Sahara: The Extraordinary History of the World's Largest Desert

By Sheila Hirtle and Marq de Villiers

Book Overview

In the parched and seemingly lifeless heart of the Sahara desert, earthworms find enough moisture to survive. Four major mountain ranges interrupt the flow of dunes and gravel plains, and at certain times waterfalls cascade from their peaks. Even the sand amazes: massive dunes can appear almost overnight, and be gone just as quickly. We think we know the Sahara, the largest and most austere desert on Earth-yet it is full of surprises, as Marq de Villiers reveals in his brilliant and evocative biography of the land and its people.

"If you traveled across the United States from Boston to San Diego, you still wouldn't have crossed the Sahara," writes de Villiers, painting a vivid picture of this most extraordinary place. He charts the course of Atlantic hurricanes, many of which are born in the Tibesti Mountains of northern Chad, and offers a fascinating disquisition on the physics of windblown sand and the formation of dunes. He chronicles the formation of the massive aquifers that lie beneath the desert, some filled with water that pre-dates the appearance of modern man on Earth. He marvels at the jagged mountains and at ancient cave paintings deep in the desert, which reveal that the Sahara was a verdant grassland 10,000 years ago-a cycle that has been repeated several times.

Woven through de Villiers's story is a chronicle of the desert's nations and people: the Berbers and Arabs of the north; its black African south, whose ancestors peopled the greatest empires of Old Africa; and the extraordinary nomads-the Moors, the Tuareg (the famous "blue men"), and the Tubu-who call the desert home today. Illuminated by the eloquent written testimonies of past travelers, Sahara is a glittering geographic tour conveying the majesty, mystery, and abundance of life in what the outside world thinks of as the Great Emptiness.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802776787
• ISBN13: 9780802776785
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Continnuum-3PL
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Moist and Refreshing

"Sahara" describes an area as large as the United States -- the people, the culture, history and the natural environment -- in little more than 300 pages. That could be as dull as a textbook, but the authors enliven "Sahara" with folklore tales, personal travel ancedotes, and fascinating little facts. The desert is "as rich in story, as the Tuareg say, as a (...) is of milk." "Sahara" is divided into two parts. The first deals with "the place itself" and the second with "the people." The most interesting chapter is, of course, the one dealing with water -- the constant preoccupation of anyone who travels in the Sahara. And one of the fascinating little facts in this chapter is a story about the blind, edible fish that live in some wells in the desert. A fish dinner in the Sahara! That's worthy of Ripley's "Believe it or Not." Other ancedotes tell about the crocodiles that inhabited the one running stream of the deep Sahara and an actual waterfall in the Air Massif. The Sahara is one of the most austere environments on earth and the most accomplished of the Sahara-dwellers are the romantic, blue-robed nomadic Tuareg who penetrate the deep desert in search of grazing for their animals, salt, and loot. Tuareg lore is a large and interesting part of the book. How they make their way unerringly across the constantly-changing dune fields and featureless rocky flats of the desert and find a single well in an infinity of wasteland remains, however, a mystery to the authors and the readers. The few black and white photos in the book are too small to be of much consequence and maps are similarly small and unsatisfying, but the text is colorful and the story is fascinating. "Sahara" rises above the level of the travelogue to become a natural history of the Sahara. If you like to read about lonely places and the few people who inhabit them, this is an excellent book. Smallchief

The best, most sweeping account of the Sahara

This masterful account of the Sahara is hard to surpass. Few books detail the Sahara and when they do they usually take the form of either purely scientific accounts or purely historical accounts. This book is one part history, one part geography, one part travel journal and one part science. The authors detail separate sections on the history of the Sahara, the peoples of the Sahara, the winds, the water, the geography and the wildlife. A special chapter covers the lifestyle of the Taureg tribesman. Special mention is made of the Islamic slave trade and the salt trade. Maps cover the many tribal groups, the amazing geography made up of Massifs and a map dedicated to the underground aquifers. Many wonderful photographs detail everything from a desert Hilton to the beautiful sand dunes to the people and wildlife of the Sahara. The Sahara is as large as the United States and includes a vast array of cultures and landscapes including the Qattara depression, and has over 2 million inhabitants. A must read for anyone interested in Africa, geography or extreme places.

A dry account

Join de Villiers and Hirtle in their caravans in time and space in an excursion through the world's mightiest desert. The authors guide us with accounts of their own and the people who live and roam in this vast, dry world. You will find adventure, politics, geography, economics and no little despair. What they offer you is a window into understanding what desert life means. Paradoxically, that understanding means water - where is it available? how can it be obtained? how much is there to be found? Water permeates almost every page of this narrative of the driest land in the world. While this book may seem only of limited interest, something potential adventurers would read, anyone interested in our world will find it rewarding.Among other myths this book demolishes, the concept of the "empty desert" is quickly dispelled. It opens in a remote site, seemingly beyond human ken. Yet, the opening words reveal three desert men, silently riding camels, passing through a camp. From this opening, the authors introduce us to writers on the desert. They guide you along the ancient history of this vast, dry land. It wasn't always a desert, as fossil testify. The Sahara has been grassland, desert, forest and desert again. These cycles indicate the movement of the continents, the shifts of climate and irregularities of topography. Changes in the Sahara stimulate and reflect variations in oceanic currents, air movements, and, of course weather patterns and rainfall. Even today, as the authors stress repeatedly "the Sahara is closer than one might think." Dust storms send detritus across the Atlantic, conveying organisms that can lead to novel diseases.European visitors have left indelible impressions of a land they poorly understood. The many stereotypical desert images, such as vast expanses of sand dunes, are misleading. The desert, as the authors stress often, is a land of rocks and stones. And, if you know how to find it, reserves of water. Many have perished seeking water's benefits. Modern research has pointed to "fossil water" lying beneath the rocks. This is being tapped and de Villiers and Hirtle note the impact of this withdrawal remains in dispute. Although the subterranean water table is lowering, there is evidence that replenishment is occurring. Whether it's enough remains to be determined.Outstanding in this work is the depiction of the various civilizations that arose in the Sahara. Comprising nearly half the book, the authors point out that the Sahara has been home to more than just the Dynasties of the Nile Valley. From Neolithic times, when stone circles matching any in Europe were erected, mighty empires have risen and flourished here. Mali, the Old Ghana and the Almoravid are but examples. Trade, culture, science, arts and crafts developed and were exchanged among diverse peoples. The tragedy of European invasion is not only slavery, but the erasure of memory of these complex societies. The authors have an no