document_title: List of roller coaster rankings

question_text: what's the tallest roller coaster in the us

question_tokens: what 's the tallest roller coaster in the us

text: List of roller coaster rankings

text: Key[edit]

text:
Key

Key
Meaning

1
Record holder

**
Under construction

*
Still exists but not operating

text: Height rankings[edit]

text: Tallest steel roller coasters[edit]

text:
Tallest steel roller coasters

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Height
Manufacturer
Record held

1
Kingda Ka
Six Flags Great Adventure
United States
456 ft (139 m)
Intamin
May 2005 – Present

2
Top Thrill Dragster
Cedar Point
United States
420 ft (130 m)
Intamin
May 2003 – May 2005

3
Superman: Escape from Krypton[note 1]
Six Flags Magic Mountain
United States
415 ft (126 m)
Intamin
March 1997 – May 2003

4
Tower of Terror II[note 1]
Dreamworld
Australia
377 ft (115 m)
Intamin
January 1997 – March 1997

5
Red Force
Ferrari Land
Spain
367.4 ft (112.0 m)
Intamin
N/A

6
Fury 325
Carowinds
United States
325 ft (99 m)
Bolliger & Mabillard
N/A

7
Steel Dragon 2000
Nagashima Spa Land
Japan
318.3 ft (97.0 m)
D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
N/A

8
Millennium Force
Cedar Point
United States
310 ft (94 m)
Intamin
N/A

9
Leviathan
Canada's Wonderland
Canada
306 ft (93 m)
Bolliger & Mabillard
N/A

10
Intimidator 305
Kings Dominion
United States
305 ft (93 m)
Intamin
N/A

text: Longest steel roller coaster drops[edit]

text:
Longest steel roller coaster drops

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Drop length
Manufacturer
Record held

1
Kingda Ka
Six Flags Great Adventure
United States
418 ft (127 m)
Intamin
May 2005 – present

2
Top Thrill Dragster
Cedar Point
United States
400 ft (120 m)
Intamin
May 2003 – May 2005

3
Superman: Escape from Krypton[note 1]
Six Flags Magic Mountain
United States
328.1 ft (100.0 m)
Intamin
March 1997 – May 2003

Tower of Terror II[note 1]
Dreamworld
Australia
328.1 ft (100.0 m)
Intamin
January 1997 – May 2003

5
Fury 325
Carowinds
United States
320 ft (98 m)
Bolliger & Mabillard
N/A

6
Steel Dragon 2000
Nagashima Spa Land
Japan
306.8 ft (93.5 m)
D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
N/A

7
Leviathan
Canada's Wonderland
Canada
306 ft (93 m)
Bolliger & Mabillard
N/A

8
Intimidator 305
Kings Dominion
United States
300 ft (91 m)
Intamin
N/A

Millennium Force
Cedar Point
United States
300 ft (91 m)
Intamin
N/A

**
Hyperion
Energylandia
Poland
265.8 ft (81.0 m)
Intamin
N/A

10
Coaster Through the Clouds
Nanchang Wanda Park
China
255.9 ft (78.0 m)
Intamin
N/A

Shambhala
PortAventura Park
Spain
255.9 ft (78.0 m)
Bolliger & Mabillard
N/A

text: Tallest wooden roller coasters[edit]

text:
Tallest wooden roller coasters[note 2][note 3]

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Height
Manufacturer
Record held

1
T Express
Everland
South Korea
183.8 ft (56.0 m)
Intamin
June 2009 – present

Wildfire
Kolmården Wildlife Park
Sweden
183.8 ft (56.0 m)
Rocky Mountain Construction
June 2016 – present

3
El Toro
Six Flags Great Adventure
United States
181 ft (55 m)
Intamin
N/A

4
Goliath
Six Flags Great America
United States
165 ft (50 m)
Rocky Mountain Construction
N/A

*
Colossos
Heide Park
Germany
164 ft (50 m)
Intamin
N/A

5
The Voyage
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
United States
159 ft (48 m)
The Gravity Group
N/A

6
Hades 360
Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park
United States
136 ft (41 m)
The Gravity Group
N/A

7
Wodan Timbur Coaster
Europa-Park
Germany
131.3 ft (40.0 m)
Great Coasters International
N/A

8
Le Monstre
La Ronde
Canada
130.9 ft (39.9 m)
William Cobb & Associates
N/A

9
American Eagle
Six Flags Great America
United States
127 ft (39 m)
Intamin
N/A

10
The Boss
Six Flags St. Louis
United States
122 ft (37 m)
Custom Coasters International
N/A

Shivering Timbers
Michigan's Adventure
United States
122 ft (37 m)
Custom Coasters International
N/A

text: Longest wooden roller coaster drops[edit]

text:
Longest wooden roller coaster drops[note 3]

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Drop length
Manufacturer
Record held

1
Goliath
Six Flags Great America
United States
180 ft (55 m)
Rocky Mountain Construction
June 2014 – present

2
El Toro
Six Flags Great Adventure
United States
176 ft (54 m)
Intamin
June 2009 – June 2014

3
Lightning Rod
Dollywood
United States
165 ft (50 m)
Rocky Mountain Construction
N/A

4
Outlaw Run
Silver Dollar City
United States
162 ft (49 m)
Rocky Mountain Construction
N/A

5
Wildfire
Kolmården Wildlife Park
Sweden
160.8 ft (49.0 m)
Rocky Mountain Construction
N/A

*
Colossos
Heide Park
Germany
159.1 ft (48.5 m)
Intamin
N/A

6
The Voyage
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
United States
154 ft (47 m)
The Gravity Group
N/A

7
T Express
Everland
South Korea
150.9 ft (46.0 m)
Intamin
N/A

8
The Boss
Six Flags St. Louis
United States
150 ft (46 m)
Custom Coasters International
N/A

9
American Eagle
Six Flags Great America
United States
147 ft (45 m)
Intamin
May 1981 – May 1991

10
The Beast
Kings Island
United States
141 ft (43 m)
Charles Dinn / Al Collins
April 1979 – May 1981

text: Speed rankings[edit]

text: Fastest steel roller coasters[edit]

text:
Fastest steel roller coasters

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Speed
Manufacturer
Record held

1
Formula Rossa
Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
149 mph (240 km/h)
Intamin
November 2010 – present

2
Kingda Ka
Six Flags Great Adventure
United States
128 mph (206 km/h)
Intamin
May 2005 – November 2010

3
Top Thrill Dragster
Cedar Point
United States
120 mph (190 km/h)
Intamin
May 2003 – May 2005

4
Do-Dodonpa
Fuji-Q Highland
Japan
112 mph (180 km/h)
S&S Worldwide
December 2001 – May 2003

Red Force
Ferrari Land
Spain
112 mph (180 km/h)
Intamin
N/A

6
Superman: Escape from Krypton[note 1]
Six Flags Magic Mountain
United States
100 mph (160 km/h)
Intamin
March 1997 – December 2001

Tower of Terror II[note 1]
Dreamworld
Australia
100 mph (160 km/h)
Intamin
January 1997 – December 2001

*
ring°racer
Nürburgring
Germany
99.4 mph (160.0 km/h)
S&S Worldwide
N/A

8
Steel Dragon 2000
Nagashima Spa Land
Japan
95 mph (153 km/h)
D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
N/A

Fury 325
Carowinds
United States
95 mph (153 km/h)
Bolliger & Mabillard
N/A

10
Millennium Force
Cedar Point
United States
93 mph (150 km/h)
Intamin
N/A

text: Fastest wooden roller coasters[edit]

text:
Fastest wooden roller coasters[note 3]

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Speed
Manufacturer
Record held

1
Lightning Rod
Dollywood
United States
73 mph (117 km/h)
Rocky Mountain Construction
June 2016 – present

2
Goliath
Six Flags Great America
United States
72 mph (116 km/h)
Rocky Mountain Construction
June 2014 – June 2016

3
Wildfire
Kolmården Wildlife Park
Sweden
70.2 mph (113.0 km/h)
Rocky Mountain Construction
N/A

4
El Toro
Six Flags Great Adventure
United States
70 mph (110 km/h)
Intamin
June 2009 – June 2014

*
Colossos
Heide Park
Germany
68 mph (109 km/h)
Intamin
N/A

5
Outlaw Run
Silver Dollar City
United States
68 mph (109 km/h)
Rocky Mountain Construction
N/A

6
The Voyage
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
United States
67.4 mph (108.5 km/h)
The Gravity Group
N/A

7
The Boss
Six Flags St. Louis
United States
66.3 mph (106.7 km/h)
Custom Coasters International
April 2000 – May 2000

8
American Eagle
Six Flags Great America
United States
66 mph (106 km/h)
Intamin
May 1981 – April 2000

9
The Beast
Kings Island
United States
64.8 mph (104.3 km/h)
Charles Dinn / Al Collins
April 1979 – May 1981

10
T Express
Everland
South Korea
64.6 mph (104.0 km/h)
Intamin
N/A

text: Length rankings[edit]

text: Longest steel roller coasters[edit]

text:
Longest steel roller coasters

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Length
Manufacturer
Record held

1
Steel Dragon 2000
Nagashima Spa Land
Japan
8,133 ft (2,479 m)
D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
August 2000 – present

2
The Ultimate
Lightwater Valley
United Kingdom
7,442 ft (2,268 m)
British Rail
July 1991 – August 2000

3
Fujiyama
Fuji-Q Highland
Japan
6,709 ft (2,045 m)
TOGO
N/A

4
Fury 325
Carowinds
United States
6,602 ft (2,012 m)
Bolliger & Mabillard
N/A

5
Millennium Force
Cedar Point
United States
6,595 ft (2,010 m)
Intamin
N/A

6
Formula Rossa
Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
6,562 ft (2,000 m)
Intamin
N/A

7
Incredicoaster
Disney California Adventure Park
United States
6,072 ft (1,851 m)
Intamin
N/A

*
Vertigorama
Parque de la Ciudad
Argentina
5,958 ft (1,816 m)
Intamin
N/A

*
Desperado
Buffalo Bill's
United States
5,843 ft (1,781 m)
Arrow Dynamics
N/A

**
Steel Vengeance
Cedar Point
United States
5,740 ft (1,750 m)
Rocky Mountain Construction
N/A

8
Mamba
Worlds of Fun
United States
5,600 ft (1,700 m)
D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
N/A

Steel Force
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom
United States
5,600 ft (1,700 m)
D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
N/A

