The Sahara is the largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. Sahara is comparable to the area of China or the United States. The name 'Sahara' is derived from dialectal Arabic word for desert - "ṣaḥra".
- Location: North Africa
- Size: 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi) = 31% of Africa
- The average high temperature exceeds 38 to 40 °C or 100.4 to 104.0 °F