Sahara

The Sahara is the world's second largest desert (second to Antarctica), over 9,000,000 km² (3,500,000 mi²), located in northern Africa and is 2.5 million years old. The entire land area of the United States of America would fit inside it. Its name, Sahara, is an English pronunciation of the word for desert in Arabic (صحراء {{Audio|ar-Sahara.ogg|arabic pronunciation}}).

History

Morocco boasts the oldest figurine known to date: 300,000 to 500,000 years ago.

Related Topics:
Morocco - Figurine

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Algeria has provided evidence of remarkable workmanship in tool-making as early as 30,000 BC. According to some sources, prehistoric Algeria was the site of the highest state of development of Middle Paleolithic flake-tool techniques. Early remnants of hominid occupation have been found in Ain el Hanech, near Saïda (ca. 200,000 B.C.). Later, Neandertal tool makers produced hand axes in the Levalloisian and Mousterian styles (ca. 43,000 B.C.) similar to those in the Levant. Tools of the era starting about 30,000 BC are called Aterian (after the site Bir el Ater), south of Annaba in the north-eastern corner of Algeria, and are marked by a high standard of workmanship, great variety, and specialization. See Prehistory of Central North Africa.

Related Topics:
Algeria - Tool - Prehistoric - Paleolithic - Neandertal - Levalloisian - Mousterian - Bir el Ater - Annaba - Prehistory of Central North Africa

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bubalus Period, (35,000 - 8,000 BC), remains show artistic stone engravings, petroglyphs and pictographs made of pigment mixed with milk of animals that became extinct in the area, including the buffalo (Bubalus antiquus), elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus. This is mainly found in the southeastern area of modern Algeria, Chad and Libya. Men often wearing round helmets (10000 BC - 8000 BC) are armed with clubs, throwing sticks, axes and bows, but never spears. A grain-grinding culture farming along the Nile around 9500 BC used the earliest known type of sickle blade.

Related Topics:
Bubalus Period - 35,000 - 8,000 BC - Petroglyphs - Pictographs - Buffalo - Elephant - Rhinoceros - Hippopotamus - 10000 BC - 8000 BC - Clubs - Axe - Bow - Spear - Grain - Grinding - Culture - Farming - Nile - 9500 BC - Sickle - Blade

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cattle Period, (7,500 - 4,000 BC), beginning of a pastoral economy, domesticated cattle, sheep and goats, and the discovery of pottery making. Manufacturing of polished stone axes, grindstones and arrowheads, and the predominant use of bow and arrows for hunting. Domesticated animals are Asian imports. The later era shows the origins of villages supporting large populations and cattle herding.

Related Topics:
Cattle Period - 7,500 - 4,000 BC - Domesticated - Pottery - Grindstone - Arrowhead - Herding

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Berber Period, (3,000 - 700 BC), The early period shows the importation of horses, camels and milking cows and large scale agriculture. The use and forging of iron came about from trade with the Phoenicians (c. 1220 BC). They created a confederation of kingdoms across the entire Sahara to Egypt, generally settling on the coasts but sometimes in the desert also.

Related Topics:
Berber Period - 3,000 - 700 BC - Horse - Camel - Milking - Agriculture - Phoenicians - 1220 BC - Egypt

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By 2500 BC the Sahara was as dry as it is today and it became a largely impenetrable barrier to humans, with only scattered settlements around the oases, but little trade or commerce through the desert. The one major exception was the Nile Valley. This well watered section of the desert became one of the most densely populated regions on the planet and the home to one of humanity's earliest civilizations. The Nile, however, was impassable at several cataracts making trade and contact difficult. Over time Egypt spread south and technologies such as iron working, and perhaps ideas such as that of monarchy spread into Nubia and further south.

Related Topics:
2500 BC - Settlement - Nile Valley - Civilization - Cataract - Iron - Monarchy - Nubia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sometime between 633 and 530 BC Hanno the Navigator either established or reinforced Phoenician colonies in the Western Sahara, but all ancient remains have vanished with virtually no trace. See History of Western Sahara.

Related Topics:
Hanno the Navigator - Phoenicia - Western Sahara - History of Western Sahara

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By 500 BC a new influence arrived in the form of the Greeks and Phoenicians. Greek traders spread along the eastern coast of the desert, establishing trading colonies along the Red Sea coast. The Carthaginians explored the Atlantic coast of the desert. The turbulence of the waters and the lack of markets never led to an extensive presence further south than modern Morocco. Centralized states thus surrounded the desert on the north and east; it remained outside of the control of these states. Raids from the nomadic Berber people of the desert were a constant concern of those living on the edge of the desert.

Related Topics:
500 BC - Greeks - Phoenicians - Red Sea - Berber

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The greatest change in the history of the Sahara arrived with the Arab invasion that brought camels to the region. For the first time an efficient trade across the Sahara desert could be conducted. The kingdoms of the Sahel grew rich and powerful exporting gold to North Africa. The emirates along the Mediterranean sent south manufactured goods and horses. From the Sahara itself salt was exported. This process turned the scattered oasis communities into trading centres, and brought them under the control of the empires on the edge of the desert.

Related Topics:
Arab - Camel - Sahel - Gold - North Africa - Horse

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This trade persisted for several centuries until the development in Europe of the caravel allowed ships, first from Portugal but soon from all Western Europe, to sail around the desert and gather the resources from the source in Guinea. The Sahara was rapidly remarginalized.

Related Topics:
Caravel - Portugal - Guinea

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The colonial powers also largely ignored the region, but the modern era has seen a number of mines and communities develop to exploit the desert's natural resources. These include large deposits of oil and gas in Algeria and Libya and large deposits of phosphates in Morocco and Western Sahara.

Related Topics:
Phosphates - Morocco - Western Sahara

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

mtDNA analyses (see Z. Brakez et al., "Human mitochondrial DNA sequence variation in the Moroccan population of the Souss area" extract) found that various populations have contributed to the present-day gene pool of the Souss region of southern Morocco, including Berbers, Arabs, Phoenicians, Sephardic Jews, and sub-Saharan Africans. Throughout the Sahara, Berbers, Arabs, and sub-Saharan Africans are significantly represented genetically.

Related Topics:
Souss - Berber - Arab - Phoenicia - Sephardic - Jew

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~