10
Superman El Último Escape
Six Flags México
Mexico
5,577.4 ft (1,700.0 m)
D. H. Morgan Manufacturing
N/A

text: Longest wooden roller coasters[edit]

text:
Longest wooden roller coasters

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Length
Manufacturer
Record held

1
The Beast
Kings Island
United States
7,359 ft (2,243 m)
Charles Dinn / Al Collins
April 1979 – present

2
The Voyage
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
United States
6,442 ft (1,964 m)
The Gravity Group
N/A

3
T Express
Everland
South Korea
5,383.8 ft (1,641.0 m)
Intamin
N/A

4
Shivering Timbers
Michigan's Adventure
United States
5,383 ft (1,641 m)
Custom Coasters International
N/A

5
Jupiter
Kijima Amusement Park
Japan
5,249 ft (1,600 m)
Intamin
N/A

6
Python in Bamboo Forest
Nanchang Wanda Park
China
5,111 ft (1,558 m)
Great Coasters International
N/A

7
Wood Coaster
Knight Valley
China
4,817 ft (1,468 m)
Great Coasters International
N/A

8
Hades 360
Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park
United States
4,746 ft (1,447 m)
The Gravity Group
N/A

9
Boulder Dash
Lake Compounce
United States
4,725 ft (1,440 m)
Custom Coasters International
N/A

10
American Eagle
Six Flags Great America
United States
4,650 ft (1,420 m)
Intamin
N/A

text: Inversion rankings[edit]

text: This listing contains all types of roller coaster inversions.

text: Steel roller coasters[edit]

text:
Most inversions on a steel roller coaster

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Inversions
Manufacturer
Record held

1
The Smiler
Alton Towers
United Kingdom
14
Gerstlauer
May 2013 – Present

2
10 Inversion Roller Coaster
Chimelong Paradise
China
10
Intamin
February 2006 – May 2013

Altair
Cinecittà World
Italy
10
Intamin
N/A

Colossus
Thorpe Park
United Kingdom
10
Intamin
March 2002 – May 2013

Crazy Coaster
Locajoy Holiday
China
10
Intamin
N/A

Velikolukskiy Myasokombinat-2
Wonder Island
Russia
10
Intamin
N/A

**
unknown
Ankapark
Turkey
10
Intamin
N/A

unknown
Movie Animation Park Studios
Malaysia
10
Intamin
N/A

7
Avalancha
Xetulul
Guatemala
8
Intamin
N/A

Dragon Khan
PortAventura Park
Spain
8
Bolliger & Mabillard
May 1995 – March 2002

Flight of the Phoenix
Harborland
China
8
Intamin
N/A

**
unknown
Mirabilandia
Brazil
8
Intamin
N/A

text: Wooden roller coasters[edit]

text:
Most inversions on a wooden roller coaster[note 3]

Rank
Name
Park
Country
Inversions
Manufacturer
Record held

1
Outlaw Run
Silver Dollar City
United States
3
Rocky Mountain Construction
March 2013 – present

Wildfire
Kolmården Wildlife Park
Sweden
3
Rocky Mountain Construction
June 2016 – present

3
Goliath
Six Flags Great America
United States
2
Rocky Mountain Construction
N/A

4
Hades 360
Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park
United States
1
The Gravity Group
N/A

Jungle Trailblazer
Oriental Heritage, Ningbo
China
1
Martin & Vleminckx Rides
N/A

Jungle Trailblazer
Oriental Heritage, Wuhu
China
1
Martin & Vleminckx Rides
N/A

Jungle Trailblazer
Oriental Heritage, Jinan
China
1
Martin & Vleminckx Rides
N/A

Mine Blower
Fun Spot America: Kissimmee
United States
1
The Gravity Group
N/A

text: Notes[edit]

text:
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f A shuttle roller coaster, not complete-circuit
Jump up ^ Record was held by The Rattler from March 1992 – May 2000. Its height was 179 feet (55 m).[11]
^ Jump up to: a b c d Record was held by Son of Beast from May 2000 – June 2009. Its height was 218 feet (66 m), its drop distance was 214 feet (65 m) and its speed was 78 miles per hour (126 km/h).[12]

tag: ol


document_title: A Knight's Tale

question_text: who did sir thomas colville turn out to be

root

text: A Knight's Tale

text: Plot[edit]

text: At a jousting tournament in 14th-century Europe, young squires William Thatcher, Roland, and Wat discover that their master, Sir Ector, has died. If he had completed one final pass he would have won the tournament. Destitute, William wears Ector's armour to impersonate him, winning the tournament and taking the prize.

tag: p

text: Although only nobles are allowed in tournaments, William is now inspired to compete and win more prizes. Roland and Wat would rather take their share of coins and leave, but William convinces them to stay and train him to joust. Along the way to his first tournament in Rouen, the trio encounters a young Geoffrey Chaucer, who is also destitute and agrees to forge the patent of nobility that will allow William to enter under the assumed name of "Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein" from Gelderland. At the tournament, William is brought before Simon the Summoner and Peter the Pardoner: Chaucer has a gambling problem and is in their debt. William demands Chaucer be released and promises payment.

text: In the course of competition, William's armour is damaged. He goads Kate, a blacksmith, to repair it without payment and goes on to win the sword event at the tournament. In the joust, he faces a Sir Thomas Colville, who withdraws from the tournament after being injured by William, though they exchange a ceremonial pass so that Colville can retain the honour of never having failed to complete a match. The proceedings are observed by Jocelyn, a noblewoman with whom William has become infatuated, and Count Adhemar, a rival both in the joust and for Jocelyn's heart. In the final joust of the tournament, Adhemar defeats William.

text: Kate joins William's party and forges new lightweight armour allowing him greater mobility. In the following tournament, Adhemar and William are both assigned to tilt against Sir Thomas Colville, but they learn that he is actually Edward, the Black Prince. Adhemar withdraws, but William continues the match and then addresses the prince by name, further earning Edward's respect.

text: Adhemar is called away to the Battle of Poitiers, and William achieves several victories in his absence. William proves his love for Jocelyn by complying when she first asks him to deliberately lose (in contrast to the countless knights who promise to win in her name), and then, just before he would be eliminated, to win the tournament in her name after all.

text: The group travels to London for the World Championship. William recalls leaving his father to squire for Sir Ector and learn to become a knight hoping to "change his stars". Adhemar has also arrived in London and announces that he is in negotiations with Jocelyn's father for her hand in marriage. William dominates at the tournament and he returns to visit his father, now blind and living alone in Cheapside, but is discovered by Adhemar, who alerts the authorities to William's false identity.

text: William is placed in the pillory, but is defended from the hostile crowd by his friends. Just as the mob reaches its frenzy, Prince Edward emerges from the crowd, noting that his friends' dedication to him reflects an ability to inspire others that is in the best traditions of knighthood. In acknowledgement of William's honour, Edward announces that, William is in fact, "beyond contestation", descended from a noble lineage, and knights him "Sir William".

text: William returns to the tournament to face Adhemar in the final match, but Adhemar cheats with an illegally sharpened lance, piercing William's shoulder and seriously injuring him. Entering the final pass, William is losing by two lances and must unhorse Adhemar to win. He demands to be stripped of his armour while Chaucer buys time by performing the introduction of William that he omitted earlier. Finally he tilts against Adhemar, with his father and Jocelyn in attendance. Bellowing his true name as he tilts, he knocks Adhemar to the ground with a crushing blow. In the ensuing celebration, as Jocelyn and William embrace, Chaucer remarks that he should write this whole story down.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Heath Ledger as William Thatcher / Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein

Leagh Conwell as young William Thatcher

Rufus Sewell as Count Adhemar
Shannyn Sossamon as Jocelyn
Mark Addy as Roland
Alan Tudyk as Wat
Paul Bettany as Geoffrey Chaucer
Laura Fraser as Kate
Bérénice Bejo as Christiana
James Purefoy as Edward, the Black Prince / Sir Thomas Colville
Christopher Cazenove as John Thatcher
Nick Brimble as Sir Ector
Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Old Bishop
Steven O'Donnell as Simon the Summoner
Jonathan Slinger as Peter the Pardoner
Alice Connor as Lone Girl in Cheapeside
Berwick Kaler as Man in Stocks

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: The entire film was shot at the Barrandov Studios in Prague, Czech Republic.[4]

text: The film includes a great deal of jousting footage. The initial scene of the two knights jousting is actually footage of Heath Ledger's stunt double in an accident. During filming of a later scene in the film, the lance of the stunt double's opponent moved off target and hit him in the head. The double fell to the ground unconscious. In another incident, Ledger knocked out one of director Helgeland's front teeth with a broomstick when the two were demonstrating a jousting move. It took several months for Helgeland's mouth to heal enough to repair the damage.

text: Plenty of effort was expended creating lances that would convincingly explode upon impact without injuring the stunt riders. The body of each lance was scored so it would break easily, and the tips were made of balsa wood. Each was also hollowed out, with the holes filled with balsa splinters and uncooked linguine.[5] Jousting armour was made by Rod Vass and his company Armordillo Ltd. using a unique sprayed polyurethane system that they invented for the film Gladiator. Onscreen, it is almost impossible to distinguish between the polyurethane stunt armour and steel armour, much of which was also made by Armordillo. Heath Ledger's armour was originally made in steel along with three polyurethane stunt replicas.

