The largest desert This is interesting: Sahara is not the largest desert in the world Sahara is the largest desert in the world
This time we will talk about the largest deserts in the world, which amaze with their length and grandeur. The desert has always been associated in humans with something large-scale, powerful and mysterious. Many ancient civilizations were buried under the sandy valleys. How many secrets are yet to be discovered by man, hidden from view in the boundless latitudes!
The largest deserts in the world
Antarctica
Antarctica is the only desert on the planet, which consists of layers of ice and snow. The total area of Antarctica is 14,107,000 square kilometers. Despite the presence of large volumes of frozen water, Antarctica is recognized as one of the driest places on the planet. The severe frosts in this region “dry out” all possible moisture that is on the territory. The amount of snowfall in Antarctica is not more than 4 centimeters per year. The lowest temperature in Antarctica was recorded relatively recently - in 1983. Then the temperature dropped to 89 degrees below zero Celsius.
Atacama
This great desert is an official territory of Chile. The title of "The driest desert on the planet" belongs to Atakema. Because of the drought, every plant that can survive in such extreme conditions has a unique structure and developed special mechanisms for existence. Most of the plants in this desert, during the driest periods, are able to stop their growth and reproduction for some time.
Salar de Uyuni
This great salt desert is located in Bolivia. According to expert research, the amount of salt in the desert is about 10 billion tons. The salt dissolved during the rain turns the desert into a real giant salt "mirror". To see such a spectacle with your own eyes is worth a lot. Salt water at the moment the sun's rays hit it, due to a different refractive index, achieves a mirror effect. A person without difficulty, sunny weather, will be able to see his reflection under his feet.
Kalahari
Translated from the Berber name of the desert "Kalahari" is translated as "torturous". This desert is majestic in its size. Its possessions start from Botswana and Nambia, and end in the territory of the Republic of South Africa. The entire area of the desert is 600,000 square kilometers. Moreover, due to such a natural phenomenon as alluvium, the size of the Kalahari is constantly increasing, while selecting new areas of civilization. Zimbabwe, Angola and Zambia were among the countries affected by the Kalahari sprawl.
desert australia
Everyone knows that Australia is famous for its kangaroos, koalas and endless beaches. But few people imagine that almost half of the Australian continent is occupied by a desert, which seems to consist of many small dry areas, with a total area of 647,000 square kilometers. The word "desert" is associated in our minds with a lot of sand, but here, too, the Australian deserts stand out from others. In addition to sand, in the wild areas of the desert, one can also find vast stone expanses consisting of gravel. Even the color of ordinary sand in sandy areas has an unusual red tint. The Australian desert is famous for its red dunes, which are visited by thousands of tourists every year. The height of some red dunes is more than 40 m.
Gobi
This desert is located on the territory of China and Mongolia. It would seem that the vast expanses of the Gobi desert originate from the Tien Shan and Altai mountains and end in the steppes of Mongolia, not far from the Yellow River. The total area of the Gobi Desert is 1,166,000 square kilometers. The name of the Gobi desert is translated from Mongolian as "waterless place".
Arabian desert
This desert is the second largest in the world in terms of its extent. Its total area is 2,300,000 square kilometers. The Arabian Desert is located on the peninsula of the same name and lies on the territory Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria. Due to strong winds that cause powerful dust storms, almost the entire desert is completely uninhabited. Also in the desert there are frequent temperature fluctuations at different times of the day. During the day, a raw egg can be easily boiled in a few minutes if left on the sand under the sun. And at night, the stones literally begin to crack from the cold.
Sahara
The Sahara is the largest desert in the world, or as it is commonly called the "Queen of the Deserts". The area of the desert is 9,065,000 square kilometers. Its size is only slightly inferior to the total area of all the United States of America combined. The Sahara Desert is located in North Africa, and covers the territories of the following states: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Niger, Morocco, Sudan and Chad. Sahara is famous for its mirages, because during the year there are up to 200 thousand cases of their appearance. Special maps have even been developed for tourists, on which zones of the probable appearance of mirages are marked.
There are about 47 or more deserts in the world, this includes not only sandy deserts, but also semi-deserts, differing in landscape with a more intermediate between steppe and desert in temperate geographical zones and between savannah and desert in tropical, with appropriate mixtures of vegetation, animals and soils. In the list of sandy deserts below, we will also see areas with a mixed landscape.
