Sahara

Other than the vast expanses of ice desert in the Antarctic and Arctic, the Sahara, encompassing most of northern , is the world's largest desert.
Photo: Project Apollo Archive, Public domain.
  • Type: Region
  • Description: desert on the African continent
  • Also known as: “Africa sahariana”, “al-Sahara”, “al-Sahra”, “as-Sahra”, “as-Sahra al-Kubra”, “aṣ-Ṣaḥrāʾ”, “aṣ-Ṣaḥrāʾ al-Kubrā”, “Desart”, “Desert”, “désert du Sahara”, “desierto del Sahara”, “El Sáḥara”, “Grand-Désert”, “Great Desert”, “Gurun Besar”, “Ọzara Sahara”, “Sahara Besar”, “Sahara Desert”, “Saharra”, “Sayara”, “Sëharà”, “Sëharâ”, “Tassili”, “the Desart”, “the Desert”, “the Great Desert”, “The Sahara”, “Tswa a̱ji̱jak Sa̱hara”, “Zaara”, “Zahara”, “Zara”, “צחרה”, “آفريخا گت سحرا”, “بیابانی گەورە”, “سەحارا”, “سەحرای گەورە”, “سەھارا”, “ซาฮารา”, “ᱜᱤᱛᱤᱞ ᱡᱟᱭᱜᱟ”, “ᱥᱟᱦᱟᱨᱟ ᱜᱤᱛᱤᱞ ᱡᱟᱭᱜᱟ”, and “ᱥᱟᱦᱟᱨᱟ ᱦᱟᱦᱟᱝᱠᱟᱨ”

Sahara

Latitude of center
22.25° or 22° 15′ north
Longitude of center
9.8° or 9° 48′ east
Open­Street­Map ID
Open­Street­Map feature
natural=­desert
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­region
Wiki­data ID
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We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover this place from above in high-definition satellite imagery.

