Gurun Sahara

Sahara
Sahara
Padang pasir besar
	Satelit Gurun Sahara oleh NASA
Geografi
Koordinat	23°N 13°E / 23°N 13°E

Gurun Sahara (bahasa Arab: الصحراء الكبرى, aṣ-ṣaḥrāʼ al-kubrá, 'Gurun Terbesar') adalah nama sebuah padang pasir terbesar di dunia. Nama "Sahara" diambil dari bahasa Arab yang berarti "padang pasir".^[1]

Sahara terletak di utara Afrika dan berusia 2,5 juta tahun. Padang pasir ini membentang dari Samudra Atlantik ke Laut Merah. Dari Laut Tengah di utara sampai ke Sahel di sebelah selatan. Dari Mauritania di sebelah barat ke Mesir di sebelah timur. Padang pasir ini membagi benua Afrika menjadi Afrika Utara dan Afrika "yang sejatinya". Kedua bagian benua ini sangat berbeda, baik secara iklim maupun budaya. Luas padang pasir ini sekitar 9.200.000 km².^{[butuh rujukan]}

Beberapa ribu tahun lalu, Sahara adalah sabana yang ditinggali manusia. Pada abad ke-3 SM, iklim berubah menjadikan sabana tersebut gersang. Para pemukim kemudian berpindah ke tepi sungai Nil yang sebelumnya berbentuk rawa.^[2] Hal ini diketahui melalui beberapa lukisan-lukisan kuno yang di temukan di beberapa gua di Sahara. Di salah satu lukisannya, terdapat gambar hewan-hewan yang tidak biasanya ditemukan disana, seperti gajah, jerapah, dan beberapa hewan pemakan rumput seperti kuda.^[3]

Kondisi alam menjadikan tidak ada peninggalan arkeologis yang bertahan di Sahara selain prasasti. Prasasti yang ditemukan pada 2007 mengindikasikan bahwa Sahara pernah menjadi jalur perdagangan di Afrika.^[4]^[5]

^ "sahara | Origin and meaning of sahara by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com (dalam bahasa Inggris). Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 2023-08-11. Diakses tanggal 28 Oktober 2020.
^ Twigger 2014, hlm. 68, "As we have seen, 7,000 years ago the Saharan dessert was full of wildlife and had a good sufficiency of water. The Nile was a swamp, a place to be avoided. Then the weather changed and the dessert dwellers found the river their salvation. The life-giving river became the inspiration for an entire mythology."
^ When the Sahara Was Green, diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 2023-08-11, diakses tanggal 2021-09-02
^ Twigger 2014, hlm. 28, 29, "This wet phase – from 12,500 until 4000 BC – meant people lived in the desert in preference to living beside the river (the desert was still much more hospitable, much more like savannah as late as 2450 BC duiring the Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt). (…). The early Nile dwellers have left behind no bones, no hearths – the desert has destroyed all that."
^ Twigger 2014, hlm. 66, "In 2007 Mark Borda and Mahmoud Marais discovered Egyptian hieroglyphics deep in the Sahara – deeper than any other known inscriptions have been found. (…) This suggests a quite normal trade route independent of the Nile that stretched up deep into central Africa, the source perhaps of the aromatic woods used as incense at that time."

[1] "sahara | Origin and meaning of sahara by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com (dalam bahasa Inggris). Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 2023-08-11. Diakses tanggal 28 Oktober 2020.

[FOOTNOTETwigger201468-2] Twigger 2014, hlm. 68, "As we have seen, 7,000 years ago the Saharan dessert was full of wildlife and had a good sufficiency of water. The Nile was a swamp, a place to be avoided. Then the weather changed and the dessert dwellers found the river their salvation. The life-giving river became the inspiration for an entire mythology."

[3] When the Sahara Was Green, diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 2023-08-11, diakses tanggal 2021-09-02

[FOOTNOTETwigger201428,_29-4] Twigger 2014, hlm. 28, 29, "This wet phase – from 12,500 until 4000 BC – meant people lived in the desert in preference to living beside the river (the desert was still much more hospitable, much more like savannah as late as 2450 BC duiring the Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt). (…). The early Nile dwellers have left behind no bones, no hearths – the desert has destroyed all that."

[FOOTNOTETwigger201466-5] Twigger 2014, hlm. 66, "In 2007 Mark Borda and Mahmoud Marais discovered Egyptian hieroglyphics deep in the Sahara – deeper than any other known inscriptions have been found. (…) This suggests a quite normal trade route independent of the Nile that stretched up deep into central Africa, the source perhaps of the aromatic woods used as incense at that time."

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