1. Sahara
9,065,000 sq km
The Sahara Desert is the largest in the world, its area exceeds 9 million square kilometers. It covers almost all of North Africa: Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan, Chad, Libya, etc. The name "Sahara" is an Arabic translation of the Tuareg word "desert". In summer, the air temperature can rise to 58°C, in winter it stays within 15-28°C.
In the Sahara, as in other sandy deserts, sandstorms are frequent, strong winds can carry sand dust even to Europe.More than 150 thousand mirages are observed in the Sahara, which are marked on maps indicating which particular mirage is most often "showed" in this particular area - an oasis, a river or a well.
Precipitation in the south of the Sahara is less than in the north, there are especially dry periods lasting up to three years, during which there is no precipitation at all. The only source of water in the Sahara other than rain is the Nile, which crosses it in the east. However, thanks to groundwater in the waterless desert, there are oases with deep wells, it is in the oases that hotels are located for tourists who come to drive across the Sahara in jeeps, the most luxurious date palms and sweet grapes.
2 Arabian Desert
2,330,000 sq km
The Arabian Desert is located on the Arabian Peninsula, is located in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, occupies part of Iraq, Syria, southern and eastern Jordan. The vast expanses of the Arabian Desert are occupied by moving dunes and sand massifs, in its center is Rub "al-Kali, one of the largest sand massifs in the world. Most of the territory is uninhabited due to frequent sand and dust storms and strong winds, high temperatures with usual for deserts with large diurnal amplitudes Temperature range - 40-50°C in summer, average temperature in winter - 5-15°C, although it can drop to 0°C.
Most of the desert is occupied by gravel, sandstone and limestone plateaus (hamady), stepwise rising from west to east. In the east, along the coast of the Red Sea, the crystalline Etbay Range stretches up to 2000 meters in height. In winter, its eastern slopes receive occasional precipitation, which causes rapid runoff in the normally dry valley channels. lingering all year round underground runoff maintains sparse grass-shrub vegetation and individual trees in the valleys. There were no oases in the 19th-20th centuries, but there were springs and natural cisterns filled with water from winter rains.
In the mountains of the desert, the ancient Egyptians mined aphanite, diorite and other stones for sarcophagi and sphinxes. Then, in the Jebel-Dukhan mountain near the Red Sea, the Romans and Greeks mined red porphyry for making vases, busts, etc. At the end of the 19th century, granite, copper, emeralds were mined in the mountains. At the end of the 20th century, the population was mainly nomadic livestock breeders; oil and phosphorites were mined on the Red Sea coast.
3. Gobi
1,166,000 sq km
The Gobi is located in Central Asia, on the territory of Mongolia and China, extends from the Altai and Tien Shan mountains in the east to the North Chinese plateau in the west; in the north, the Gobi passes into the steppes on the territory of Mongolia, in the south it is limited by the Yellow River. The word "gobi" is of Mongolian origin and means "waterless place", this word in Central Asia denotes generally desert and semi-desert places. In terms of the totality of the desert territories, the Gobi is largest desert Asia.
The territory of the Gobi, raised above sea level to a height of about 2000-1000 meters, is the sharpest continental place on the planet. The air temperature here rises to plus 40°C in summer, and drops to minus 40°C in winter. The landscape of the Trans-Altai, Dzhungar, East Mongolian Gobi is diverse, it is not only a waterless and barren area with a sandy plain and high hilly dunes.
Despite the arid climate, crystal-clear water sources and abundant animal world. Most of it is occupied by vast flowering steppe plains, picturesque rocky mountains, clayey and rocky hamads, vast basins with rare oases, small hills, solonchaks, takyrs, dried gravel saury and long green saxaul groves. The whole landscape resembles the African savannahs, so sometimes the hailas distribution areas are called the Gobi savannahs. There are few sands in the Gobi, dune sands occupy only 3% of its territory, but clayey and stony deserts - hamads - occupy vast areas.
4. Australian desert
647,000 sq km
The deserts got a huge territory of Australia, almost half of the continent. A significant part of the Australian deserts, located in the west, are located on a huge plateau 200 m above sea level. Some deserts rise even higher, up to 600 m. The complex relief divides the giant Australian desert into several autonomous ones. The largest of them, the Great Sandy Desert, is located in the northwestern part of the continent, to the south lies the huge Great Victoria Desert. In the northern part of the Great Sandy Desert, the sands are red-brown in color, other areas are covered not with sand, but with dark rubble and pebbles.
