- Location and features
- From the history and modern life of the Danakil Desert
- Desert population
- Natural resources
- Video
The black continent is known for its difficult climatic and weather conditions; it is here that the most famous Sahara desert is located. But in Africa there are other territories with similar conditions. One of them is the Danakil Desert, which is located on the border of two countries, the well-known Ethiopia and the relatively young African state of Eritrea.
Location and features
If we consider the geographical map of Africa, we can see that the boundaries of the Danakil Desert coincide with the boundaries of the Afar Basin. By the way, its second name is Danakil Basin, another toponym sounds like "Afar Triangle".
Oddly enough, but it was in this place that the oldest human remains were discovered. And this despite the fact that the territory is considered one of the hottest places on the planet, but perhaps this is the reason for the good preservation of the remains. There is also another record holder - Lake Assal, this is the lowest point on the African continent, located 155 meters below sea level.
From the history and modern life of the Danakil Desert
The inhabitants of the Black Continent have known the desert since time immemorial: the fact that ancient Africans lived here is indicated by some artifacts found and, first of all, by the preserved human remains. Europeans reached Danakil territory only in the first half of the last century.
Scientists have calculated the area - 100 thousand square kilometers, made calculations of the amount of precipitation that falls per year in the desert. According to their calculations, from 100 to 200 mm of precipitation falls here, depending on the year. It was also established how the ambient temperature changes, during the rainy season, from September to March, the thermometer stops at a quite comfortable mark of + 25 ° C. In the rest of the period, which is considered the dry season, conditions in Danakil are too difficult for the human body. In some years, temperature records were noted in the form of + 63 ° C, this is an indicator of the air temperature, and + 70 ° C is an indicator of the degree of heating of the soil.
Desert population
Surprisingly, people live in such harsh conditions in these desert territories. The population of the region is the Afar people, their representatives are engaged in the extraction of salt. By the way, the toponym of the desert was also transferred to the name of the people, that is, the names Afar and Danakil are equally encountered. This people belongs to the Kushite group, whose habitat is East Africa. Representatives live mainly in the territories of Djibouti, Eritrea, and most of them in Ethiopia. They communicate with each other in Afar; Amharic and Arabic are also common in these lands. There is also a written language, which is based on either the Latin or the Ethiopian language.
The main religion of the Afar people is Islam, most of them are Sunnis. On the other hand, local, African religions, traditions and rituals are widespread, in particular those associated with the worship of various spirits of nature.
Afars have different occupations, including: salt evaporation; fishing (common among those living on the coast of the Red Sea); agriculture - for the inhabitants of the Ausa oasis. Afars lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle, are engaged in animal husbandry, raising and selling small and large livestock, breeding camels that can withstand desert conditions well. Previously, representatives of this people were popular with farmers, sedentary residents, as good shepherds.
Natural resources
Scientists who have explored the bowels of the earth in the Danakil area note the presence of large deposits of salt. This has long been known to local residents, who were engaged in the extraction and sale of this important product. For specialists, the find of salt and fossilized corals speaks of something else - earlier in the territories occupied by the desert, the world's oceans were located.
Among the minerals found in the region, potassium is important. This chemical element is actively used in agriculture as a fertilizer vital for the growth and development of plants.
The vegetation of Danakil, which is also noted by scientists, is very scarce, but it is all the more interesting how animals, herbivores, survive in the desert. There are mammals with interesting names like Grevy's zebra or Somali gazelle. The zebra gets its name from Jules Grevy, the President of France, who received a gift in the form of this animal in the 1880s. from the government of Abyssinia. Later, the surname of the French president became part of the name of the striped animal, which is also called the desert zebra. The Somali gazelle has a specific name, which is also part of the surname, but not the French leader of the highest rank, but the German anatomist Sömmering.