text: In the DVD commentary, director Helgeland, co-commentating with Bettany, states that the film was intended to have occurred sometime in the 1370s during a six-month period in which Chaucer had apparently gone missing and show what he might have done during this time, which Helgeland says later on in the commentary inspired Chaucer to write his Canterbury Tales. (The first Canterbury tale is The Knight's Tale. Chaucer also threatens two men he meets in the film with undying humiliation through fiction; these characters seem to have inspired the vitriolic descriptions of the Tales' Pardoner and Summoner.)

text: The scene in which the lady Jocelyn asks William to lose a joust to prove his love and then reverses her proposal for him to suddenly win, is also a direct reference to the classic tale of Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, in which Queen Guinevere asks Lancelot to do the same during a tournament.

text: Epigrams[edit]

text: The script is notable for its use of epigrams.

text:
"Love should end with hope" (Kate)
"If he believes enough, a man can do anything!" (William's father)
"Your men love you. If I knew nothing else about you, that would be enough" (Prince Edward)
"Better a silly girl with a flower than a silly boy with a horse and a stick" (Jocelyn)
"I was naked for a day; you will be naked for eternity" (Chaucer)

text: Music[edit]

text: The film, which notionally took place during the Middle Ages, is notable for its deliberate use of classic rock songs in its soundtrack. The ten that were credited in the film are listed in order of appearance:[6]

text:
"We Will Rock You" – Queen
"Low Rider" – War
"Takin' Care of Business" – Bachman–Turner Overdrive
"Golden Years" – David Bowie
"Further on Up the Road" – Eric Clapton
"Get Ready" – Rare Earth
"I Want to Take You Higher" – Sly and the Family Stone
"The Boys Are Back in Town" – Thin Lizzy
"You Shook Me All Night Long" – AC/DC
"We Are the Champions" – Robbie Williams & Queen

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical reception was mixed, with complaints about the anachronisms (the classic rock in a film that takes place during the Middle Ages), the many jousting scenes, and the thin plot. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and argued that the anachronisms made little difference, writing that the director himself "pointed out that an orchestral score would be equally anachronistic, since orchestras hadn't been invented in the 1400s."[7][8]

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 58% based on reviews from 146 critics. "Once you get past the anachronism," according to the site, "A Knight's Tale becomes a predictable, if spirited, Rocky on horseback."[9] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 54 out of 100, sampled from 32 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[10]

text: Newsweek revealed in June 2001 that print ads contained glowing comments from a film reviewer who did not exist for at least four films released by Columbia Pictures, including A Knight's Tale and The Animal (2001).[11] The fake critic was named David Manning and was created by a Columbia employee who worked in the advertising department.[11] "Manning" was misrepresented as a reviewer for The Ridgefield Press, a small Connecticut weekly.[11]

text: Awards[edit]

text: Despite the mixed critical reception, the film won four cinematic awards:

text:
The 2002 Golden Trailer Best Action Award,
The 2002 London Critic Circle Film Awards British Supporting Actor of the Year (Paul Bettany),
The 2002 World Stunts Awards' Best Work with an Animal, and
The 2002 World Stunts Awards' Hardest Hit.[12]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The film earned $56,569,702 at the North American domestic box office, and an additional $60,917,771 internationally for a worldwide total of $117,487,473.[3]


document_title: List of Dexter episodes

question_text: how many seasons of dexter will there be

text: List of Dexter episodes

text: Series overview[edit]

text: SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedFirst airedLast aired112October 1, 2006 (2006-10-01)December 17, 2006 (2006-12-17)212September 30, 2007 (2007-09-30)December 16, 2007 (2007-12-16)312September 28, 2008 (2008-09-28)December 14, 2008 (2008-12-14)412September 27, 2009 (2009-09-27)December 13, 2009 (2009-12-13)512September 26, 2010 (2010-09-26)December 12, 2010 (2010-12-12)612October 2, 2011 (2011-10-02)December 18, 2011 (2011-12-18)712September 30, 2012 (2012-09-30)December 16, 2012 (2012-12-16)812June 30, 2013 (2013-06-30)September 22, 2013 (2013-09-22)

tag: table

text: Episodes[edit]

text: Season 1 (2006)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers(millions)11"Dexter"Michael CuestaJames Manos, Jr.October 1, 2006 (2006-10-01)0.60[24]
22"Crocodile"Michael CuestaClyde PhillipsOctober 8, 2006 (2006-10-08)0.72[25]
33"Popping Cherry"Michael CuestaDaniel CeroneOctober 15, 2006 (2006-10-15)N/A
44"Let's Give the Boy a Hand"Robert LiebermanDrew Z. GreenbergOctober 22, 2006 (2006-10-22)N/A
55"Love American Style"Robert LiebermanMelissa RosenbergOctober 29, 2006 (2006-10-29)N/A
66"Return to Sender"Tony GoldwynTim SchlattmannNovember 5, 2006 (2006-11-05)N/A
77"Circle of Friends"Steve ShillDaniel CeroneNovember 12, 2006 (2006-11-12)N/A
88"Shrink Wrap"Tony GoldwynLauren GussisNovember 19, 2006 (2006-11-19)N/A
99"Father Knows Best"Adam DavidsonMelissa RosenbergNovember 26, 2006 (2006-11-26)N/A
1010"Seeing Red"Michael CuestaKevin R. MaynardDecember 3, 2006 (2006-12-03)N/A
1111"Truth Be Told"Keith GordonDrew Z. Greenberg and Tim SchlattmannDecember 10, 2006 (2006-12-10)0.76[26]
1212"Born Free"Michael CuestaDaniel Cerone and Melissa RosenbergDecember 17, 2006 (2006-12-17)1.08[27]

text: Season 2 (2007)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers(millions)131"It's Alive!"Tony GoldwynDaniel CeroneSeptember 30, 2007 (2007-09-30)1.01[28]
142"Waiting to Exhale"Marcos SiegaClyde PhillipsOctober 7, 2007 (2007-10-07)0.89[29]
153"An Inconvenient Lie"Tony GoldwynMelissa RosenbergOctober 14, 2007 (2007-10-14)0.95[30]
164"See-Through"Nick GomezScott BuckOctober 21, 2007 (2007-10-21)0.80[31]
175"The Dark Defender"Keith GordonTim SchlattmannOctober 28, 2007 (2007-10-28)0.63[32]
186"Dex, Lies, and Videotape"Nick GomezLauren GussisNovember 4, 2007 (2007-11-04)N/A
197"That Night, A Forest Grew"Jeremy PodeswaDaniel CeroneNovember 11, 2007 (2007-11-11)0.84[33]
208"Morning Comes"Keith GordonScott BuckNovember 18, 2007 (2007-11-18)1.23[34]
219"Resistance Is Futile"Marcos SiegaMelissa RosenbergNovember 25, 2007 (2007-11-25)N/A
2210"There's Something About Harry"Steve ShillScott ReynoldsDecember 2, 2007 (2007-12-02)1.08[35]
2311"Left Turn Ahead"Marcos SiegaScott Buck & Tim SchlattmannDecember 9, 2007 (2007-12-09)0.89[36]
2412"The British Invasion"Steve ShillStory by: Daniel Cerone & Melissa RosenbergTeleplay by: Daniel CeroneDecember 16, 2007 (2007-12-16)1.02[37]

text: Season 3 (2008)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers(millions)251"Our Father"Keith GordonClyde PhillipsSeptember 28, 2008 (2008-09-28)1.22[38]
262"Finding Freebo"Marcos SiegaMelissa RosenbergOctober 5, 2008 (2008-10-05)0.79[39]
273"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"John DahlScott BuckOctober 12, 2008 (2008-10-12)1.07[40]
284"All in the Family"Keith GordonAdam E. FierroOctober 19, 2008 (2008-10-19)0.86[41]
295"Turning Biminese"Marcos SiegaTim SchlattmannOctober 26, 2008 (2008-10-26)1.00[40]
306"Sí Se Puede"Ernest DickersonCharles H. EgleeNovember 2, 2008 (2008-11-02)1.04[40]
317"Easy as Pie"Steve ShillLauren GussisNovember 9, 2008 (2008-11-09)0.83[40]
328"The Damage a Man Can Do"Marcos SiegaScott BuckNovember 16, 2008 (2008-11-16)0.96[40]
339"About Last Night"Tim HunterStory by: Scott ReynoldsTeleplay by: Melissa RosenbergNovember 23, 2008 (2008-11-23)1.13[40]
3410"Go Your Own Way"John DahlTim SchlattmannNovember 30, 2008 (2008-11-30)1.34[40]
3511"I Had a Dream"Marcos SiegaCharles H. Eglee and Lauren GussisDecember 7, 2008 (2008-12-07)N/A
3612"Do You Take Dexter Morgan?"Keith GordonScott BuckDecember 14, 2008 (2008-12-14)1.51[42]

text: Season 4 (2009)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers(millions)371"Living the Dream"Marcos SiegaClyde PhillipsSeptember 27, 2009 (2009-09-27)1.52[43]
382"Remains to Be Seen"Brian KirkCharles H. EgleeOctober 4, 2009 (2009-10-04)1.37[44]
393"Blinded by the Light"Marcos SiegaScott BuckOctober 11, 2009 (2009-10-11)1.24[45]
404"Dex Takes a Holiday"John DahlMelissa Rosenberg & Wendy WestOctober 18, 2009 (2009-10-18)1.51[46]
415"Dirty Harry"Keith GordonTim SchlattmannOctober 25, 2009 (2009-10-25)1.68[47]
426"If I Had a Hammer"Romeo TironeLauren GussisNovember 1, 2009 (2009-11-01)1.88[48]
437"Slack Tide"Tim HunterScott BuckNovember 8, 2009 (2009-11-08)1.76[49]
448"Road Kill"Ernest DickersonMelissa Rosenberg & Scott ReynoldsNovember 15, 2009 (2009-11-15)1.69[50]
459"Hungry Man"John DahlWendy WestNovember 22, 2009 (2009-11-22)1.76[51]
4610"Lost Boys"Keith GordonCharles H. Eglee & Tim SchlattmannNovember 29, 2009 (2009-11-29)1.80[52]
4711"Hello, Dexter Morgan"SJ ClarksonScott Buck & Lauren GussisDecember 6, 2009 (2009-12-06)2.11[53]
4812"The Getaway"Steve ShillStory by: Scott Reynolds & Melissa RosenbergTeleplay by: Wendy West & Melissa RosenbergDecember 13, 2009 (2009-12-13)2.58[54]

