What is the name of the desert that covers much of northern Africa?

The Sahara Desert is the vast desert that covers much of northern Africa. It extends across roughly 9.2 million square kilometers, making it the largest hot desert on Earth, although the polar deserts are larger overall.

The Sahara stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east and includes parts of more than ten countries. Its landscape is not only sand dunes: it also contains rocky plateaus, gravel plains, mountains, salt flats, and scattered oases. The Tibesti and Ahaggar ranges rise above portions of the desert.

The region has not always been so dry. During the African Humid Period, which ended several thousand years ago, the Sahara supported more lakes, grasslands, animals, and human communities than it does today. The word Sahara comes from the Arabic ṣaḥrāʾ, meaning desert. The Gobi and Atacama are also deserts, but they lie in Asia and South America.