In Other Languages

From Afrikaans to Yue Chinese—“Sahara” goes by many names.
  • Afrikaans: “Sahara”
  • Albanian: “Sahara”
  • Albanian: “Shkretëtira e Saharasë”
  • Amharic: “ሰሃራ በረሃ”
  • Amharic: “ሰሐራ በረሓ”
  • Angika: “सहारा”
  • Arabic: “الصحراء الكبرى”
  • Aragonese: “Disierto d’o Sahara”
  • Armenian: “Սահարա անապատ”
  • Armenian: “Սահարա”
  • Assamese: “চাহাৰা মৰুভূমি”
  • Assamese: “চাহাৰা”
  • Asturian: “Desiertu d’El Sáḥara”
  • Avaric: “СахӀара”
  • Awadhi: “सहारा मरुभूमी”
  • Azerbaijani: “Sahara”
  • Azerbaijani: “Saxara”
  • Balinese: “Gurun Sahara”
  • Bashkir: “Сахара сүллеге”
  • Bashkir: “Сахара”
  • Basque: “Sahara”
  • Bavarian: “Sahara”
  • Belarusian: “Пустыня Сахара”
  • Belarusian: “Сахара”
  • Bengali: “সাহারা মরুভূমি”
  • Betawi: “Gurun Sahara”
  • Betawi: “Sahara”
  • Bhojpuri: “सहारा”
  • Bislama: “Draeples blong Sahara”
  • Bosnian: “Sahara”
  • Breton: “Sahara”
  • Bulgarian: “Сахара”
  • Burmese: “ဆဟာရ သဲကန္တာရ”
  • Catalan: “Sàhara”
  • Cebuano: “Sahara”
  • Cebuano: “Säharaʼ”
  • Central Bikol: “Sahara”
  • Central Kanuri: “Sahara”
  • Central Kurdish: “بیابانی مەزن”
  • Chechen: “Сахара”
  • Chechen: “Саьхьара”
  • Cherokee: “ᏌᎭᏩ”
  • Chinese: “撒哈拉沙漠”
  • Chuvash: “Сахара”
  • Cornish: “Sahara”
  • Corsican: “Sahara”
  • Crimean Tatar: “Büyük Sahra”
  • Croatian: “Sahara”
  • Czech: “Sahara”
  • Dagbani: “Amaada”
  • Danish: “Sahara”
  • Dimli (individual language): “Sehra”
  • Dinka: “Panliɛ̈tdït”
  • Dotyali: “सहारा मरुभूमी”
  • Dutch: “Sahara”
  • Eastern Mari: “Сахара”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “الصحرا الكبرى”
  • Esperanto: “Saharo”
  • Estonian: “Sahara”
  • Extremaduran: “Sáhara”
  • Faroese: “Sahara”
  • Fiji Hindi: “Sahara”
  • Finnish: “Sahara”
  • French: “Sahara”
  • Friulian: “Desert dal Sahara”
  • Galician: “Deserto do Sáhara”
  • Gan Chinese: “撒哈拉”
  • Georgian: “საჰარა”
  • German: “Sahara”
  • Greek: “Σαχάρα”
  • Guarani: “Saára”
  • Guianese Creole French: “Sahara”
  • Gun: “Sahara”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Sahara”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Sat-hâ-là”
  • Hausa: “Sahara”
  • Hebrew: “סהרה”
  • Hindi: “सहारा मरुस्थल”
  • Hindi: “सहारा”
  • Hungarian: “Szahara”
  • Icelandic: “Sahara”
  • Ido: “Sahara”
  • Igbo: “Sahara”
  • Iloko: “Sahara”
  • Indonesian: “Gurun Sahara”
  • Indonesian: “Sahara”
  • Ingush: “Сахьаре”
  • Interlingua: “Sahara”
  • Interlingue: “Sahara”
  • Irish: “An Sahára”
  • Italian: “deserto del Sahara”
  • Italian: “Deserto del Sahara”
  • Italian: “Sahara”
  • Jamaican Creole English: “Sa’aara”
  • Japanese: “サハラ砂漠”
  • Javanese: “Ara-ara Sahara”
  • Javanese: “Sahara”
  • Jju: “A̱kkwot nkyei Sahara”
  • Kabardian: “Сахара”
  • Kabardian: “Сэхарэ”
  • Kabiyè: “Sahara Kañɩnbʊsaɣ”
  • Kabyle: “Aneẓruf Ameqran”
  • Kannada: “ಸಹಾರ”
  • Kara-Kalpak: “Saxara sho’listanlıg’ı”
  • Kara-Kalpak: “Saxara”
  • Karachay-Balkar: “Сахара”
  • Kashubian: “Sahara”
  • Kazakh: “Сахара”
  • Kinyarwanda: “Ubutayu bwa sahara”
  • Kirghiz: “Сакар чөлү”
  • Komering: “Gurun Sahara”
  • Korean: “사하라 사막”
  • Kurdish: “Sahara”
  • Ladin: “Sahara”
  • Ladino: “Desyerto del Sahara”
  • Lak: “Сахара”
  • Latin: “Sahara”
  • Latvian: “Sahāra”
  • Lezghian: “Сахара”
  • Limburgan: “Sahara”
  • Lingua Franca Nova: “Sahara”
  • Literary Chinese: “撒哈拉沙漠”
  • Lithuanian: “Sachara”
  • Lojban: “sa’aras.zei kutytu’a”
  • Lombard: “Sahara”
  • Low German: “Sahara”