text: Season 5 (2010)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers(millions)491"My Bad"Steve ShillChip JohannessenSeptember 26, 2010 (2010-09-26)1.77[55]
502"Hello, Bandit"John DahlScott BuckOctober 3, 2010 (2010-10-03)1.70[56]
513"Practically Perfect"Ernest DickersonManny CotoOctober 10, 2010 (2010-10-10)1.86[57]
524"Beauty and the Beast"Milan CheylovJim LeonardOctober 17, 2010 (2010-10-17)1.79[58]
535"First Blood"Romeo TironeTim SchlattmannOctober 24, 2010 (2010-10-24)1.94[59]
546"Everything is Illumenated"Steve ShillWendy WestOctober 31, 2010 (2010-10-31)1.63[60]
557"Circle Us"John DahlScott BuckNovember 7, 2010 (2010-11-07)1.90[61]
568"Take It!"Romeo TironeManny Coto & Wendy WestNovember 14, 2010 (2010-11-14)1.94[62]
579"Teenage Wasteland"Ernest DickersonLauren GussisNovember 21, 2010 (2010-11-21)2.11[63]
5810"In the Beginning"Keith GordonScott ReynoldsNovember 28, 2010 (2010-11-28)2.54[64]
5911"Hop a Freighter"John DahlStory by: Karen CampbellTeleplay by: Scott Buck & Tim SchlattmanDecember 5, 2010 (2010-12-05)2.26[65]
6012"The Big One"Steve ShillChip Johannessen & Manny CotoDecember 12, 2010 (2010-12-12)2.48[66]

text: Season 6 (2011)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers(millions)611"Those Kinds of Things"John DahlScott BuckOctober 2, 2011 (2011-10-02)2.19[67]
622"Once Upon a Time..."SJ ClarksonTim SchlattmannOctober 9, 2011 (2011-10-09)1.71[68]
633"Smokey and the Bandit"Stefan SchwartzManny CotoOctober 16, 2011 (2011-10-16)1.50[69]
644"A Horse of a Different Color"John DahlLauren GussisOctober 23, 2011 (2011-10-23)1.89[70]
655"The Angel of Death"SJ ClarksonScott ReynoldsOctober 30, 2011 (2011-10-30)1.80[71]
666"Just Let Go"John DahlJace RichdaleNovember 6, 2011 (2011-11-06)1.98[72]
677"Nebraska"Romeo TironeWendy WestNovember 13, 2011 (2011-11-13)1.99[73]
688"Sin of Omission"Ernest DickersonArika Lisanne MittmanNovember 20, 2011 (2011-11-20)2.05[74]
699"Get Gellar"Seith MannKaren CampbellNovember 27, 2011 (2011-11-27)1.89[75]
7010"Ricochet Rabbit"Michael LehmannJace Richdale & Lauren Gussis & Scott ReynoldsDecember 4, 2011 (2011-12-04)1.87[76]
7111"Talk to the Hand"Ernest DickersonManny Coto & Tim SchlattmannDecember 11, 2011 (2011-12-11)1.92[77]
7212"This Is the Way the World Ends"John DahlScott Buck & Wendy WestDecember 18, 2011 (2011-12-18)2.23[78]

text: Season 7 (2012)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers(millions)731"Are You...?"John DahlScott BuckSeptember 30, 2012 (2012-09-30)2.40[79]
742"Sunshine and Frosty Swirl"Steve ShillManny CotoOctober 7, 2012 (2012-10-07)2.10[80]
753"Buck the System"Stefan SchwartzJace RichdaleOctober 14, 2012 (2012-10-14)1.98[81]
764"Run"John DahlWendy WestOctober 21, 2012 (2012-10-21)2.18[82]
775"Swim Deep"Ernest DickersonScott ReynoldsOctober 28, 2012 (2012-10-28)2.28[83]
786"Do the Wrong Thing"Alik SakharovLauren GussisNovember 4, 2012 (2012-11-04)1.99[84]
797"Chemistry"Holly DaleManny Coto & Karen CampbellNovember 11, 2012 (2012-11-11)2.01[85]
808"Argentina"Romeo TironeArika Lisanne MittmanNovember 18, 2012 (2012-11-18)2.25[86]
819"Helter Skelter"Steve ShillTim SchlattmannNovember 25, 2012 (2012-11-25)2.12[87]
8210"The Dark… Whatever"Michael LehmannLauren Gussis & Jace Richdale & Scott ReynoldsDecember 2, 2012 (2012-12-02)2.08[88]
8311"Do You See What I See?"John DahlManny Coto & Wendy WestDecember 9, 2012 (2012-12-09)2.60[89]
8412"Surprise, Motherfucker!"Steve ShillScott Buck & Tim SchlattmannDecember 16, 2012 (2012-12-16)2.75[90]

text: Season 8 (2013)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers(millions)851"A Beautiful Day"Keith GordonScott BuckJune 30, 2013 (2013-06-30)2.48[91]
862"Every Silver Lining..."Michael C. HallManny CotoJuly 7, 2013 (2013-07-07)2.52[92]
873"What's Eating Dexter Morgan?"Ernest DickersonLauren GussisJuly 14, 2013 (2013-07-14)2.43[93]
884"Scar Tissue"Stefan SchwartzTim SchlattmannJuly 21, 2013 (2013-07-21)2.47[94]
895"This Little Piggy"Romeo TironeScott ReynoldsJuly 28, 2013 (2013-07-28)2.55[95]
906"A Little Reflection"John DahlJace RichdaleAugust 4, 2013 (2013-08-04)2.21[96]
917"Dress Code"Alik SakharovArika Lisanne MittmanAugust 11, 2013 (2013-08-11)1.90[97]
928"Are We There Yet?"Holly DaleWendy WestAugust 18, 2013 (2013-08-18)1.94[98]
939"Make Your Own Kind of Music"John DahlKaren CampbellAugust 25, 2013 (2013-08-25)2.28[99]
9410"Goodbye Miami"Steve ShillJace Richdale & Scott ReynoldsSeptember 8, 2013 (2013-09-08)2.34[100]
9511"Monkey in a Box"Ernest DickersonTim Schlattmann & Wendy WestSeptember 15, 2013 (2013-09-15)2.40[101]
9612"Remember the Monsters?"Steve ShillScott Buck & Manny CotoSeptember 22, 2013 (2013-09-22)2.80[102]

text: Dexter: Early Cuts[edit]

text: In 2009, Showtime started releasing an animated Dexter webseries.[103][104] Each story is told in several two-minute chapters, the first three of which were written by series writer and producer Lauren Gussis, and premiered in 2009.[105][106][107] More episodes were released in 2010 and 2011.[108][109]

text: Season 1 (2009–10)[edit]

text:
No.TitleWritten byIllustrated byOriginal release date1"Alex Timmons: Chapter One"Lauren GussisKyle BakerOctober 25, 2009 (2009-10-25)
2"Alex Timmons: Chapter Two"Lauren GussisKyle BakerNovember 1, 2009 (2009-11-01)
3"Alex Timmons: Chapter Three"Lauren GussisKyle BakerNovember 8, 2009 (2009-11-08)
4"Alex Timmons: Chapter Four"Lauren GussisKyle BakerNovember 15, 2009 (2009-11-15)
5"Gene Marshall: Chapter One"Lauren GussisKyle BakerNovember 15, 2009 (2009-11-15)
6"Gene Marshall: Chapter Two"Lauren GussisKyle BakerNovember 22, 2009 (2009-11-22)
7"Gene Marshall: Chapter Three"Lauren GussisKyle BakerNovember 29, 2009 (2009-11-29)
8"Gene Marshall: Chapter Four"Lauren GussisKyle BakerDecember 6, 2009 (2009-12-06)
9"Cindy Landon: Chapter One"Lauren GussisKyle BakerDecember 13, 2009 (2009-12-13)
10"Cindy Landon: Chapter Two"Lauren GussisKyle BakerDecember 20, 2009 (2009-12-20)
11"Cindy Landon: Chapter Three"Lauren GussisKyle BakerDecember 27, 2009 (2009-12-27)
12"Cindy Landon: Chapter Four"Lauren GussisKyle BakerJanuary 4, 2010 (2010-01-04)

text: Season 2: Dark Echo (2010)[edit]

text:
No.TitleWritten byIllustrated byOriginal release date1"Dark Echo: Chapter One"Tim SchlattmannBill Sienkiewicz & David MackOctober 24, 2010 (2010-10-24)
2"Dark Echo: Chapter Two"Tim SchlattmannBill Sienkiewicz & David MackOctober 24, 2010 (2010-10-24)
3"Dark Echo: Chapter Three"Tim SchlattmannBill Sienkiewicz & David MackOctober 24, 2010 (2010-10-24)
4"Dark Echo: Chapter Four"Tim SchlattmannBill Sienkiewicz & David MackOctober 24, 2010 (2010-10-24)
5"Dark Echo: Chapter Five"Tim SchlattmannBill Sienkiewicz & David MackOctober 24, 2010 (2010-10-24)
6"Dark Echo: Chapter Six"Tim SchlattmannBill Sienkiewicz & David MackOctober 24, 2010 (2010-10-24)

text: Season 3: All in the Family (2012)[edit]

text:
No.TitleWritten byIllustrated byOriginal release date1"All in the Family: Chapter 1"Scott ReynoldsDavid MackAugust 21, 2012 (2012-08-21)
2"All in the Family: Chapter 2"Scott ReynoldsDavid MackAugust 28, 2012 (2012-08-28)
3"All in the Family: Chapter 3"Scott ReynoldsDavid MackSeptember 4, 2012 (2012-09-04)
4"All in the Family: Chapter 4"Scott ReynoldsDavid MackSeptember 11, 2012 (2012-09-11)
5"All in the Family: Chapter 5"Scott ReynoldsDavid MackSeptember 18, 2012 (2012-09-18)
6"All in the Family: Chapter 6"Scott ReynoldsDavid MackSeptember 25, 2012 (2012-09-25)

text: Home releases[edit]

text:
Home releases of Dexter

Season

DVD release dates

Blu-ray release dates

Region 1[110]

