Sahara Desert

The sahara is the world's largest desert. Whether the desert is increasing or decreasing is a point of [Page 1552]constant debate. The Sahara's northern boundary runs from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to the Suez Canal. The southern boundary stretches from a point in Mauritania to the Red Sea in Sudan or Eritrea. These borders create an area of approximately 9,000,000 square kilometers. This area was not always a desert. As recently as 8,000 years ago, much of it was temperate, making the climate hospitable to fishing and farming. The area then quickly turned to a desert, most likely due to a shift in the earth's axis.

This change in climate had a substantial impact on human society. It is proposed that grazing for sustenance became ...