The Sahara Desert in northern Africa is the largest dry desert in the world.
It covers one third of the African continent.
At about 3.5 million square miles (9 million sq km), it is almost as large as the contiguous 48 United States.
The Sahara grows larger every year, as the surrounding land dries up and turns into desert.
The only larger desert in the world is Antarctica, which is classified as a desert due to very low precipitation rates.
The name Sahara means “The Greatest Desert” in Arabic.
Another large desert in Africa is the Namib, which stretches along the southwest coast.
It receives less than 6 inches of rain a year.