Region 2

Region 4[111]

Region A[110]

Region B[112]

1

August 21, 2007

May 19, 2008[113]

March 3, 2011

January 6, 2009

June 18, 2012

2

August 19, 2008

March 30, 2009[114]

August 20, 2008

May 5, 2009

June 18, 2012

3

August 18, 2009

August 16, 2010[115]

August 18, 2009

August 18, 2009

June 18, 2012

4

August 17, 2010

November 29, 2010[116]

November 4, 2010

August 17, 2010

November 29, 2010

5

August 16, 2011

September 5, 2011[117]

August 17, 2011

August 16, 2011

September 5, 2011

6

August 14, 2012

June 18, 2012[118]

June 20, 2012

August 14, 2012

June 18, 2012

7

May 14, 2013

June 3, 2013

June 19, 2013

May 14, 2013

June 3, 2013

8

November 12, 2013

December 2, 2013[119]

November 27, 2013

November 12, 2013

November 27, 2013


document_title: PJ Masks

question_text: who plays the voice of night ninja on pj masks

text: PJ Masks

text: Episodes

text:
Season
Segments
Episodes
Originally aired

First aired
Last aired

1
52
26
September 18, 2015 (2015-09-18)
February 17, 2017 (2017-02-17)

Shorts
–
20
July 31, 2017 (2017-07-31)
December 1, 2017 (2017-12-01)

2
52[5]
TBA
January 15, 2018 (2018-01-15)
TBA

text: Characters

text: Heroes

text:
Connor/Catboy (voiced by Jacob Ewaniuk in Season 1, and Jacob Ursomarzo in Season 2) is a blue-eyed boy with brown hair. When he transforms he wears a blue cat costume with cat ears and a thin feline tail. He is the leader of the group.[6] He has super-hearing using Cat Ears, can leap high and far using Super Cat Jump, and sprints fast using Super Cat Speed,[7] or just Super Speed.[8] His main flaws are his impulsiveness and his need to control, flaws which can be exploited by the team's opponents. His vehicle is the Cat Car located in the middle segment of the PJ Masks' tower. His bedroom is on the second floor of a blue-roofed blue-doored house next to Amaya's.
Amaya/Owlette (voiced by Addison Holley) is an auburn-eyed girl with brown hair who wears red glasses. She is the only female member of the PJ Masks. she transforms into owelette, she has owl eyes which lets her see things that are far away up close, and she also has super owl wing wind. Her vehicle is the Owl-Glider, which can also do a "Super Owl Wing Wind". She is housed in her top segment of the PJ Masks' tower. Her bedroom is on the third floor of a red-roofed red-doored home with a walled-in yard between Connor and Greg's houses.
Greg/Gekko (voiced by Kyle Harrison Breitkopf) is a green-eyed, blonde haired boy.[9] When he transforms he wears a green costume with a thick reptilian tail, fins on top of his head. His powers are, Super Gekko Camouflage to go invisible or blend into his surroundings, Super Gekko Muscles (aka Super Muscles[8]) to lift heavy things, Super Lizard Grip to climb walls or anchor himself to stop vehicles, and Super Lizard Water Run to walk on water[7]. He has exhibited enough strength to lift a mobile laboratory off the ground. His vehicle is the Gekko-Mobile, which is also a submersible vehicle which can travel underwater and also ride up & over buildings via land on tank treads which is slower than the Cat-Car. His vehicle is located in the bottom segment of the PJ Masks tower. The vehicle has abilities similar to him, with a "Gekko-Mobile Camouflage" letting it blend in with surroundings. His bedroom is on the second floor of a green-roofed green-doored house next to Amaya's.
PJ Robot is a robot that Romeo created to infiltrate the PJ masks HQ, however PJ robot decided to be a PJ Mask rather than a villain's sidekick. He joined the PJ Masks Team in season 2.

text: Villains

text:
Armadillain (voiced by Max Calinescu) is one of the two main villains in the series who was transformed into a villain and a former PJ Mask member who got kicked off the team by the PJ Masks because he was too reckless. He becomes Romeo's ally and his main goal is to get revenge on PJ Masks for kicking him off their team.[citation needed]
Romeo (voiced by Alex Thorne presently and by Carter Thorne in Shorts) is the one of the two main villains in the series who comes up with a variety of devices from his mobile lab. His favorite inventions (as said in "Owlette's New Move") are his Robot, his La-Boggin, his Track-A-Whacker, and Radical Romeo Remote. He once took over the city in "Gekko and the Mayhem at the Museum"
Night Ninja (voiced by Trek Buccino in Season 1 and Devan Cohen in the short films and Season 2) is the tertiary villain who controls a bunch of minions called the Ninjalinos. He and Romeo once teamed up in "Catboy and the Shrinker."
Luna Girl (voiced by Brianna Daguanno) is the secondary villain with a Luna Magnet device. This once included a giant Moon-Ball, which could steal objects and swallow her enemies. She once teamed with her all time enemies while defeating Romeo in "Gekko and the Mighty Moon Problem."
Werewolf Kids / Howler, Rip, and Kevin, (voiced by Ethan Puggiotto) are new kids that turn to werewolves when the full moon is out.

text: Recurring

text:
Cameron (voiced by Tristan Samuel in Season 1 and Jonah Wineberg in Season 2) is a boy in the same class as PJ Masks when they attend school during the day as civilians. He once scared Amaya with a T-Rex cutout the same way Connor did earlier in "Owlette's Terrible Pterodactyl Trouble", but Connor learned his lesson and tells Cameron not to do it.
Teacher (voiced by Rob Tinkler) is an unnamed adult male who teaches Connor, Greg, and Amaya's class. When things disappear, he thinks it's strange.
Jayden Houston is a popular singer that is known for his golden microphone. His microphone was stolen by Luna Girl in "Catboy's Tricky Ticket," but was later recovered by the PJ Masks.
Master Fang is the protagonist of his own comic book and TV series. He is largely looked up to by Connor and Greg, but Amaya doesn't seem to care about him much. He is known for his signature sword which was stolen by Night Ninja in "Catboy and Master Fang's Sword."
Kick McGee is Master Fang's unseen sidekick. His persona is often used by during missions.
Flossy Flash is a female comic book superhero that is looked up to by Owlette. Owlette prefers her over Master Fang and Kick McGee who are favored by Catboy and Gekko.
The announcer (voiced by Ron Pardo) is a male voice that is heard in every episode. He is never seen, but is known for saying his signature introduction sequence.
Robette is one of Romeo’s inventions it began to try to take over the world herself in "Catboy and Gekko's Robot Rampage". This was due to a loose screw and was later resolved. During the episode, Romeo's original robot became jealous of Robette, which resulted in the robot running away. This was also later resolved and Romeo became friends with Robot again. She returned again in Season 2.

text: Production

text: PJ Masks is a British/French coproduction by Entertainment One, Frog Box, and TeamTO.[10] The series was renewed for a second season consisting of 52 11-minute segments in June 2016;[4] the second season premiered on January 15, 2018.


document_title: Sahara

question_text: 5 animals that live in the sahara desert

question_tokens: 5 animals that live in the sahara desert

text: Sahara

text: Geography

text: The Sahara covers large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia. It covers 9 million square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi), amounting to 31% of Africa. If all areas with a mean annual precipitation of less than 250 mm were included, the Sahara would be 11 million square kilometres (4,200,000 sq mi). It is one of three distinct physiographic provinces of the African massive physiographic division.

text: The Sahara is mainly rocky hamada (stone plateaus), Ergs (sand seas - large areas covered with sand dunes) form only a minor part, but many of the sand dunes are over 180 metres (590 ft) high.[7] Wind or rare rainfall shape the desert features: sand dunes, dune fields, sand seas, stone plateaus, gravel plains (reg), dry valleys (wadi), dry lakes (oued), and salt flats (shatt or chott).[8] Unusual landforms include the Richat Structure in Mauritania.

text: Several deeply dissected mountains, many volcanic, rise from the desert, including the Aïr Mountains, Ahaggar Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Tibesti Mountains, Adrar des Iforas, and the Red Sea hills. The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi, a shield volcano in the Tibesti range of northern Chad.

text: The central Sahara is hyperarid, with sparse vegetation. The northern and southern reaches of the desert, along with the highlands, have areas of sparse grassland and desert shrub, with trees and taller shrubs in wadis, where moisture collects. In the central, hyperarid region, there are many subdivisions of the great desert: Tanezrouft, the Ténéré, the Libyan Desert, the Eastern Desert, the Nubian Desert and others. These extremely arid areas often receive no rain for years.

