ABSTRACT
This chapter offer a description of the growth of the Sahara desert during the past six to eight thousand years. It gives several theories concerning causes of this growth. These will concentrate especially on the role of nomads in the region. Today, the Sahara borders the Mediterranean on the North of Africa, often touching the coast line and usually lying only a few miles from the coasts of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, the Spanish Sahara, Mauritania, and Senegal. Traditional nomadism in the area of the Sahara desert thus takes maximum advantage of a variable food supply. Nomadism is part of a web of interactions by which sedentary farmers and the nomad both profit. In the north of Africa, where petroleum has permitted more extravagant projects, results of government intervention have been more problematic. Governmental attempts to restrict nomadism within national borders and tube wells for watering have localized and intensified land use.
