12 Life in the Deserts

My Learning Aim! DesertsS

The Sahara
Ladakh

We know deserts are extremely dry areas with Desert, a hot desert, of Africa and Ladakh, a
little or no vegetation. Deserts receive very cold desert, in Jammuand Kashmir, India.
low raifal; they have very low atmospheric
humidity and high_daytime temperature. The Sahara
Almost all the deserts are located between
Land
15 and 30° parallel latitudes north and south
of the
The word Sahara is derived from Arabic word
equator.
sehra which means 'desert'. Located in North
On the basis of temperature, deserts can Africa, it is the largest desert in the world. Its
be classified as hot totat area is about 85 lakh sq. km. The Sahara
desert and cold desert.
Hot deserts are Characterized by
high isbordered in the west by the AtlanticOcean,
EnDerature, very low rainfall and strong in the north by the Atlas Mountains and
winds. They are
located in the tropical Mediterranean Sea, in the east bythe Red
semi
as. For example, the Sahara Desert, Sea, and in the south by the Sahel-a
countries
dnari Desert, the Arabian Desert, the Thar arid region. It is spread through Mauritania,
Vesert, etc. Whereas
the colddeserts are Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, and
Characterized Sudan
by low temperature and jce Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara,
one-fourth of the
They are located near
the temperate Tunisia. It covers about consists
Most of the Sahara
and e
coldpolar regions. For example, Ladakh, African continent.
ibet, Sand dunes
Antarctica, plains and plateaus.
etc. of vasti rocky The desert
In this lesson
form a small part of the Sahara.
features like
Teatures shall study about physical
we
of arious
and human life in deserts through landtorm consists seas (erg), stone plateau
example
of two
deserts viz. the Sahara sand dunes, sand
Life in the
Deserts191
 river in the world, the mostimportant river
is
(hamada), gravel covered plains (reg), dry
valleys (wadi), dry lakes (oued) and salt flats in the region. It flows along the eastern parts
many mountains of the Sahara into the Mediterranean Sea.
(shatt or chott). There are The river Niger is another important river
like
and mountain ranges in the Sahara in
Tibesti the Sahara; originating in Guinea Highlands,
Saharan Atlas, Ahaggar Mountains, it flows through Western Africa. into
Mountains, etc. Thehighest peak inthe Sahara the
is Emi Koussi in the Tibesti range of Chad.
Atlantic Ocean. Lake Chad, an economically
important lake, is the only fresh water lakein
Being a desert, most of the rivers or streams the Sahara Desert.
are seasonal or intermittent. Nile, the longest
NIURKEY
Aatic
ALGIERSTUNIS GREECE
RABAT
A
TUHISIA
MOROCCOoMIS
ATLAS TRIPOL AE
QATÍARA SAUDI
DEPRESSION CAÍRO
ALGERIA LIBYA ARABIA
LIBYAN EGYPT
VESTER, SAH ARA DESERT DESERT
SAHARA Lake
(dispüted) TIBESTI Nasse
AHAGGAR MASSIF
NUBIAN
MAURITANIA /MTS. DEERT
MALI
tEmiKouss Nile
KNOUAKCHOTT 'ERTREA
SHEL NIGER
SEnégal Niger KHARTOUM
CHAD
PAMAKD
* rURKIHA
FASC
N'DJAMENA
sUDAH
GUINEA
5TGEBIA JCENTRALS
AFRICAN
Vota REPUBLI
CAMEnOON
400
l km TOGO
mi 0M REP. OF

Know More! The Sahara Desert Sand dunes

It is believed that life on the earth started from Africa and thousands of years back it had enough water to sustain
many people and animals. The evidence of fossils of various water animals like crocodile and the prehistoric
paintings of plants proves this fact.

Climate vary a great deal in the Sahara Desert. During

Being the world's largest hot desert, Sahara the day, temperatures may reach beyond 50
has one of the world's most severe climates. while after sunset temperatures fall very
C

It experiences generally hot and dry climate. quickly and may fallbelow freezing point.
The summers are very hot all over the desert;
The Sahara receives very scanty rainfall. Some
the winters are mild in the Northern Sahara,
areas receive no_ rain
and mild and dry in the Southern part. for several years. Ine
variations in the rainfall is evident by the fact
The Sahara is one of the
hottest regions in that rainfall is received by northern regions
the world. The average annual temperature In the winter_and southern regions in the
is about 30° C; in summers
temperature goes Summer. The average annual rainfallreceived
beyond 50° C ALAzizia, a place
in Libya, is by the Sahara is not more
believed to be the hottest in the than 25cm.
world as the
highest temperate ever, 58 was recorded Flora and Fauna
at this place. The day and night temperatures conditions
The high temperatures and
make survival o
natural vegetation
ar
difficult.

192 Pragmatic Social Studies -7

 Sahara consists of
of Agriculture is practised in oasis. The areas
natural vegetation
The scatteredi concentration of grasses where irrigation ís possibte,cops like millets,
sparseand most
shrubs, of which are drought and barley, wheat, etc., and vegetables are grown.
resistant. Plants here have adapted Agriculture is also practised by people living
heat
themselve7 cope up with the scarcity of close to the Nile valley.
grOw close to the ground, have
water. They
smallI waxy leaves.
roots, thick barks and
long may be found in oasis.
date palms
Trees like are olive, cypreS
Other
trees found here
acacia.
thyme, baobab
and
called "the
Caml, alsO
is
ship of the desert',
important River Nile
the most The Sahara region minerals. Copper,
is rich in
animal found in
the
animals ron ore, manganese, uranium, coal, oil and
desert. Other
natural gas are found in large scale here.
found here are jackals,
antelopes, Jackal Countries like Libya, Egypt and Algeria export
hyegas, oil. The important cities are Cairo (the capital
gazelles, hares,
etc. found here are
Birds
etc. of Egypt), Timbuktu (an urban centre in Mali)
bustards, owls, raptors, fowls, ostriches,
and Tripoli (chief port and capital of Libya).
Info Sahara deserts covers 8 per cent of
area, and the desert
Bell the total land Ladakh
shrinks and expands because of the
changes in the climate. Land
Ladakh is the high altitude region in the state
It is enclosed
of Jammu and Kashmir in India.
People and Economy range in the
are
by the Karakoram Mountain
The Sahara Desert and its margins north and the Great Himalayas in the south,
BCE. ranges of Ladakh and
believed to be inhabited since 6000 and traversed by two
Greeks
Since then, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Zanskar. Some of the peaks and the famous
among the people It is drained
and Europeans have been Siachen glacier are located here.
in the area. The majority of the population
by the Indus River and its
tributaries and the
Iives in Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Libya and Zanskar River which
merges with the Indus
Kashmir
Western Sahara. River. The region is linked with the
pass. Ladakh shares its
Mostofthe people living in Sahara are nomads valley by the Zojila
like China and
who move from one place to another. They boundary with other countries
nerd goats, sheep and camel; andare engaged Pakistan. It lies between the 32 to 36 degree
in cattle trading.
The north latitude and has barren landscape.
cold desert.
two important
tribes which makes it the high altitude
of Leh
of Sahara are
TuaregS Ladakh was divided into two districts
(2750m altitude).
and Bedouin.
They are (3505m altitude)and Kargil
convenience.
in 1979 for administrative
mostly
herders and
rade animals. They live
in groups.
Tuareg man
193
Life in the Deserts