Fun Fact - Sahara Is Not The Largest Desert In The World

Which is the largest desert in the world? This was pretty much a common question of Geography in our school days. "Sahara" is the answer we used to write. Let's do a fact check on that today.

Desert

This article will serve as an eye-opener to many people. Let's start by simply giving a standard definition. A desert is an area of barren land where less than 250 mm of precipitation occurs per year. We're taught this very definition from childhood but there's a loophole in this definition.

There lies the problem in our education system. We aren't ever taught the whole thing. Someone says "desert" and:


We quickly imagine sand and sand. We also forget a simple fact that precipitation doesn't always mean rain. It can be fog. It can be snow. So a barren land comprising of rocks and soil with little to no precipitation can still qualify as a desert.

Sahara vs Antarctica

Why on earth would anyone compare Antarctica with Sahara here? Because Antarctica is vastly a barren area of land and it receives almost zero precipitation in the whole year. So it can also be called a desert.

Let's compare the total area covered by Antarctica and Sahara to clear your confusions. Antarctica has an area of 14,000,000 (1 crore 40 lakhs) square KM whereas the Sahara desert has an area of almost 9,000,000 (90 lakhs) square KM.

Sahara is not even the 2nd largest desert in the world. With an area of 13,985,000 (1 crore 39 lakhs) square KM, the honor belongs:


To the Arctic (comprising of Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, Finland etc) 

Source - Wikipedia

Let us know what you were taught in the comments below. Are you blown away by this fun fact?