  • Lower Sorbian: “Sahara”
  • Luxembourgish: “Sahara”
  • Macedonian: “Сахара”
  • Magahi: “सहारा मरुभूमि”
  • Maithili: “सहारा मरुभूमी”
  • Malagasy: “Sahara”
  • Malay: “Gurun Sahara”
  • Malay: “Sahara”
  • Malayalam: “സഹാറ”
  • Maltese: “Saħara”
  • Marathi: “सहारा”
  • Mazanderani: “آفريقا گت صحرا”
  • Min Dong Chinese: “Sahara”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Sahara”
  • Minangkabau: “Gurun Sahara”
  • Mingrelian: “საჰარა”
  • Mongolian: “Сахарын цөл”
  • Moroccan Arabic: “الصحرا لكبيرة”
  • Neapolitan: “Deserte d’u Sahara”
  • Nepali: “सहारा मरुभूमि”
  • Nepali: “सहारा मरुभूमी”
  • Newari: “सहारा”
  • Nigerian Pidgin: “Sahara”
  • Northern Frisian: “Sahara”
  • Northern Sami: “Sahara sáttoáhpi”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Sahara”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Sahara”
  • Norwegian: “Sahara”
  • Obolo: “Èwê Sayara”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Sahara”
  • Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE): “ܨܚܪܐܐ”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Deadwylle Sand”
  • Ossetian: “Сахарæ”
  • Pampanga: “Sahárâ”
  • Panjabi: “ਸਹਾਰਾ ਮਾਰੂਥਲ”
  • Papiamento: “Sahara”
  • Persian: “صحرای بزرگ آفریقا”
  • Picard: “Saara”
  • Piemontese: “Sahara”
  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: “Sahara”
  • Polish: “Sahara”
  • Portuguese: “deserto do Saara”
  • Portuguese: “Deserto do Saara”
  • Pushto: “د افریقا صحرا”
  • Quechua: “Sahara”
  • Romanian: “Sahara”
  • Russia Buriat: “Сахара”
  • Russian: “Сахара”
  • Rusyn: “Сагара”
  • Sakizaya: “Sa-hala likelikenan”
  • Samogitian: “Sachara”
  • Sanskrit: “सहारा”
  • Santali: “ᱥᱟᱦᱟᱨᱟ”
  • Sardinian: “Sahara”
  • Saterfriesisch: “Sahara”
  • Scots: “Sahara”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Fàsach Sahara”
  • Serbian: “Сахара”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Sahara”
  • Shona: “Sahara”
  • Sicilian: “Sahara”
  • Silesian: “Sahara”
  • Sindhi: “صحارا ريگستان”
  • Sinhala: “සහරා කාන්තාරය”
  • Slovak: “Sahara”
  • Slovenian: “Sahara”
  • Somali: “Gabxaha Saxara”
  • Somali: “Saxaara”
  • South Azerbaijani: “بؤیوک صحرا”
  • Spanish: “Sahara”
  • Swahili: “Sahara”
  • Swedish: “Sahara”
  • Swiss German: “Sahara”
  • Tagalog: “Sahara”
  • Tajik: “Саҳрои бузург”
  • Tamil: “சகாரா”
  • Tatar: “Сахра”
  • Telugu: “సహారా ఎడారి”
  • Thai: “ทะเลทรายสะฮารา”
  • Tibetan: “ས་ཧ་ར་བྱེ་ཐང་ཆེན་པོ།”
  • Tok Pisin: “Sahara”
  • Turkish: “Sahra”
  • Turkmen: “Sahara”
  • Tyap: “Sa̱hara”
  • Udmurt: “Сахара”
  • Uighur: “سەھرايى كەبىر”
  • Ukrainian: “Сахара”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Sahara”
  • Urdu: “صحرائے اعظم”
  • Uzbek: “Sahroi Kabir”
  • Venetian: “Sahara”
  • Veps: “Saharan rahvahatoi ma”
  • Vietnamese: “Sa mạc Sahara”
  • Volapük: “Saharän”
  • Võro: “Sahara”
  • Walloon: “Sara”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Disyerto Sahara”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Sahara”
  • Welsh: “Sahara”
  • Western Armenian: “Սահարա Անապատ”
  • Western Armenian: “Սահարա”
  • Western Frisian: “Sahara”
  • Western Mari: “Сахара”
  • Western Panjabi: “صحارا”
  • Western Panjabi: “صحراۓ اعظم”
  • Wolof: “Saara”
  • Wu Chinese: “撒哈拉沙漠”
  • Yakut: “Саhаара”
  • Yiddish: “סאהארא”
  • Yoruba: “Sàhárà”
  • Yue Chinese: “撒哈拉”
  • “ma Asalawakupa”
  • “ma ko Sala”
  • “Sahara”
  • “सहारा”

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