The Sahara Desert covers much of northern Africa and is the world’s largest hot desert.
The Sahara stretches across approximately 9.2 million square kilometres, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. It spans parts of many countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Chad, and Tunisia.
Although often pictured as endless sand dunes, sand seas occupy only part of the Sahara. The landscape also includes rocky plateaus, gravel plains, mountains, salt flats, and dry valleys. Rainfall is extremely low and irregular, but some oases support permanent settlements.
The Sahara is not the largest desert of any type. Antarctica is larger and is classified as a polar desert because it receives very little precipitation. The Gobi is also a major desert, but it lies in Asia and has colder winters.