text: To the north, the Sahara skirts the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt and portions of Libya, but in Cyrenaica and the Maghreb, the Sahara borders the Mediterranean forest, woodland, and scrub eco-regions of northern Africa, all of which have a Mediterranean climate characterized by hot summers and cool and rainy winters. According to the botanical criteria of Frank White[9] and geographer Robert Capot-Rey,[10][11] the northern limit of the Sahara corresponds to the northern limit of date palm cultivation and the southern limit of the range of esparto, a grass typical of the Mediterranean climate portion of the Maghreb and Iberia. The northern limit also corresponds to the 100 mm (3.9 in) isohyet of annual precipitation.[12]

text: To the south, the Sahara is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of dry tropical savanna with a summer rainy season that extends across Africa from east to west. The southern limit of the Sahara is indicated botanically by the southern limit of Cornulaca monacantha (a drought-tolerant member of the Chenopodiaceae), or northern limit of Cenchrus biflorus, a grass typical of the Sahel.[10][11] According to climatic criteria, the southern limit of the Sahara corresponds to the 150 mm (5.9 in) isohyet of annual precipitation (this is a long-term average, since precipitation varies annually).[12]

text: Important cities located in the Sahara include Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania; Tamanrasset, Ouargla, Béchar, Hassi Messaoud, Ghardaïa, and El Oued in Algeria; Timbuktu in Mali; Agadez in Niger; Ghat in Libya; and Faya-Largeau in Chad.

text: Climate

text: The Sahara is the world's largest low-latitude hot desert. The area is located in the horse latitudes under the subtropical ridge, a significant belt of semi-permanent subtropical warm-core high pressure where the air from upper levels of the troposphere tends to sink towards the ground. This steady descending airflow causes a warming and a drying effect in the upper troposphere. The sinking air prevents evaporating water from rising and, therefore, prevents the adiabatic cooling, which makes cloud formation extremely difficult to nearly impossible.[13]

text: The permanent dissolution of clouds allows unhindered light and thermal radiation. The stability of the atmosphere above the desert prevents any convective overturning, thus making rainfall virtually non-existent. As a consequence, the weather tends to be sunny, dry and stable with a minimal risk of rainfall. Subsiding, diverging, dry air masses associated with subtropical high-pressure systems are extremely unfavorable for the development of convectional showers. The subtropical ridge is the predominant factor that explains the hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) of this vast region. The lowering of air is the strongest and the most effective over the eastern part of the Great Desert, in the Libyan Desert which is the sunniest, driest and the most nearly "rain-less" place on the planet rivaling the Atacama Desert, lying in Chile and Peru.

text: The rainfall inhibition and the dissipation of cloud cover are most accentuated over the eastern section of the Sahara rather than the western. The prevailing air mass lying above the Sahara is the continental tropical (cT) air mass, which is hot and dry. Hot, dry air masses primarily form over the North-African desert from the heating of the vast continental land area, and it affects the whole desert during most of the year. Because of this extreme heating process, a thermal low is usually noticed near the surface, and is the strongest and the most developed during the summertime. The Sahara High represents the eastern continental extension of the Azores High,[citation needed] centered over the North Atlantic Ocean. The subsidence of the Sahara High nearly reaches the ground during the coolest part of the year while it is confined to the upper troposphere during the hottest periods.

text: The effects of local surface low pressure are extremely limited because upper-level subsidence still continues to block any form of air ascent. Also, to be protected against rain-bearing weather systems by the atmospheric circulation itself, the desert is made even drier by his geographical configuration and location. Indeed, the extreme aridity of the Sahara can not be only explained by the subtropical high pressure. The Atlas Mountains, found in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia also help to enhance the aridity of the northern part of the desert. These major mountain ranges act as a barrier causing a strong rain shadow effect on the leeward side by dropping much of the humidity brought by atmospheric disturbances along the polar front which affects the surrounding Mediterranean climates.

text: The primary source of rain in the Sahara is the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a continuous belt of low-pressure systems near the equator which bring the brief, short and irregular rainy season to the Sahel and southern Sahara. Rainfall in this giant desert has to overcome the physical and atmospheric barriers that normally prevent the production of precipitation. The harsh climate of the Sahara is characterized by: extremely low, unreliable, highly erratic rainfall; extremely high sunshine duration values; high temperatures year-round; negligible rates of relative humidity; a significant diurnal temperature variation; and extremely high levels of potential evaporation which are the highest recorded worldwide.[14]

text: Temperature

text: The sky is usually clear above the desert and the sunshine duration is extremely high everywhere in the Sahara. Most of the desert has more than 3,600 h of bright sunshine annually or over 82% of the time, and a wide area in the eastern part experiences in excess of 4,000 h of bright sunshine a year or over 91% of the time. The highest values are very close to the theoretical maximum value. A value of 4,300 h or 98% of the time would be recorded in Upper Egypt (Aswan, Luxor) and in the Nubian Desert (Wadi Halfa).[15] The annual average direct solar irradiation is around 2,800 kWh/(m2 year) in the Great Desert. The Sahara has a huge potential for solar energy production.

text: The constantly high position of the sun, the extremely low relative humidity, and the lack of vegetation and rainfall make the Great Desert the hottest continuously large area worldwide, and the hottest place on Earth during summer in some spots. The average high temperature exceeds 38 to 40 °C or 100.4 to 104.0 °F during the hottest month nearly everywhere in the desert except at very high altitudes. The highest officially recorded average high temperature[clarification needed] was 47 °C or 116.6 °F in a remote desert town in the Algerian Desert called Bou Bernous with an elevation of 378 metres (1,240 ft) meters above sea level.[15] It is the world’s highest recorded average high temperature[clarification needed] and only Death Valley, California rivals it.[16] Other hot spots in Algeria such as Adrar, Timimoun, In Salah, Ouallene, Aoulef, Reggane with an elevation between 200 and 400 metres (660 and 1,310 ft) above sea level get slightly lower summer average highs around 46 °C or 114.8 °F during the hottest months of the year. Salah, well known in Algeria for its extreme heat, has average high temperatures of 43.8 °C or 110.8 °F, 46.4 °C or 115.5 °F, 45.5 °C or 113.9 °F and 41.9 °C or 107.4 °F in June, July, August and September respectively. There are even hotter spots in the Sahara, but they are located in extremely remote areas, especially in the Azalai, lying in northern Mali. The major part of the desert experiences around three to five months when the average high strictly exceeds 40 °C or 104 °F. The southern central part of the desert experiences up to six or seven months when the average high temperature strictly exceeds 40 °C or 104 °F which shows the constancy and the length of the really hot season in the Sahara. Some examples of this are: Bilma, Niger and Faya-Largeau, Chad. The annual average daily temperature exceeds 20 °C or 68 °F everywhere and can approach 30 °C or 86 °F in the hottest regions year-round. However, most of the desert has a value in excess of 25 °C or 77 °F.

text: Sand and ground temperatures are even more extreme. During daytime, the sand temperature is extremely high as it can easily reach 80 °C or 176 °F or more.[17] A sand temperature of 83.5 °C (182.3 °F) has been recorded in Port Sudan.[17] Ground temperatures of 72 °C or 161.6 °F have been recorded in the Adrar of Mauritania and a value of 75 °C (167 °F) has been measured in Borkou, northern Chad.[17]

text: Due to lack of cloud cover and very low humidity, the desert usually features high diurnal temperature variations between days and nights. However, it is a myth that the nights are cold after extremely hot days in the Sahara. The average diurnal temperature range is typically between 13 and 20 °C or 23.4 and 36.0 °F. The lowest values are found along the coastal regions due to high humidity and are often even lower than 10 °C or 18 °F, while the highest values are found in inland desert areas where the humidity is the lowest, mainly in the southern Sahara. Still, it is true that winter nights can be cold as it can drop to the freezing point and even below, especially in high-elevation areas. The frequency of subfreezing winter nights in the Sahara is strongly influenced by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), with warmer winter temperatures during negative NAO events and cooler winters with more frosts when the NAO is positive.[18] This is because the weaker clockwise flow around the eastern side of the subtropical anticyclone during negative NAO winters, although too dry to produce more than negligible precipitation, does reduce the flow of dry, cold air from higher latitudes of Eurasia into the Sahara significantly.[19]

text: Precipitation

text: The average annual rainfall ranges from very low in the northern and southern fringes of the desert to nearly non-existent over the central and the eastern part. The thin northern fringe of the desert receives more winter cloudiness and rainfall due to the arrival of low pressure systems over the Mediterranean Sea along the polar front, although very attenuated by the rain shadow effects of the mountains and the annual average rainfall ranges from 100 millimetres (4 in) to 250 millimetres (10 in). For example, Biskra, Algeria and Ouarzazate, Morocco are found in this zone. The southern fringe of the desert along the border with the Sahel receives summer cloudiness and rainfall due to the arrival of the Intertropical Convergence Zone from the south and the annual average rainfall ranges from 100 millimetres (4 in) to 250 millimetres (10 in). For example, Timbuktu, Mali and Agadez, Niger are found in this zone. The vast central hyper-arid core of the desert is virtually never affected by northerly or southerly atmospheric disturbances and permanently remains under the influence of the strongest anticyclonic weather regime, and the annual average rainfall can drop to less than 1 millimetre (0.04 in). In fact, most of the Sahara receives less than 20 millimetres (0.8 in). Of the 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi) of desert land in the Sahara, an area of about 2,800,000 square kilometres (1,100,000 sq mi) (about 31% of the total area) receives an annual average rainfall amount of 10 millimetres (0.4 in) or less, while some 1,500,000 square kilometres (580,000 sq mi) (about 17% of the total area) receives an average of 5 millimetres (0.2 in) or less.[20] The annual average rainfall is virtually zero over a wide area of some 1,000,000 square kilometres (390,000 sq mi) in the eastern Sahara comprising deserts of: Libya, Egypt and Sudan (Tazirbu, Kufra, Dakhla, Kharga, Farafra, Siwa, Asyut, Sohag, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Wadi Halfa) where the long-term mean approximates 0.5 millimetres (0.02 in) per year.[20] Rainfall is very unreliable and erratic in the Sahara as it may vary considerably year by year. In full contrast to the negligible annual rainfall amounts, the annual rates of potential evaporation are extraordinarily high, roughly ranging from 2,500 millimetres (100 in) per year to more than 6,000 millimetres (240 in) per year in the whole desert.[21] Nowhere else on Earth has air been found as dry and evaporative as in the Sahara region. However, at least two instances of snowfall have been recorded in Sahara, in February 1979 and December 2016, both in the town of Ain Sefra.[22]

