Q 01/05

Roughly what area does the Sahara cover, in square kilometres?

A) 2.1 million

B) 4.5 million

C) 6.8 million

D) 9.2 million

Answer · why

D) 9.2 million

That makes it the third-largest desert overall, behind only the cold deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic.

Q 02/05

The name Sahara is a broken plural of a word from which language?

A) Arabic

B) Berber

C) Latin

D) Greek

Answer · why

A) Arabic

Sahra means desert, so 'Sahara Desert' is really 'Deserts Desert'.

Q 03/05

The Sahara stretches from the Atlantic in the west to which sea in the east?

A) Black Sea

B) Caspian Sea

C) Red Sea

D) Arabian Sea

Answer · why

C) Red Sea

To the north it meets the Mediterranean, and the landscape only softens into coastal plain along the Atlantic.

Q 04/05

What is the name of the belt of semi-arid savanna that bounds the Sahara to the south?

A) The Maghreb

B) The Sahel

C) The Karoo

D) The Veld

Answer · why

B) The Sahel

It runs right across Africa from east to west and has a short summer rainy season.

Q 05/05

The Sahara covers about what share of the African continent?

A) 60%

B) 45%

C) 75%

D) 31%

Answer · why

D) 31%

Include every area getting under 250 mm of rain a year and it would swell to 11 million square kilometres.