Informationen zum Autor Sarah Fabiny; Illustrated by David Malan Klappentext "Imagine over three million square miles of sand dunes that are as tall as a ten-story building. That place is real -- it's the Sahara Desert! Vast, yes! And home to fascinating creatures such as ostriches and fennec foxes as well as amazing plant life. Readers will also learn about the famous trade routes of the past with caravans of up to 10,000 camels, European explorers to the region (some very unlucky ones), and native populations like the Imazighen"-- Leseprobe Where is the Sahara Desert? Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest, most powerful, and most stable civilizations in the history of the world. It lasted for over three thousand years, from 3150 BCE to 30 BCE. The ancient Egyptians invented many things that we still use today, including ways to construct buildings and irrigate land, paper and ink, clocks, the toothbrush and toothpaste, and even breath mints. While the kingdom of ancient Egypt was very strong, it wasn't nearly as large as other ancient civilizations, like the Greek or Roman empires. The ancient Egyptians established their kingdom in the strip of land that ran alongside the Nile River in northeast Africa. The Nile River provided water, food, and transportation for the citizens of the kingdom. But beyond the banks of the Nile River lay arid, or dry, land­the Sahara Desert. To the east, it stretched a few hundred miles to the Red Sea. To the west, it extended for thousands of miles, all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The Egyptians called the barren desert the red land. Although no crops could be grown there, it was still important to the ancient Egyptians. The miles of hot sand separated and protected the kingdom from invading armies. It also provided the ancient Egyptians with valuable natural resources. They used the rock and stone for monumental structures such as the pyramids. Semiprecious stones, such as malachite and turquoise, were used in their beautiful jewelry. And metals, like copper and gold, were transformed into tools and jewelry. The ancient Egyptians could not live in the Sahara Desert. But they saw the miles and miles of this harsh landscape as an important and essential part of their lives and their civilization. The Sahara Desert is still as barren, dry, and arid as it was during the times of ancient Egypt. And it is still an important and essential part of our world. Chapter 1: From Jungle to Desert Imagine a place where you can walk for hundreds, even thousands, of miles and see only sand. A place that only gets a couple of inches of rainfall a year. That place exists, and it is the Sahara­the largest hot desert in the world. (Antarctica and the Arctic are larger deserts, but they are cold deserts.) The Sahara is located in the northern part of the African continent. This huge desert lies within the Northern Hemisphere and runs through ten countries: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, and Tunisia, as well as a part of Africa known as Western Sahara. It extends more than three thousand miles from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. It stretches over one thousand miles from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Sahel savanna in the south. (The Sahel savanna is an area of grassland.) The Sahara covers a total of about 3.5 million square miles. That's approximately the same size as the United States. On a summer day, the Sahara is among the hottest regions in the world. Temperatures often reach more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. One of the hottest temperatures ever recorded on the planet was in the Sahara: In September 1922, the temperature hit 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to cook a steak to medium rare! But the temperature drops drastically at ni...

Autorentext

Sarah Fabiny; Illustrated by David Malan

Klappentext

Ten-story-high sand dunes, eye-tricking mirages, unlucky explorers - it's all here and more in this newest Where Is? book.

Imagine over three million square miles of sand dunes that are as tall as a ten-story building. That place is real -- it's the Sahara Desert! Vast, yes! And home to fascinating creatures such as ostriches and fennec foxes as well as amazing plant life. The shallow roots of the mesquite tree can grow almost 200 feet across to absorb water. Readers will also learn about the famous trade routes of the past with caravans of up to 10,000 camels, European explorers to the region (some very unlucky ones), and native populations like the Berber and Tuareg, the faces of the men are blue from the dye in the veils they always wear.

Zusammenfassung
**Ten-story-high sand dunes, eye-tricking mirages, unlucky explorers – it’s all here and more in this newest Where Is? book.

From the #1 New York Times Best-Selling Who Was? series comes Where Is?, a series that tells the stories of world-famous landmarks and natural wonders and features a fold-out map!**

Imagine over three million square miles of sand dunes that are as tall as a ten-story building. That place is real -- it's the Sahara Desert! Vast, yes! And home to fascinating creatures such as ostriches and fennec foxes as well as amazing plant life. The shallow roots of the mesquite tree can grow almost 200 feet across to absorb water. Readers will also learn about the famous trade routes of the past with caravans of up to 10,000 camels, European explorers to the region (some very unlucky ones), and native populations like the Berber and Tuareg, the faces of the men are blue from the dye in the veils they always wear.