Among the sandy deserts, the largest is the Arunta Desert, or the Simpson Desert. It is located in the central part of the continent, closer to the west.
5 Kalahari
600,000 sq km
The Kalahari Desert, the largest of the deserts in South Africa, covers an area of about 600 thousand square kilometers and is located on the territory of Botswana, South Africa and Namibia. The Kalahari Desert occupies the southwestern part of the depression of the same name, located at an altitude of 900 m. In the west, the edge of the Kalahari lies at an altitude of 1500 m above sea level, in the east - even higher; the most low point The desert is located at an altitude of 840 m above sea level. The surface of the Kalahari is composed of horizontally lying continental strata of sandstones, pebbles and breccias.
Recently, the desert has been expanding its borders and encroaching on the territory of Angola, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Precipitation (up to 500 mm) is confined to the summer period (November - April), but their value varies significantly both in time and in area. The Kalahari is one of the hottest areas in South Africa. The average maximum temperature is plus 29°, and the average minimum temperature is plus 12°.
6. Karakum
350,000 sq km
The Karakum, a sandy desert in the south of Central Asia, occupies more than 80% of the entire territory of Turkmenistan. Karakum in Turkmen - "black sand" (from the Turkic "kara" - black and "kum" - sand). Despite such a frightening name, the desert is inhabited: there are several thousand species of arthropods, several dozen species of reptiles, two dozen species of mammals and about three dozen species of birds, plants - about 270 species.
Turkmenbashi's plans were to replace the ugly desert with a beautiful forest, planting trees in some areas, and it was also planned to build a zoo for penguins on its territory, which would attract visitors from all over the world. After the death of the Father of all Turkmens, fortunately, nothing has been heard about these plans yet.
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I offer a gallery of the deserts of the world
- despite the stinginess of nature, even such landscapes are sometimes pleasing to the eye. How beautiful our planet is in many ways!
What is the first association with the word "desert"? Most likely the Sahara. But do not consider yourself banal. The Sahara is indeed the largest desert in the world. Its area is 8.5 million km². For comparison, this is something between Canada and Brazil - a whole country of sand. The Sahara passes through the territories of 10 countries and makes up 30% of all of Africa.
The inhabitants of the Sahara are Bedouins and Berbers. "Bedouin" from Arabic means "desert dweller", and "Berber" from Greek means "free man". And a man in the desert can indeed be called free - he is cut off from big cities, has few things and is not attached to them, and is not fussy in everyday life.
After the conquest of Africa by the Muslim Arabs, the Bedouins came from the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century and settled in the Sahara. It must be understood that the Bedouins are not a nationality and not a people in the generally accepted sense. Bedouin is just a common name given to them by Europeans. So, for example, in Africa, peoples who have nothing in common with the Arabs who conquered the Sahara also eventually began to identify themselves as Bedouins.
Another common misconception is that all Bedouins are nomads. A caravan immediately appears, always going along a spit of sand. Now this is no longer the case, and in the past there were permanent settlements in mountain valleys where they bred utensils and were engaged in agriculture.
Modern Bedouin Photo: Daria Orlova
The Berbers emerged as an ethnic group also after the Arab conquests of the 7th century. Many tribes fled from the Arabs deeper into the Sahara. The Berbers have a rather rich history, some scholars believe that their ancestors gave impetus to the development of ancient Egypt. The Berbers are a more sedentary people, but also prefer the desert and survive in it at the expense of cattle breeding, agriculture and handicrafts. Most of them live in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
Tourists come to the local remote villages and wonder why the Bedouins and Berbers stayed to live here in the desert. The answer is simple - they are used to freedom and openly talk about it. This is their choice. Now in the Bedouin villages in Israel, electricity has been provided and there is a normal toilet, but the overall picture has not changed much. These are small buildings, pens for camels and sheep, canteens with carpets and pillows on the ground.
The driest place on earth - in Atacama was recorded the lowest humidity - 0%. The desert is located in a mountainous area in South America mostly in Chile. Its relief resembles the surface of Mars.
Phenomenal aridity is due to several conditions at once: rarefied air, the Andes, which does not allow precipitation, and the Peruvian current, which increases the temperature with increasing altitude (as a rule, the opposite happens - with increasing altitude, the temperature drops).