text: Desertification and prehistoric climate

text: The climate of the Sahara has undergone enormous variations between wet and dry over the last few hundred thousand years,[23] believed to be caused by long-term changes in the North African climate cycle that alters the path of the North African Monsoon - usually southward. The cycle is caused by a 41000-year cycle in which the tilt of the earth changes between 22° and 24.5°.[20] At present (2000 AD), we are in a dry period, but it is expected that the Sahara will become green again in 15000 years (17000 AD). When the North African monsoon is at its strongest annual precipitation and subsequent vegetation in the Sahara region increase, resulting in conditions commonly referred to as the "green Sahara". For a relatively weak North African monsoon, the opposite is true, with decreased annual precipitation and less vegetation resulting in a phase of the Sahara climate cycle known as the "desert Sahara".[24]

text: The idea that changes in insolation (solar heating) caused by long-term changes in the Earth's orbit are a controlling factor for the long-term variations in the strength of monsoon patterns across the globe was first suggested by Rudolf Spitaler in the late nineteenth century,[25] The hypothesis was later formally proposed and tested by the meteorologist John Kutzbach in 1981.[26] Kutzbach's ideas about the impacts of insolation on global monsoonal patterns have become widely accepted today as the underlying driver of long term monsoonal cycles. Kutzbach never formally named his hypothesis and as such it is referred to here as the "Orbital Monsoon Hypothesis" as suggested by Ruddiman in 2001.[25]

text: During the last glacial period, the Sahara was much larger than it is today, extending south beyond its current boundaries.[27] The end of the glacial period brought more rain to the Sahara, from about 8000 BC to 6000 BC, perhaps because of low pressure areas over the collapsing ice sheets to the north.[28] Once the ice sheets were gone, the northern Sahara dried out. In the southern Sahara, the drying trend was initially counteracted by the monsoon, which brought rain further north than it does today. By around 4200 BC, however, the monsoon retreated south to approximately where it is today,[29] leading to the gradual desertification of the Sahara.[30] The Sahara is now as dry as it was about 13,000 years ago.[23]

text: The Sahara pump theory describes this cycle. During periods of a wet or "Green Sahara", the Sahara becomes a savanna grassland and various flora and fauna become more common. Following inter-pluvial arid periods, the Sahara area then reverts to desert conditions and the flora and fauna are forced to retreat northwards to the Atlas Mountains, southwards into West Africa, or eastwards into the Nile Valley. This separates populations of some of the species in areas with different climates, forcing them to adapt, possibly giving rise to allopatric speciation.

text: It is also proposed that humans accelerated the drying out period from 6,000–2,500 BC by pastoralists overgrazing available grassland.[31]

text: Evidence for cycles

text: The growth of speleothems (which requires rainwater) was detected in Hol-Zakh, Ashalim, Even-Sid, Ma'ale-ha-Meyshar, Ktora Cracks, Nagev Tzavoa Cave, and elsewhere, and has allowing tracking of prehistoric rainfall. The Red Sea coastal route was extremely arid before 140 and after 115 kya. Slightly wetter conditions appear at 90–87 kya, but it still was just one tenth the rainfall around 125 kya. In the southern Negev Desert speleothems did not grow between 185–140 kya (MIS 6), 110–90 (MIS 5.4–5.2), nor after 85 kya nor during most of the interglacial period (MIS 5.1), the glacial period and Holocene. This suggests that the southern Negev was arid to hyper-arid in these periods.[32]

text: During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Sahara desert was more extensive than it is now with the extent of the tropical forests being greatly reduced,[33] and the lower temperatures reduced the strength of the Hadley Cell. This is a climate cell which causes rising tropical air of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) to bring rain to the tropics, while dry descending air, at about 20 degrees north, flows back to the equator and brings desert conditions to this region. It is associated with high rates of wind-blown mineral dust, and these dust levels are found as expected in marine cores from the north tropical Atlantic. But around 12,500 BC the amount of dust in the cores in the Bølling/Allerød phase suddenly plummets and shows a period of much wetter conditions in the Sahara, indicating a Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) event (a sudden warming followed by a slower cooling of the climate). The moister Saharan conditions had begun about 12,500 BC, with the extension of the ITCZ northward in the northern hemisphere summer, bringing moist wet conditions and a savanna climate to the Sahara, which (apart from a short dry spell associated with the Younger Dryas) peaked during the Holocene thermal maximum climatic phase at 4000 BC when mid-latitude temperatures seem to have been between 2 and 3 degrees warmer than in the recent past. Analysis of Nile River deposited sediments in the delta also shows this period had a higher proportion of sediments coming from the Blue Nile, suggesting higher rainfall also in the Ethiopian Highlands. This was caused principally by a stronger monsoonal circulation throughout the sub-tropical regions, affecting India, Arabia and the Sahara.[citation needed] Lake Victoria only recently became the source of the White Nile and dried out almost completely around 15 kya.[34]

text: The sudden subsequent movement of the ITCZ southwards with a Heinrich event (a sudden cooling followed by a slower warming), linked to changes with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle, led to a rapid drying out of the Saharan and Arabian regions, which quickly became desert. This is linked to a marked decline in the scale of the Nile floods between 2700 and 2100 BC.[35]

text: Ecoregions

text: The Sahara comprises several distinct ecoregions. With their variations in temperature, rainfall, elevation, and soil, these regions harbor distinct communities of plants and animals.

text: The Atlantic coastal desert is a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast where fog generated offshore by the cool Canary Current provides sufficient moisture to sustain a variety of lichens, succulents, and shrubs. It covers an area of 39,900 square kilometers (15,400 sq mi) in the south of Morocco and Mauritania.[36]

text: The North Saharan steppe and woodlands is along the northern desert, next to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of the northern Maghreb and Cyrenaica. Winter rains sustain shrublands and dry woodlands that form a transition between the Mediterranean climate regions to the north and the hyper-arid Sahara proper to the south. It covers 1,675,300 square kilometers (646,840 sq mi) in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia.[37]

text: The Sahara Desert ecoregion covers the hyper-arid central portion of the Sahara where rainfall is minimal and sporadic. Vegetation is rare, and this ecoregion consists mostly of sand dunes (erg, chech, raoui), stone plateaus (hamadas), gravel plains (reg), dry valleys (wadis), and salt flats. It covers 4,639,900 square kilometres (1,791,500 sq mi) of: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Sudan.[8]

text: The South Saharan steppe and woodlands ecoregion is a narrow band running east and west between the hyper-arid Sahara and the Sahel savannas to the south. Movements of the equatorial Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) bring summer rains during July and August which average 100 to 200 mm (4 to 8 in) but vary greatly from year to year. These rains sustain summer pastures of grasses and herbs, with dry woodlands and shrublands along seasonal watercourses. This ecoregion covers 1,101,700 square kilometres (425,400 sq mi) in Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Sudan.[38]

text: In the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands, several volcanic highlands provide a cooler, moister environment that supports Saharo-Mediterranean woodlands and shrublands. The ecoregion covers 258,100 square kilometres (99,650 sq mi), mostly in the Tassili n'Ajjer of Algeria, with smaller enclaves in the Aïr of Niger, the Dhar Adrar of Mauritania, and the Adrar des Iforas of Mali and Algeria.[39]

text: The Tibesti-Jebel Uweinat montane xeric woodlands ecoregion consists of the Tibesti and Jebel Uweinat highlands. Higher and more regular rainfall and cooler temperatures support woodlands and shrublands of Date palm, acacias, myrtle, oleander, tamarix, and several rare and endemic plants. The ecoregion covers 82,200 square kilometres (31,700 sq mi) in the Tibesti of Chad and Libya, and Jebel Uweinat on the border of Egypt, Libya, and Sudan.[40]

text: The Saharan halophytics is an area of seasonally flooded saline depressions which is home to halophytic (salt-adapted) plant communities. The Saharan halophytics cover 54,000 square kilometres (21,000 sq mi) including: the Qattara and Siwa depressions in northern Egypt, the Tunisian salt lakes of central Tunisia, Chott Melghir in Algeria, and smaller areas of Algeria, Mauritania, and the southern part of Morocco.[41]

text: The Tanezrouft is one of the harshest regions on Earth as well as one of the hottest and driest parts of the Sahara, with no vegetation and very little life. It is along the borders of Algeria, Niger]] and Mali, west of the Hoggar mountains.

text: Flora and fauna

text: The flora of the Sahara is highly diversified based on the bio-geographical characteristics of this vast desert. Floristically, the Sahara has three zones based on the amount of rainfall received – the Northern (Mediterranean), Central and Southern Zones. There are two transitional zones – the Mediterranean-Sahara transition and the Sahel transition zone.[42]

text: The Saharan flora comprises around 2800 species of vascular plants. Approximately a quarter of these are endemic. About half of these species are common to the flora of the Arabian deserts.[43]

text: The central Sahara is estimated to include five hundred species of plants, which is extremely low considering the huge extent of the area. Plants such as acacia trees, palms, succulents, spiny shrubs, and grasses have adapted to the arid conditions, by growing lower to avoid water loss by strong winds, by storing water in their thick stems to use it in dry periods, by having long roots that travel horizontally to reach the maximum area of water and to find any surface moisture, and by having small thick leaves or needles to prevent water loss by evapotranspiration. Plant leaves may dry out totally and then recover.

text: Several species of fox live in the Sahara including: the fennec fox, pale fox and Rüppell's fox. The addax, a large white antelope, can go nearly a year in the desert without drinking. The dorcas gazelle is a north African gazelle that can also go for a long time without water. Other notable gazelles include the rhim gazelle and dama gazelle.

