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African History 1: Sahara Desert and Tuareg People 91 Views


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Description:

We're sure you all know about the Sahara Desert. It's so hot right now. Today we'll learn about the Sahara, and the Tuareg people who live there. 

Language:
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Transcript

00:04

All right, let’s take a second to dig into the Sahara. [Man digging into the sahara desert]

00:08

Well, with all that sand it might take longer than a second. Hope you've brought a sturdy shovel..

00:13

You probably already know the Sahara is hot.

00:16

But did you know its temperatures regularly top 130°F? [Thermometer rising and people looking scared]

00:20

That’s so hot you could start a restaurant that only cooked stuff on the hood of your

00:25

car. [A chef cooking on the hood of a car]

00:26

As tasty as Sahara hood-food sounds, it might not be the best idea because of all the dust.

00:32

The Sahara gets less than three inches of rain per year, making it the world’s largest [Man playing in a sandpit]

00:36

sandbox.

00:38

While that would be fun for a giant baby, it makes for a pretty harsh environment for

00:41

everybody else.

00:42

Especially since all that sand gets continually whipped around by the Sahara’s winds. [Sand whizzing around the Sahara in the wind]

00:47

It’s so intense that there are actually names for three distinctive kinds of Saharan [Three Saharan types of wind dressed as people]

00:52

wind.

00:53

Haboob is the Arabic word for a "wild, sand-laden wind."

01:01

Fun.

01:02

Khamsin, or "50 days," is a wind that begins in March and blows across the desert until [Khamsin waving]

01:08

May.

01:09

Harmattan's name means "to tear your breath apart."

01:11

Wow, that one might even top "Haboob."

01:15

There's another wind for what congress says about all this but that's a different kind of wind.

01:20

While most nations are only interested in the Sahara when they’ve got a hankering

01:24

for fossil fuels…

01:26

There are a few people who aren’t afraid to call the desert home. [Man fixing a home sweet home sign]

01:28

The best known of all of them are the Tuareg, people so tough Volkswagen named a car after

01:34

them.

01:35

These are the desert nomads who still have the know-how to travel hundreds of miles across [Tuareg tribe on camels travelling across the Sahara]

01:40

the desert in camel caravans.

01:43

All this while wearing layers and veils—well, the men wear the veils anyway.

01:47

The Tuareg also have a thing for jewelry, which they traditionally believe can have [Tuareg man wearing lots of jewelry]

01:51

the power to protect them from evil.

01:53

Pendants like the four pointed cross and the hand of Fatima are handed down through the

01:58

generations.

01:59

Don’t go thinking that even though the Tuareg live in one of the harshest environments on [Women fanning a Tuareg man while he lays in bed]

02:03

Earth, that they don’t have a few comforts.

02:05

The main one of these is tea, which they drink five to seven times a day. [Tuareg man drinking tea on the Sahara]

02:09

They even know how to brew tea without stopping the camels.

02:12

Camel fires are avoided by the use of smoking braziers.

02:15

This is a good thing.

02:16

Nobody likes a camel fire. [A camel stood above a campfire]

02:18

Especially the camels.

02:20

So take it from the Tuareg…

02:22

If you want to survive in one of the most extreme environments on Earth, step one is

02:26

to stay caffeinated. [Tuareg man on a camel drinking tea]

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