If the Sahara can be called the largest desert in the world, then the Atacama can be safely given primacy in age. Scientists believe that the South American desert appeared about 20 million years ago. Antarctica, the second "oldest", was formed only 10-11 million years ago.
The desert is inhabited by a people consonant in name - Atacamegno. In ancient times, they were nomadic and hunted. Later, the Atakameno took up farming and moved seasonally. And already closer to the beginning of our era, the Atacama population became completely sedentary. Their main activity is llama breeding and corn farming.
A woman of the Atacamegno people photo: svoiludi.ru Historians believe that the Atacameno formed their own city-state Tastil, which was defeated by the Incas in the 15th century and the people of the desert had to move inland. The inhabitants of Atacama spoke the Kunsa language, which, unfortunately, is now considered extinct. Everything living population, whose population is estimated at only two thousand people, speaks Spanish, lives in several small villages, as well as in tourist center- San Pedro de Atacama.
Now the city survives with the help of a stream of tourists who come to visit the driest desert on the planet. Two attractions are located near the city - the Licancabur volcano and salt Lake, the only body of water that does not dry up in the desert.
Kyzylkum
The desert, in the center of which is the city of Uchkuduk, famous for the song of the Yalla group. The desert itself is located on the territory of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and its area is 300 thousand km².
Weather conditions in Kyzylkum are not pleasant and easy. 100-200 mm of precipitation falls annually, and the average temperature in July reaches +30 °C.
The people who mainly inhabited the Kyzylkum are the ancient Kazakhs and Turkmens. At first, the peoples settled the desert along the rivers, and then they discovered that in this area it was possible to dig for wells and extract water in this way.
Archaeological excavations have shown that the inhabitants of the desert were also engaged in agriculture. Springs (locally "bulaks"), flowing from under the granite rocks, moistened the earth. Until now, in some parts of Kazakhstan in the desert, they are engaged in "bread" farming.
Modern wagons photo: wikiway
The locals lived in wagons - houses wrapped in felt. In summer, this saved them from temperature fluctuations, and in winter they were sheathed with felt, a material made from felted sheep's wool. The felt mat served as both a warm floor and a bed.
Until now, many locals live in tents. In fact, doing the same thing as their ancestors millennia ago. In Soviet times, wheat was actively grown on the territory of Kyzylkum, but now there can be no talk of that volume. The region's economy is in stagnation. From this no developed infrastructure, respectively, there are no tourists.
Sandy deserts cover about 20% of the land on the entire Earth. These are huge lifeless spaces, on the territory of which an unprepared person is doomed to inevitable death. The largest desert how the boundless abyss is capable of capturing, absorbing and destroying, but how devastatingly beautiful it is ...
The largest desert on Earth
Sandy deserts are the hottest places on our planet. Basically, such natural zones are located in Africa, Australia and Eurasia. There are places like salty desert Salar de Uyuni. Also, relatively small deserts can be found in America. Any schoolchild knows about the Sahara - this is the largest desert. In addition, it is also the hottest. The local temperature regime varies from 15 to 58 degrees. The area of the desert is more than 9,000,000 square kilometers.
If the Sahara were in Russia, it would occupy half of the country's territory. The name of the sandy natural area mentioned above was given by the Arabs. About 150,000 mirages can be found in the Sahara today. There is even a special map with marks, where what is most often imagined - a river, a well or an oasis. The largest desert in the world extends over the territory of almost all of North Africa and covers the area of the following countries: Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Libya, Chad, Mauritania, Egypt, Tunisia, etc. Sahara sandstorms can partially reach even Europe.
The largest deserts in the world: Arabian and Gobi
Listing largest deserts in the world you can not ignore the second largest - the Arabian Desert. As the name implies, the Arabian Sand Zone is located on the peninsula of the same name. It covers the territory of Saudi Arabia, a small part of Iraq, Syria, East Jordan and Egypt. In the center of the desert is Rub'al-Kali - this is one of the largest sand massifs on Earth. A significant part of the desert is uninhabited due to frequent storms and winds, large temperature drops. The daily temperature varies from 40 to 50 degrees in summer, and from 5 to 15 in winter. But there were also cases of zero temperature.
