The Sahara is the biggest hot desert on the planet, and the third biggest desert behind Antarctica and the Arctic, which are both the coldest deserts. The Sahara has perhaps the harshest climate on Earth, covering 3.6 million square miles (9.4 million square kilometers), almost 33% of the African landmass, about the size of the United States (counting Alaska and Hawaii). The name of the desert comes from the Arabic word ṣaḥrāʾ, which signifies “desert.”

The Sahara is lined by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Red Sea on the east, the Mediterranean Sea on the north and the Sahel Savannah on the south. The tremendous desert traverses 11 nations: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia.

Notwithstanding the unforgiving, bone-dry states of the desert, a few plants and creatures call the district home. There are around 500 types of plants, 70 known mammalian species, 90 avian species and 100 reptilian species that live in the Sahara, in addition to a few types of insects, scorpions and other little arthropods, as per World Wildlife Fund.

Archeologists have found ancient cavern and rock compositions and other archeological remaining parts that have revealed insight into what life resembled in the once-green Sahara. Pieces of stoneware recommend that around 7,000 years back, antiquated herders raised domesticated animals and gathered plants in what currently is a bone-dry desert.