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the Mediterranean, ensuring the safe
progress of American commerce.
In the initial line of the Marines’
hymn, “From the Halls of
Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli,”
Montezuma efers to the Battle of
Chapultepec, during the Mexican-
American War, while Tripoli refers
to actions during the First Barbary
War and the decisive Battle of Derna
in 1805.
The Barbary slave trade
continued sporadically up until the
dawn of the 20th century, eventually
disappearing under French rule.
The Sahara Desert
The Sahara divides the northern part
of the continent into North and sub-
Saharan Africa. The southern border
of the Sahara is marked by a band of
semi-arid savanna, known as the
Sahel, while south of the Sahel lies
sub-Saharan Africa’s lusher Sudan
and the Congo river basin.
About 5 million years ago,
climate change turned the area into a
desert. A further change in climate,
around 5000 BC, made the area
much wetter, and petroglyphs and
fossils testify to human activity.
Desertification, however, set in
around 3000 BC, and the area
became much like it is today.
Deserts are always interesting
and the scenery is far from
monotonous. The Sahara comprises
hamada
(stony plateaux), gravel
North Africa
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BELOW:
Bizarre sandstone cliffs in the
Sahara Desert, Tassili N'Ajjer, Algeria.
OPPOSITE:
The Shali Fortress in Siwa
Oasis is an oasis in Egypt, located
between the Qattara Depression and the
Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert.