Another timeline from AlternateHistoryHub here, which should be good fun to think about . We know the Sahara Desert as a barren wasteland where very little life exists. But, what if it was a vibrant, hospitable expanse of land which became just as populated as Europe?
It's actually not as weird as it sounds, because the Sahara goes through a 41,000-year cycle of alternating between desert and grassland (and it's next expected to become grassland in about 15,000 years' time). So, perhaps the development of humanity is just held back by 20,000 years or so - and, by the time civilization emerges, the Sahara is in one of its green periods. What would that look like? Watch the video and see:
As always, a few points to serve as a summary, for if you don't have time to watch the video:
So, got any more ideas about this?
It's actually not as weird as it sounds, because the Sahara goes through a 41,000-year cycle of alternating between desert and grassland (and it's next expected to become grassland in about 15,000 years' time). So, perhaps the development of humanity is just held back by 20,000 years or so - and, by the time civilization emerges, the Sahara is in one of its green periods. What would that look like? Watch the video and see:
As always, a few points to serve as a summary, for if you don't have time to watch the video:
- There would probably be some very large lakes (even larger than the Great Lakes of North America. For all intents and purposes, they would be freshwater inland seas);
- The people of this region would likely form a distinct cultural and ethnic group (which would be a mix of European, Arabic and sub-Saharan African);
- Most people would live around rivers and the massive lakes (perhaps creating their own distinct cultural groups);
- Most of ancient history still happens as in OTL, because the Sahara is too far away to have much influence over it. However, if Egypt was green, it would see much more invasions from its west (and also, the sandstone needed to build the Pyramids wouldn't exist!);
- The Sahara would have to fend off Mediterranean invaders from the north, and sub-Saharan African invaders from the south. Though, on the plus side, Africa and Europe would have much more trade than they did in OTL.
So, got any more ideas about this?
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Moonface (in 'Woman runs 49 red lights in ex's car')' Wrote: If only she had ran another 20 lights.
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