Why the Sahara was green six thousand years ago
Elephants and fishermen lived where the dunes are now. A shift in the Earth's tilt moved the monsoon north, then let it fall back.
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Transcript
The Sahara Today
The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, covering about nine million square kilometres across North Africa.
But six thousand years ago, this same region was green grassland with lakes, rivers, and herds of animals.
The Monsoon Shift
Six thousand years ago, the African monsoon rains reached much farther north than they do now.
These summer rains fell on what is now the Sahara, turning it into savanna grassland.
The monsoon's position shifts in cycles tied to Earth's orbit and the tilt of its axis.
Water and Life
With rainfall came permanent lakes across the Sahara, including Lake Mega Chad, which was vastly larger than today's Lake Chad.
Grasses grew thick, drawing elephants, giraffes, and antelope from across the region.
Humans settled there too, living off the fish, game, and pasture land.
The Flip
Then, around five thousand years ago, the monsoon began to shift southward.
Rainfall over the Sahara dropped sharply over just a few centuries.
Lakes dried up, grass withered, and animals moved south or died.
Why It Matters
This shift reshaped human history: thousands of people migrated south into the Nile Valley and West Africa.
The green Sahara did not vanish because of humans—it vanished because the climate system moved the monsoon rains away.
Every sentence above was written before a single picture was drawn, then each object it names was painted for this video alone.
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