And, of course, the no less famous zone of the Gobi sands can bear the title - the largest desert. In terms of area, this natural area ranks third in the world, and the first in Asia. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word for "waterless place". The Gobi is located in Central Asia, covering Mongolia and part of China, which, in turn, is represented in the world as, in practice, the biggest country in the world. The northern border of the desert can be called the Mongolian steppes, the southern - the Yellow River.
The largest deserts in the world, other options
It is worth briefly mentioning other major, largest deserts in the world- this is Australian, which occupies almost the entire territory of the country of the same name, besides, there are thoughts that it is also the largest island in the world; The Kalahari is the largest desert in South Africa and Karakum - occupying about 4/5 of the territory of Turkmenistan. But, despite the size, any desert is an equally deadly and merciless place, such as the driest desert Peace of Atacaba in South America...
Starting from mediterranean sea in the north and the Red Sea in the east, the ever-expanding Sahara dominates much of North Africa. The Sahara has always been a mystery to people because of its vast expanses of sand. Well known as the largest hot desert in the world, the Sahara attracts thousands of tourists every year. Here is our list of the most interesting facts about the Sahara desert.
largest hot desert
We consider the Sahara to be the largest desert in the world, but in fact it is not. The largest desert in the world is the Antarctic, and the Sahara is the largest hot desert on earth. But nevertheless, the Sahara is expanding day by day, currently covering an area of approximately 9 million square kilometers. The Sahara covers a large part of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia, making up 31% of Africa.
The Sahara has a tropical climate with extreme weather conditions. Temperatures can reach 50C during the day and fall below 0C at night. In addition, the northeast winds of the Sahara often generate sandstorms. Half of the Sahara receives less than 250 mm of precipitation per year, while the rest receives up to 1000 mm per year. 
Mountain
most high peak Sahara is the Amy Coussy volcano, located at an altitude of 3.41 km in the Tibesti mountains in northern Chad.
Snowfall
Most amazing fact about the Sahara, it is believed that in winter the Saharan peaks are covered with snow. But the Sahara has distinct uplands and is geographically a rocky desert. However, it contains underground rivers that come out in the form of an oasis. In addition, many peaks of the Sahara are also known as volcanic. The most popular snow-capped Atlas Mountains in the Sahara is a popular trekking destination. There is also evidence that a mega-lake existed under the Sahara at one point covering over 42,000 square miles.
Rivers
There are 2 rivers in the desert - the Nile and the Niger, but it has impressive underground reservoirs or aquifers. There are also about 20 lakes in the Sahara, of which only one with drinking water is Chad. It is a shallow lake that is constantly expanding and contracting at its very southern edge Sahara.
The Sahara is home to about 1,200 plant species, which mainly include succulents, trees, shrubs, and herbs. Saharan plants easily adapt to heat and drought. In addition, many varieties can survive even in salty conditions. In addition, the driest part of the Sahara, i.e., the southern Libyan desert, also has very few plant species. In the Sahara Desert, there is a plant known as the Resurrection plant that can survive for over 100 years without water. The plant dries up and rolls around in the desert until it finds moist soil, and buds sprout soon after. 
Animals
The desert is home to some of the world's most spectacular animal species. The animals that live in the Sahara Desert are unique and rarely seen anywhere else in the world. The most incredible animal species include dromedary camels, Dorcas gazelles, dung beetles, Addax antelope, Deathstalker scorpion, ostrich, monitor lizard, fennec fox, horned viper and more. But scientists have also found evidence of river animals such as crocodiles, and they have also found fossils of dinosaurs, Jobaria, Afrovenator, and Ouranosaurus in the Sahara desert.
People
The population of the Sahara is estimated to be less than two million people, including those who live in communities close to water sources and nomadic tribes who move from place to place depending on the season. But scientists believe that the Sahara was once habitable and had a larger population than it does now. But over time, the climate of the Sahara desert has undergone dramatic changes, which led to the disappearance of many species of flora and fauna, as well as people.
The Sahara desert was a fertile and well-irrigated land about eight thousand years ago. It had a well developed grassland ecosystem and was much cooler than it is today. Research shows that the Sahara had a green and thriving vegetation that supported the lives of millions of living things, including flora, fauna, and humans. 
Sahara is an endless giant sand dunes. And, of course, there are dunes in many places in the Sahara, some of which rise over 400 feet. But it's actually interesting to know that the Sahara is only 30% sand and 70% gravel. Marvelous!
