant communities. The Saharan halophytics cover
54,000 km2 (20,800 mi2), including the Qattara and Siwa depressions in northern
Egypt, the Tunisian salt lakes of central Tunisia, Chott Melghir in Algeria, and
smaller areas of Algeria, Mauritania, and Western Sahara.[31]
 Tanezrouft: One of the harshest regions on Earth and the driest in the Sahara, contains
no vegetation and very little life.

[edit] Flora and fauna

Camels in the Guelta d'Archei, in north-eastern Chad.

 Dromedary camels and goats are the most domesticated animals found in the Sahara.
Because of its qualities of endurance and speed, the dromedary is the favorite animal
used by nomads.
 The Leiurus quinquestriatus (aka deathstalker) scorpion which can be 10 cm (3.9 in)
long. Its venom contains large amounts of agitoxin and scyllatoxin and is very
dangerous; however, a sting from this scorpion rarely kills a healthy adult.
 The monitor lizard. It has been suggested that the occasional habit of varanids to stand
on their two hind legs and to appear to "monitor" their surroundings led to the original
Arabic name waral ‫ورل‬, which is translated to English as "monitor".[32]
 Sand vipers, which average less than 50 cm (20 in) in length. Many have a pair of
horns, one over each eye. Active at night, they usually lie buried in the sand with only
their eyes visible. Bites are painful, but rarely fatal.
 The African Wild Dog has some populations confirmed in the southern Sahara.[33] or
perhaps only 14 countries.[34].
 The fennec fox, pale fox and Rüppell's fox, are omnivorous canids living in many
parts of Sahara.
  The hyrax. It first appears in the fossil record over 40 million years ago, and for many
millions of years hyraxes were the primary terrestrial herbivore in Africa.
 The ostrich which is a flightless bird native to Africa. They have become rare.
 The addax, a large white antelope, is a threatened species. Adapted to the desert, they
can remain months without drinking, even a whole year.
 The Saharan cheetah lives in Algeria, Togo, Niger, Mali, Benin, and Burkina Faso.
There remain less than 250 mature cheetahs which are very cautious, fleeing any
human presence. The cheetah avoids the sun from April to October. It then seeks the
shelter of shrubs such as balanites and acacias. They are unusually pale.[35][36]
 The dorcas gazelle is a north African gazelle that can also go for a long time without
water.

There exist other animals in the Sahara (birds in particular) such as African Silverbill and
Black-throated Firefinch among others. There are also small desert crocodiles in Mauritania
and the Ennedi Plateau of Chad.[37]

The central Sahara is estimated to include only five hundred species of plants, which is
extremely low considering the huge extent of the area. Plants such as acacia trees, palms,
succulents, spiny shrubs, and grasses have adapted to the arid conditions, either by reducing
water loss or storing water. Plant leaves may dry out totally and then recover. Human
activities are more likely to affect the habitat in areas of permanent water (oases) or where
water comes close to the surface. Here, the local pressure on natural resources can be intense.
The remaining populations of large mammals have been greatly reduced by hunting for food
and recreation. In recent years development projects have started in the deserts of Algeria and
Tunisia using irrigated water pumped from underground aquifers. These schemes often lead
to soil degradation and salinization.

[edit] History

Photo of the Sahara from 1908

[edit] Berbers

Berbers are one of the oldest known inhabitants of the Sahara Desert.[citation needed] They are the
people that occupied (and still occupy) more than two thirds of the Sahara's total surface.
[citation needed]
The Garamantes Berbers built a prosperous empire in the heart of the desert.[citation
needed]
The Tuareg nomads continue, to present day, to inhabit and move across wide Sahara
surfaces in Algeria, Mali, Niger, Mauritania, and Libya. Some of the oldest Berber Tifinagh
inscriptions are found in Southern Algeria, Northern Mali and Niger.[citation needed]

[edit] Egyptians

By 6000 BC predynastic Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle
and constructing large buildings. Subsistence in organized and permanent settlements in
predynastic Egypt by the middle of the 6th millennium BC centered predominantly on cereal
and animal agriculture: cattle, goats, pigs and sheep. Metal objects replaced prior ones of
stone. Tanning of animal skins, pottery and weaving are commonplace in this era also.[38]
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. Stone
arrowheads, knives and scrapers are common.[39] Burial items include pottery, jewelry,
farming and hunting equipment, and assorted foods including dried meat and fruit. Burial in
desert environments appears to enhance Egyptian preservation rites, and dead are buried
facing due west.[38] By 3400 BC, the Sahara was as dry as it is today, and it became a largely
impenetrable barrier to humans, with only scattered settlements around the oases, but little
trade or commerce through the desert. The one major exception was the Nile Valley. The
Nile, however, was impassable at several cataracts, making trade and contact by boat
difficult.

