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Fascinating Facts About the Sahara Desert

Shraboni Sen Kar
Sahara, located in the African continent, is the largest hot desert in the world. Spread across several countries, the Sahara desert never fails to enchant the wanderlust in us. Answer a few questions and unfold some of the fascinating facts about this Desert.
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Fact-check: The Sahara desert comprises much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and Sudan.
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Fact-check: If the Sahara were a country, it would be the fifth largest country in the world. Larger than Brazil and only slightly smaller than China.
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Fact-check: The desert spans 11 countries: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia.
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Fact-check: The largest desert on earth is the Antarctic desert, covering the continent of Antarctica with an area of around 5,405,000 square miles. And the Arctic desert covers an area of 5,400,000 square miles.
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Fact-check: The Eye of the Sahara, also known as the Richat Structure or Guelb er Richat, is a symmetrical dome of eroded sedimentary and volcanic rock. The outermost rings measure approximately 40 km (25 miles) across.
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Fact-check: A hamada is a type of desert landscape consisting of high, largely barren, hard rocky plateaus, where most of the sand has been removed by deflation.
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Fact-check: The Sahara is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Red Sea on the east, the Mediterranean Sea on the north and the Sahel Savannah on the south.
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Fact-check: A camel train or caravan is a series of camels carrying passengers and goods on a regular or semi-regular service between points.
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Fact-check: The name 'Sahara' is derived from the Arabic word for "desert", ṣaḥara.
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Fact-check: On September 13th 1922, the Sahara’s record high temperature was recorded at 136 °F in El Azizia, Libya.
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Fact-check: The desert’s highest point is an extinct volcano called Mount Koussi in Chad, which has an elevation of 3,415 metres.
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Fact-check: Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania is located in the Sahara Desert.
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Fact-check: The addax, also known as the white antelope and the screwhorn antelope, is an antelope of the genus Addax, that lives in the Sahara Desert.
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Fact-check: A dune is a mound of sand formed by the wind. Dunes form when wind blows sand into a sheltered area behind an obstacle. Dunes grow as grains of sand accumulate.
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Fact-check: The Bedouin are a population of nomadic Arabs who have historically inhabited the desert regions. Most Bedouins are animal herders.
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Fact-check: The Tunisian Sahara has been used as a backdrop for the towns of Tatooine (which, by the way, is a real place) and Matmata, ever since the desert Berber towns caught the eye of director George Lucas.