Question

With one of the planet's lowest population densities, the people of the Sahara can seem afloat in vast seas of sand. Blue-robed Tuaregs still run salt caravans and herd goat, sheep and camels. Moors farm date palms. An oasis in the Sahara can vary in size from about 2.5 acres for a tiny village to larger farm lands. At its hub is water, often in the form of natural springs, artesian wells or entire irrigation systems. About 75 percent of the Sahara's population live in oases, which make up only a tiny 800 square miles of the desert's vast sea of sand and gravel. The date palm is most characte