Africa

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.
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Photo: Project Apollo Archive, Public domain.
Photo: Rwinalife, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Type: Region
  • Description: desert on the African continent
  • Also known as: “al-Sahara”, “al-Sahra”, “as-Sahra”, “as-Sahra al-Kubra”, “aṣ-Ṣaḥrāʾ al-Kubrā”, “Desart”, “Desert”, “Great Desert”, “Saara”, “Sahara Desert”, “Saharra”, “the Desart”, “the Desert”, “the Great Desert”, “The Sahara”, “Zaara”, “Zahara”, and “Zara”

Sahara

Latitude of center
22.25° or 22° 15′ north
Longitude of center
9.8° or 9° 48′ east
Open­Street­Map ID
node 9412354612
Open­Street­Map feature
natural=­desert
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­region
Wiki­data ID
Q6583
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Sahara from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

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”
  • Asturian: “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”
  • Central Bikol: “Sahara”
  • Central Kanuri: “Sahara”
  • Central Kurdish: “بیابانی گەورە”
  • Central Kurdish: “بیابانی مەزن”
  • Central Kurdish: “سەحارا”
  • Central Kurdish: “سەحرای گەورە”
  • Central Kurdish: “سەھارا”
  • Chechen: “Сахара”
  • Chechen: “Саьхьара”
  • Cherokee: “ᏌᎭᏩ”
  • Chinese: “Sahara”
  • Chinese: “撒哈拉”
  • 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: “désert du Sahara”
  • French: “Grand-Désert”
  • 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”
  • Hebrew: “צחרה”
  • Hindi: “सहारा मरुस्थल”
  • Hindi: “सहारा”
  • Hungarian: “Szahara”
  • Icelandic: “Sahara”
  • Ido: “Sahara”
  • Igbo: “Ọzara Sahara”
  • Igbo: “Sahara”
  • Iloko: “Sahara”
  • Indonesian: “Gurun Sahara”
  • Indonesian: “Sahara”
  • Ingush: “Сахьаре”
  • Interlingua: “Sahara”
  • Interlingue: “Sahara”
  • Irish: “An Sahára”
  • Italian: “Africa sahariana”
  • Italian: “aṣ-Ṣaḥrāʾ al-Kubrā”
  • Italian: “aṣ-Ṣaḥrāʾ”
  • Italian: “deserto del Sahara”
  • Italian: “Deserto del Sahara”
  • Italian: “Sahara”
  • Italian: “Tassili”
  • Jamaican Creole English: “Sa’aara”
  • Japanese: “サハラ砂漠”
  • Javanese: “Ara-ara Sahara”
  • Javanese: “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”
  • Lithuanian: “Sachara”
  • Lojban: “sa’aras.zei kutytu’a”
  • Lombard: “Sahara”
  • Low German: “Sahara”
  • Lower Sorbian: “Sahara”
  • Luxembourgish: “Sahara”
  • Macedonian: “Сахара”
  • Maithili: “सहारा मरुभूमी”
  • Malagasy: “Sahara”
  • Malay: “al-Sahara”
  • Malay: “Gurun Besar”
  • Malay: “Gurun Sahara”
  • Malay: “Sahara Besar”
  • Malay: “Sahara”
  • Malayalam: “സഹാറ”
  • Maltese: “Saħara”
  • Marathi: “सहारा”
  • Mazanderani: “آفريخا گت سحرا”
  • Mazanderani: “آفريقا گت صحرا”
  • Min Dong Chinese: “Sahara”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Sahara”
  • Minangkabau: “Gurun Sahara”
  • Mingrelian: “საჰარა”
  • Mongolian: “Сахарын цөл”
  • Moroccan Arabic: “الصحرا لكبيرة”
  • 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”
  • Obolo: “Sayara”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Sahara”
  • Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE): “ܨܚܪܐܐ”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Deadwylle Sand”
  • Ossetian: “Сахарæ”
  • 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”
  • Portuguese: “Deserto do Sara”
  • Portuguese: “Saara”
  • Portuguese: “Sara”
  • 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: “desierto del Sahara”
  • Spanish: “Sahara”
  • Spanish: “Sáhara”
  • Swahili: “Sahara”
  • Swedish: “Sahara”
  • Swiss German: “Sahara”
  • Tagalog: “Sahara”
  • Tajik: “Саҳрои бузург”
  • Tamil: “சகாரா”
  • Tatar: “Сахра”
  • Telugu: “సహారా ఎడారి”
  • Thai: “ซาฮารา”
  • Thai: “ทะเลทรายสะฮารา”
  • Tibetan: “ས་ཧ་ར་བྱེ་ཐང་ཆེན་པོ།”
  • Tok Pisin: “Sahara”
  • Tosk Albanian: “Sahara”
  • Turkish: “Büyük Sahra”
  • Turkish: “Sahra”
  • Turkmen: “Sahara”
  • Tyap: “aṣ-Ṣaḥrāʾ al-Kubrā”
  • Tyap: “Sa̱hara”
  • Tyap: “Tswa a̱ji̱jak 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 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”
  • “Deserte d’u Sahara”
  • “Sachara”
  • “Sahara”
  • “सहारा”

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About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Sahara”. Photo: Rwinalife, CC BY-SA 4.0.