Mondo Knows Facts
The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world
Spanning over nine million square kilometres, the Sahara covers much of North Africa.
The Sahara is roughly comparable in size to the entire land area of the United States or China. While sand dunes form iconic pictures of the landscape, sand seas cover only about fifteen per cent of its surface, with the remainder consisting of stone plateaux and gravel plains. Climate studies indicate the Sahara cycles between desert and grassland every twenty thousand years.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
Antarctica is technically the largest desert on EarthAntarctica receives an average of less than 200 millimetres of precipitation each year along its coast and far less inland.The Namib Desert is considered the oldest desert on EarthArid conditions have persisted in the Namib Desert along southwestern Africa coast for over 55 million years.The Sahara is the largest hot desert on EarthIt spans over nine million square kilometres across northern AfricaRub al Khali is the largest continuous body of sand on EarthCovering roughly 650,000 square kilometres, the Empty Quarter spans four countries on the Arabian Peninsula.Death Valley holds the record for the highest recorded air temperatureAn air temperature of 56.7 degrees Celsius was recorded at Furnace Creek in Death Valley in July 1913.The Indian Ocean is the warmest major ocean basin on EarthCovering roughly twenty per cent of Earth water surface, the Indian Ocean drives global monsoon climate.
Tags: sahara, africa, deserts, climate
The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Spanning over nine million square kilometres, the Sahara covers much of North Africa. The figure is taken from CIA World Factbook, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a world geography fact?
- Yes. It sits on the World Geography shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.