The Sahara is a lot bigger than you think.
If you theoretically had to walk from one end to the other it'd be farther than hiking from Maine to Washington.
Imagine a giant sandbox the size of the United States that barely anybody lives in. That's the Sahara. The
Existence of this desert is not really given much thought. It's an ocean of sand and just like any ocean
Historically the people that learned to sail it made use of it
And those that couldn't stayed on the shoreline the Sahara apparently goes through dry and wet periods
Every twenty thousand years or so rain comes back to North Africa
the Sahara wasteland transforms into a prosperous grassland
Then soon the region dries back up again
And the desert returns. What we live in is a dry period ever since humans have had agriculture
We've never seen a green Sahara
But there is evidence nine thousand years ago there were many people that did, they lived and
prospered here. When the rains went away in the span of only two centuries
It was basically the apocalypse for them. Their homeland was dying and all life
Migrated to greener pastures as the desert returned, but what if in an alternate timeline?
It didn't what if the Sahara never dried up and instead we see a fertile
North Africa today? "Cody" you say "This is quite"
"scientifically inaccurate."
"The Sahara turned into a desert because the rains"
"disappeared due to the Earth's axis." And to that Jimmy I agree with you. This is simply a thought exercise
Not every single climate factor needs to be brought up
I just really wanted to imagine the world. So just take it in I guess
This video is going to be a lot more general than I usually do, this is more involving historical themes like rivers
civilizations than specific historical events. And so don't imagine
I think my ideas are the only path that could have happened
This is spanning a big distance of time and land. So think of this as fun with maps and
My personal best guess into what I think could have happened. That's all. Also special
Thanks to Sean McKnight for his fantastic map involving a green Sahara
Which was the major
Inspiration for the topic. This map is what I'm basing my scenario and my maps on so check out his page in the link below
Let's go back to an alternate 7000 BC
The rain always pours down in the Sahara and the region simply
Doesn't dry up. You could imagine great rivers flowing into massive freshwater lakes
Larger than the Great Lakes, let's call them uuhhh
Lake Chad, Lake Fazzon and Lake Maghreb. Deeming these lakes does a bit of a disservice to them
These freshwater bodies are more like sees like the Caspian Sea. Just like it was thousands of years ago
Villages dot the coastal waters. If you want to imagine how this grain Sahara looks don't think it would be a lush tropical
Rainforest, it'd probably be very flat and covered in grass
Pretty much like the savannas of today or the great plains. Cave art depicted animals like
elephants giraffes and rhinos
All living in this region. The Sahara isn't simply one big flat Dust Bowl, it has large mountain ranges and
plateaus so these ranges rivers and lakes would split up the huge American sized region into
Various smaller parts. So who are the people that would be living in this area?
Well upon further research this region wouldn't be the European
Or Arabic or even sub-saharan African instead the people in this alternate timeline are a mixture of all three groups
Creating a middle group between other regions. Let me explain
It's theorized that modern Berbers are a genetic mix of all three
Continents, during the wet periods in the Sahara each time the region was Green it
influenced Europeans or Asians or Africans to migrate into. It changing or
contributing to the genetic makeup of the area each time. So in this alternate timeline
I'd imagine the people in this alternate Sahara would resemble modern-day Berbers
Even if they aren't Berber. And going south the people would have more
Sub-saharan African features. I'd imagine the Sahara like India today
Made up of multiple different ethnic groups and even races. The further south you go
The darker the features are. Most people would live around rivers and these Lakes
creating cultural regions perhaps separate from one another
Just like any other region in the world, I'd imagine city-states could pop up Now remember everyone else exists
I don't imagine the Sahara being green affects much of ancient history
Mesopotamia, China, Persia, India and Greece are so far away
They aren't influenced by the Sahara having sand or not, but what about Egypt you ask
Well that's a bit trickier two things. I theorize could occur:
If Egypt still had a desert, say it's a continuation of that Middle East climate, Egyptian
Civilization might not be changed drastically at all. True
They'd have more invasions from the West
But otherwise their society doesn't need to be too different. If Egypt itself however was green
instead of sandy deserts
It's covered in grasslands
Then this fundamentally changes Egyptian society. Their farming, structure, religion, government
Everything is changed. First They are much less stable, the desert was a natural defense that kept invaders out
Second, Egypt's population looks more spread out. It doesn't need to cling to the river the Nile is still a good River
Don't get me wrong
But most resemblance from the Egypt we know and love is
Entirely altered. As Tigerstar even pointed out to me the sandstone needed to construct the pyramids when it exists
So say goodbye to those. Going back to the Sahara itself
There's a wide range of possibilities for the type of civilization
That would live here. If the rains were consistent and people could remain stationary
I don't see why city-states couldn't form on different rivers and lakes
Unless consistent regions now pastoral herders are more prevalent. The Sahara is so large and divided by mountains
I could see all of these groups forming and divided between various societies
That's the most interesting aspect of the scenario in my opinion
A whole new region with thousands of years of political history that otherwise
would've just been sand in our timeline.
