What is the name of the world's largest hot desert, spanning much of North Africa?

The Sahara Desert is the world's largest hot desert, spanning much of North Africa.

The Sahara covers approximately 9.2 million square kilometres, making it comparable in area to the United States or China. It stretches across parts of more than ten countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Tunisia.

The Sahara is not uniformly covered by sand: rocky plateaus, gravel plains, mountains, and salt flats occupy much of it. It is commonly confused with Antarctica, which is the world's largest desert overall because deserts are defined by very low precipitation, not by heat. The Sahara has also shifted between wetter and drier conditions over thousands of years.