Nubian desert: flora, climate, description

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

The Nubian Desert is one of the regions of the African Sahara desert. It occupies its eastern part and is located between the Nile River and the Etbay mountain range. In the northern part it is replaced by another region of the Sahara - the Arabian Desert. In Arabic, the desert is called En-Nuba. Its area is more than a million square kilometers, or rather, 1,240,000 km². How is the Nubian Desert located on the political map of the world? Sudan and Egypt divided its territory into two unequal parts. Sudan got most of the territory, and Egypt, respectively, the smaller one.

What is called a desert?

Deserts are called natural areas in which it is constantly or most of the time hot and dry. The annual precipitation in these zones does not exceed 250 mm. At the same time, the rate of evaporation of moisture exceeds this indicator by almost 20 times. Most of the deserts are dominated by flat landscapes. The flora of these zones is sparse, and the fauna is somewhat specific.

UNESCO and FAO classify almost 23% of the earth's land as typical deserts. The Sahara is considered the largest desert, of which the Nubian is a part.desert. The Arctic deserts are treated separately by these organizations.

Shaping landforms

Most of the world's deserts are formed on geological platforms. These are the oldest areas of land. In Africa, they are located at an altitude of 1 thousand meters. The Nubian desert, which is described in this article, resembles huge steps, the level of which drops from 1 thousand meters to 350 meters. Most deserts are surrounded or bordered by mountains. These may be young mountain systems, as in Asia and South America, or old and destroyed massifs. The Nubian desert is adjacent to the Etbay range, which belongs to the old mountains. In the western sector of the desert, island mountains come across, the height of which is about 1240 m. The eastern sector of the Nubian desert is characterized by the outcrop of ancient rocks of the Nubian-Arabian shield. In this part, you can find Nubian sandstones, which are covered with sand elsewhere.

Dry riverbeds run throughout the plateau. They are called wadi. Each channel runs in a wide valley and randomly divides the plateau into segments. As already mentioned, this desert is characterized by a height difference, and the average height here is about 500 m. The highest point of the Nuba Desert is at 2259 m. This is Mount Oda.

Plant world

In the harsh conditions of the Nubian desert, it is very difficult for plants to survive. This explains the sparseness of the vegetation cover. Here, xerophytic grasses managed to survive, which over many centuries have adapted todry desert climate and can withstand drought and heat. Also here comes across acacia, undemanding types of tamarisk in the form of small trees or shrubs. Occasionally there are other thorny bushes and subshrubs.

Vegetation is especially sparse in the central part of the Nubian Desert. Even nomads do not dare to enter here, because unpretentious camels cannot find any food.

Animal world

In an area with negligible rainfall and high temperatures, you should not expect a large number of animals. Several types of reptiles are found here, mainly poisonous snakes, desert monitors, lizards, including skink species, and geckos.

Larger species of living creatures are concentrated along the Nile. In these places you can meet crocodiles, ibis, jackals, hyenas.

Climate

Can you imagine how hot the Nubian desert is? The climate here is tropical. It is very dry as there is too little rainfall. Most often, their number does not exceed 25 mm per year, but sometimes there are completely dry years in which precipitation does not fall at all.

During the summer, daytime temperatures can reach up to 53°C. Temperatures are lower in winter, with January averages around 15°C.

Historical digression

No one expects a large local population in a place like the Nubian Desert, do they? History tries to prove that it wasnot always. Here, in the desert, archaeologists now and then come across evidence of the achievements of the civilization of the “black pharaohs”. This was the name of the rulers who led Egypt for almost a century.

Initially, the Egyptians just traded with the Nubians, but they did not want to give gold to a weak neighbor, and the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose captured Nubia. In order to control the main directions of the occupied territories, the fortress of Napatu was founded, which in the IX century BC. e. local rulers declared an independent kingdom. At the beginning of Vlll in BC. e. The Napatian kingdom, taking advantage of the temporary weakness of its neighbor, captured Egypt. The concept of "black pharaohs" refers to the time of the reign of the Nubians. There are still portraits of the Taharqa dynasty, although Egypt is trying to erase the memory of this time.

After a century of reign, Pharaoh Psametikh II managed to take the throne and take revenge on the Nubians by destroying Napata. The capital of the Nubian kingdom was moved to Meroe.

For the curious

The Nubian desert, although not crowded, has its own sights. So, for example, Ramses 3 built two temples here. Thus he wanted to ex alt himself and his wife. Ramses 3 placed twenty-meter statues of gods with his face on the facade.

Many people know that in Egypt the cat is sacred. But not everyone knows that she came to this country from the Nubian desert. It was here that the Nubian wild cat lived, which became the ancestor of modern pets.

In 1834, Sudan allowed excavations on its territoryan Italian archaeologist who began to study the pyramid of Queen Amanishaketo. However, these excavations did not pursue scientific goals. The Italian smashed the tomb, trying to find gold. Giuseppe Ferlini took all his finds home and sold them.