What is the name of the Sahara’s large eastern region covering much of Egypt and western Libya?

The Libyan Desert is the large eastern Sahara region covering much of Egypt and western Libya. It is one of the driest and most sparsely populated parts of the desert and includes extensive rocky plateaus, gravel plains, sand seas, and depressions.

The name can be confusing because most of the Libyan Desert lies in Egypt as well as Libya. It is a geographic region, not a synonym for the whole Sahara and not a reference only to the modern country of Libya.

Important features within or associated with the region include Egypt’s Western Desert, the Great Sand Sea, the Siwa Oasis, and the Qattara Depression. The Nubian Desert lies farther southeast, mainly in Egypt and Sudan, so the two should not be treated as identical.

The region’s extreme aridity reflects the subtropical desert belt, limited rainfall, and strong evaporation. Nevertheless, groundwater-fed oases and ancient lake deposits show that parts of the eastern Sahara experienced wetter conditions during earlier climatic periods.