What are 2 facts about the Sahel?

What are 2 facts about the Sahel?

It lies at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert and is located between the dry desert land to the north and the forest areas to the south. The Sahel has a tropical semi-arid climate. The temperature is high throughout the year. There is little rainfall in the Sahel (between 100-150 mm and 600mm).

What is the Sahel known for?

A largely semi-arid belt of barren, sandy and rock-strewn land, the Sahel marks the physical and cultural transition between the continent’s more fertile tropical regions to the south and its desert in the north. Geographic definitions of the Sahel region vary.

What desertification means?

The United Nations’ official definition says desertification is land degradation in typically dry areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Many things can cause desertification. Drought, overgrazing, fire, and deforestation can thin out vegetation, leaving exposed soil.

What does Sahel stand for?

In pure geographic terms the Sahel, or Sahil in Arabic, meaning coast or shore, is a vast region that stretches along the Sahara desert’s southern rim from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. Wedged between the desert to the north and tropical forests and savannah to the south, the belt has a tropical semi-arid climate.

Why is Antarctica called a desert?

Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and most isolated continent on Earth, and is considered a desert because its annual precipitation can be less than 51 mm in the interior. It’s covered by a permanent ice sheet that contains 90% of the Earth’s fresh water.

Why was silk making such a guarded secret?

Keeping Silk a Secret Silk became a prized export for the Chinese. Nobles and kings of foreign lands desired silk and would pay high prices for the cloth. The emperors of China wanted to keep the process for making silk a secret. Anyone caught telling the secret or taking silkworms out of China was put to death.

Why are the Sahel’s trade routes so important?

The rise of migration, as well as, the threat of terrorism has sparked a new interest in the Sahel region. Experts on security in the region give an insight into the new importance of the age-old trade routes. The Sahel region is made up centuries-old routes – routes that have been used for the movement of people, goods, weapons and drugs.

What type of vegetation is found in the Sahel?

The semiarid steppes of the Sahel have natural pasture, with low-growing grass and tall, herbaceous perennials. Other forage for the region’s livestock (camel, pack ox, and grazing cattle and sheep) includes thorny shrubs and acacia and baobab trees.

What are the semiarid steppes of the Sahel like?

The semiarid steppes of the Sahel have natural pasture, with low-growing grass and tall, herbaceous perennials. Other forage for the region’s livestock (camel, pack ox, and grazing cattle and sheep) includes thorny shrubs and acacia and baobab trees. The thorny scrub once formed a woodland, but the country is now more open…

Where is the Sahel located in Africa?

Sahel, Arabic Sāḥil, semiarid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to Sudan. It forms a transitional zone between the arid Sahara (desert) to the north and the belt of humid savannas to the south.