It'd be its own distinct cultural region or multiple cultural regions on a massive
Continent just as China and India were, now who would be the people doing the fighting? First is the natives themselves
The Sahara could be divided into various groups
Who'd fight over whichever reasons Second is invaders from the south and west?
Empires like Mali or Ghana fueled by their trade of gold and ivory
Third is Mediterraneans from the north in Ancient times this could be Carthage
I doubt Carthage would have a far larger Empire in Africa however
I think it's economic and cultural
Influence would be profound in northern Sahara Being a generally flat region with access to rivers and lakes
Political boundaries will fluctuate a lot ,yet while troops can easily cross the savannas so too can Caravans
Trade builds relationships between different people more than anything else. Even if Carthage is still
salted into the earth by an angry Rome
It would have only been the first
Mediterranean empire to explore relations with the rich empires to the south in our timeline there were trade routes in the Sahara
While trade still flowed in this region I'd imagine a green Sahara would make the passage far more safer and more accessible
Not to mention with another region of Empires in between Europe and
Sub-saharan Africa, the journey isn't as daunting. The Sahara made sub-saharan Africa pretty mysterious
to Europeans, with easier trade routes
There is a consistent flow of trade and perhaps people from all regions going across from Europe to the Sahara
to sub-saharan Africa
Africa is far more prominent in Western history by the time of the Romans, who knows what the Romans would even do?
Perhaps want their own chunk of the Sahara?
What remains is the constant of trade from the golden coast all the way up to Britannia
Another Silk Road
Now due to time
I don't want to dedicate 20 minutes talking about literally every single detail
Tigerstar brought up about what could happen with imperialism
However whenever I mentioned that the comment section always turns horrendous
so let's end on a happy note. In a world where the Sahara was green
This area would certainly be its own cultural region with ancient empires like China and India
The grasslands would allow for easier trade access and greater connection between
Africa and Europe if this would end in conquest or genuine beneficial contact for both
I'll leave that for you to decide. The best prediction
I can make is that Africa would be included more in the histories of Europe and Asia and
Cooperation between all. The Sahara was like an ocean
Sure some people could cross it, but for many they stayed on the other side So as such a barrier was gone
There is endless possibilities for what such a culture in such a world would arise if the Sahara had never dried up
What do you think? LIKE this video and subscribe to support the channel if you have not done
so, this is Cody of alternate history hub
and then I sat back up realizing that was a stupid
Idea to lean back like that without thinking about how close the window was and then you spoke and by that point
So much had changed. I'm just imagining Dan Carlin narrating the history of your day, and he's like
"little did tigerstar know"
"That his day would be forever changed when this tire went flat"
"Tires were invented by the ancient"
"Babylonians"
"And that over the history we are now left in a 21st century Missouri and Missouri was conquered in
1830 by the United States from the whatever tribe and then this eventually has led to Tigerstar going into Walmart a
symbol of mass consumerism
And that's yeah
yeah
And that's Dan Carlin that's lovely