[edit] Nubians

During the Neolithic, before the onset of desertification, around 9500 BC the central Sudan
had been a rich environment supporting a large population ranging across what is now barren
desert, like the Wadi el-Qa'ab. By the 5th millennium BC, the peoples who inhabited what is
now called Nubia, were full participants in the "agricultural revolution," living a settled
lifestyle with domesticated plants and animals. Saharan rock art of cattle and herdsmen found
suggests the presence of a cattle cult like those found in Sudan and other pastoral societies in
Africa today.[40] Megaliths found at Nabta Playa are overt examples of probably the world's
first known Archaeoastronomy devices, predating Stonehenge by some 1000 years.[41] This
complexity, as observed at Nabta Playa, and as expressed by different levels of authority
within the society there, likely formed the basis for the structure of both the Neolithic society
at Nabta and the Old Kingdom of Egypt.[42]

Azalai salt caravan. As recently as 1906, a 20,000- camel caravan left Agadez to collect salt
at Bilma.

[edit] Phoenicians

The people of Phoenicia, who flourished between 1200-800 BC, created a confederation of
kingdoms across the entire Sahara to Egypt. They generally settled along the Mediterranean
coast, as well as the Sahara, among the people of Ancient Libya, who were the ancestors of
people who speak Berber languages in North Africa and the Sahara today, including the
Tuareg of the central Sahara.

The Phoenician alphabet seems to have been adopted by the ancient Libyans of north Africa,
and Tifinagh is still used today by Berber-speaking Tuareg camel herders of the central
Sahara.

Sometime between 633 BC and 530 BC, Hanno the Navigator either established or reinforced
Phoenician colonies in Western Sahara, but all ancient remains have vanished with virtually
no trace. (See History of Western Sahara.)

[edit] Greeks

By 500 BC, a new influence arrived in the form of the Greeks. 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. But 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 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.

Market on the main square of Ghardaïa (1971)

[edit] Urban civilization

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, Libya.[11] 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 Greeks and the 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 Garamantes 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.[43]

[edit] Trans-Saharan trade

Main article: Trans-Saharan trade

Following the Islamic conquest of North Africa in the mid-seventh to early eighth centuries,
trade across the desert intensified. 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 Sea sent south manufactured goods and horses. From
the Sahara itself, 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.
A significant slave trade crossed the desert. It has been estimated that from the 10th to the
19th century some 6,000 to 7,000 slaves were transported north each year.[44]

The Tuareg once controlled the central Sahara desert and its trade.

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. The Sahara was rapidly remarginalized.

[edit] European imperialism

At the beginning of the 19th century, most of the northern Sahara, including most of present-
day Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, was part of the Ottoman Empire. The Sahel and
southern Sahara were home to several independent states.

European colonialism in the Sahara began in the 19th century. France conquered Algeria
from the Ottomans in 1830, and French rule spread south from Algeria and eastwards from
Senegal into the upper Niger to include present-day Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania,
Morocco (1912), Niger, and Tunisia (1881).

Egypt, under Muhammad Ali and his successors, conquered Nubia (1820–22), founded
Khartoum (1823), and conquered Darfur (1874). Egypt, including the Sudan, became a
British protectorate in 1882. Egypt and Britain lost control of the Sudan from 1882 to 1898 as
a result of the Mahdist War. After its capture by British troops in 1898, the Sudan became a
Anglo-Egyptian condominium.

Spain captured present-day Western Sahara after 1874. In 1912, Italy captured Libya from
the Ottomans.
To promote the Roman Catholic religion in the desert, the Pope in 1868 appointed a delegate
Apostolic of the Sahara and the Sudan; later in the 19th century his jurisdiction was
reorganized into the Vicariate Apostolic of Sahara.

[edit] Modern times

A natural rock arch in south western Libya

Egypt became independent of Britain in 1936, although the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936
allowed Britain to keep troops in Egypt and maintained the British-Egyptian condominium in
the Sudan. British military forces were withdrawn in 1954.

Most of the Saharan states achieved independence after World War II: Libya in 1951,
Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia in 1956, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger in 1960, and
Algeria in 1962. Spain withdrew from Western Sahara in 1975, and it was partitioned
between Mauritania and Morocco. Mauritania withdrew in 1979, but Morocco continues to
hold the territory.

The modern era has seen a number of mines and communities develop to utilize the desert's
natural resources. These include large deposits of oil and natural gas in Algeria and Libya and
large deposits of phosphates in Morocco and Western Sahara.

A number of Trans-African highways have been proposed across the Sahara, including the
Cairo-Dakar Highway along the Atlantic coast, the Trans-Sahara Highway from Algiers on
the Mediterranean to Kano in Nigeria, the Tripoli-Cape Town Highway from Tripoli in Libya
to Ndjamena in Chad, and the Cairo-Cape Town Highway which follows the Nile. Each of
these highways is partially complete, with significant gaps and unpaved sections.

[edit] Peoples and languages

The Sahara is home to a number of people and languages. Arabic is the most widely spoken
language in the Sahara, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. Berber people are found from
western Egypt to Morocco, including the Tuareg pastoralists of the central Sahara. The Beja
live in the Red Sea Hills of southeastern Egypt and eastern Sudan. The Arabic, Berber, and
Beja languages are part of the Afro-Asiatic language family.