text: The Saharan cheetah (northwest African cheetah) lives in Algeria, Togo, Niger, Mali, Benin, and Burkina Faso. There remain fewer than 250 mature cheetahs, which are very cautious, fleeing any human presence. The cheetah avoids the sun from April to October, seeking the shelter of shrubs such as balanites and acacias. They are unusually pale.[44][45] The other cheetah subspecies (northeast African cheetah) lives in Chad, Sudan and the eastern region of Niger. However, it is currently extinct in the wild in Egypt and Libya. There are approximately 2000 mature individuals left in the wild.

text: Other animals include the monitor lizards, hyrax, sand vipers, and small populations of African wild dog,[46] in perhaps only 14 countries[47] and red-necked ostrich. Other animals exist in the Sahara (birds in particular) such as African silverbill and black-faced firefinch, among others. There are also small desert crocodiles in Mauritania and the Ennedi Plateau of Chad.[48]

text: The deathstalker scorpion can be 10 cm (3.9 in) long. Its venom contains large amounts of agitoxin and scyllatoxin and is very dangerous; however, a sting from this scorpion rarely kills a healthy adult. The Saharan silver ant is unique in that due to the extreme high temperatures of their habitat, and the threat of predators, the ants are active outside their nest for only about ten minutes per day.[49]

text: Dromedary camels and goats are the domesticated animals most commonly found in the Sahara. Because of its qualities of endurance and speed, the dromedary is the favourite animal used by nomads.

text: Human activities are more likely to affect the habitat in areas of permanent water (oases) or where water comes close to the surface. Here, the local pressure on natural resources can be intense. The remaining populations of large mammals have been greatly reduced by hunting for food and recreation. In recent years development projects have started in the deserts of Algeria and Tunisia using irrigated water pumped from underground aquifers. These schemes often lead to soil degradation and salinization.

text: Researchers from Hacettepe University (Yücekutlu, N. et al., 2011) have reported that Saharan soil may have bio-available iron and also some essential macro and micro nutrient elements suitable for use as fertilizer for growing wheat.[50]

text: History

text: People lived on the edge of the desert thousands of years ago[51] since the end of the last glacial period. The Sahara was then a much wetter place than it is today. Over 30,000 petroglyphs of river animals such as crocodiles[52] survive, with half found in the Tassili n'Ajjer in southeast Algeria. Fossils of dinosaurs, including Afrovenator, Jobaria and Ouranosaurus, have also been found here. The modern Sahara, though, is not lush in vegetation, except in the Nile Valley, at a few oases, and in the northern highlands, where Mediterranean plants such as the olive tree are found to grow. It was long believed that the region had been this way since about 1600 BCE, after shifts in the Earth's axis increased temperatures and decreased precipitation, which led to the abrupt desertification of North Africa about 5,400 years ago.[29] However, this theory has recently been called into dispute, when samples taken from several 7 million year old sand deposits led scientists to reconsider the timeline for desertification.[53]

text: Kiffians

text: The Kiffian culture is a prehistoric industry, or domain, that existed between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago in the Sahara, during the Neolithic Subpluvial. Human remains from this culture were found in 2000 at a site known as Gobero, located in Niger in the Ténéré Desert.[54] The site is known as the largest and earliest grave of Stone Age people in the Sahara desert.[55] The Kiffians were skilled hunters. Bones of many large savannah animals that were discovered in the same area suggest that they lived on the shores of a lake that was present during the Holocene Wet Phase, a period when the Sahara was verdant and wet.[55] The Kiffian people were tall, standing over six feet in height.[54] Craniometric analysis indicates that this early Holocene population was closely related to the Late Pleistocene Iberomaurusians and early Holocene Capsians of the Maghreb, as well as mid-Holocene Mechta groups.[56] Traces of the Kiffian culture do not exist after 8,000 years ago, as the Sahara went through a dry period for the next thousand years.[57] After this time, the Tenerian culture colonized the area.

text: Tenerians

text: Gobero was discovered in 2000 during an archaeological expedition led by Paul Sereno, which sought dinosaur remains. Two distinct prehistoric cultures were discovered at the site: the early Holocene Kiffian culture, and the middle Holocene Tenerian culture. The Kiffians were a prehistoric people who preceded the Tenerians and vanished approximately 8000 years ago, when the desert became very dry. The desiccation lasted until around 4600 BC, when the earliest artefacts associated with the Tenerians have been dated to. Some 200 skeletons have been discovered at Gobero. The Tenerians were considerably shorter in height and less robust than the earlier Kiffians. Craniometric analysis also indicates that they were osteologically distinct. The Kiffian skulls are akin to those of the Late Pleistocene Iberomaurusians, early Holocene Capsians, and mid-Holocene Mechta groups, whereas the Tenerian crania are more like those of Mediterranean groups.[58][59] Graves show that the Tenerians observed spiritual traditions, as they were buried with artifacts such as jewelry made of hippo tusks and clay pots. The most interesting find is a triple burial, dated to 5300 years ago, of an adult female and two children, estimated through their teeth as being five and eight years old, hugging each other. Pollen residue indicates they were buried on a bed of flowers. The three are assumed to have died within 24 hours of each other, but as their skeletons hold no apparent trauma (they did not die violently) and they have been buried so elaborately - unlikely if they had died of a plague - the cause of their deaths is a mystery.

text: Tashwinat Mummy

text: Uan Muhuggiag appears to have been inhabited from at least the 6th millennium BC to about 2700 BC, although not necessarily continuously.[60] The most noteworthy find at Uan Muhuggiag is the well-preserved mummy of a young boy of approximately 2 1/2 years old. The child was in a fetal position, then embalmed, then placed in a sack made of antelope skin, which was insulated by a layer of leaves.[61] The boy's organs were removed, as evidenced by incisions in his stomach and thorax, and an organic preservative was inserted to stop his body from decomposing.[62] An ostrich eggshell necklace was also found around his neck.[60] Radiocarbon dating determined the age of the mummy to be approximately 5600 years old, which makes it about 1000 years older than the earliest previously recorded mummy in ancient Egypt.[63] In 1958-1959, an archaeological expedition led by Antonio Ascenzi conducted anthropological, radiological, histological and chemical analyses on the Uan Muhuggiag mummy. The specimen was determined to be that of a 30-month old child of uncertain sex, who possessed Negroid features. A long incision on the specimen's abdominal wall also indicated that the body had been initially mummified by evisceration and later underwent natural desiccation.[64] One other individual, an adult, was found at Uan Muhuggiag, buried in a crouched position.[60] However, the body showed no evidence of evisceration or any other method of preservation. The body was estimated to date from about 7500 BP.[65]

text: Nubians

text: During the Neolithic Era, before the onset of desertification around 9500 BCE, the central Sudan had been a rich environment supporting a large population ranging across what is now barren desert, like the Wadi el-Qa'ab. By the 5th millennium BCE, the people who inhabited what is now called Nubia, were full participants in the "agricultural revolution", living a settled lifestyle with domesticated plants and animals. Saharan rock art of cattle and herdsmen suggests the presence of a cattle cult like those found in Sudan and other pastoral societies in Africa today.[66] Megaliths found at Nabta Playa are overt examples of probably the world's first known archaeoastronomy devices, predating Stonehenge by some 2,000 years.[67] This complexity, as observed at Nabta Playa, and as expressed by different levels of authority within the society there, likely formed the basis for the structure of both the Neolithic society at Nabta and the Old Kingdom of Egypt.[68]

text: Egyptians

text: By 6000 BCE predynastic Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and constructing large buildings. Subsistence in organized and permanent settlements in predynastic Egypt by the middle of the 6th millennium BCE centered predominantly on cereal and animal agriculture: cattle, goats, pigs and sheep. Metal objects replaced prior ones of stone. Tanning of animal skins, pottery and weaving were commonplace in this era also. There are indications of seasonal or only temporary occupation of the Al Fayyum in the 6th millennium BCE, with food activities centering on fishing, hunting and food-gathering. Stone arrowheads, knives and scrapers from the era are commonly found.[69] Burial items included pottery, jewelry, farming and hunting equipment, and assorted foods including dried meat and fruit. Burial in desert environments appears to enhance Egyptian preservation rites, and the dead were buried facing due west.[70]

text: By 3400 BCE, the Sahara was as dry as it is today, due to reduced precipitation and higher temperatures resulting from a shift in the Earth's orbit.[29] As a result of this aridification, it became a largely impenetrable barrier to humans, with the remaining settlements mainly being concentrated around the numerous oases that dot the landscape. Little trade or commerce is known to have passed through the interior in subsequent periods, the only major exception being the Nile Valley. The Nile, however, was impassable at several cataracts, making trade and contact by boat difficult.

text: Phoenicians

text: The people of Phoenicia, who flourished from 1200–800 BCE, created a confederation of kingdoms across the entire Sahara to Egypt. They generally settled along the Mediterranean coast, as well as the Sahara, among the people of ancient Libya, who were the ancestors of people who speak Berber languages in North Africa and the Sahara today, including the Tuareg of the central Sahara.

text: The Phoenician alphabet seems to have been adopted by the ancient Libyans of north Africa, and Tifinagh is still used today by Berber-speaking Tuareg camel herders of the central Sahara.

text: Sometime between 633 BCE and 530 BCE, Hanno the Navigator either established or reinforced Phoenician colonies in Western Sahara, but all ancient remains have vanished with virtually no trace.

text: Greeks

text: By 500 BCE, Greeks arrived in the desert. Greek traders spread along the eastern coast of the desert, establishing trading colonies along the Red Sea. The Carthaginians explored the Atlantic coast of the desert, but the turbulence of the waters and the lack of markets caused a lack of presence further south than modern Morocco. Centralized states thus surrounded the desert on the north and east; it remained outside the control of these states. Raids from the nomadic Berber people of the desert were of constant concern to those living on the edge of the desert.

text: Urban civilization

text: An urban civilization, the Garamantes, arose around 500 BCE in the heart of the Sahara, in a valley that is now called the Wadi al-Ajal in Fezzan, Libya.[23] The Garamantes achieved this development by digging tunnels far into the mountains flanking the valley to tap fossil water and bring it to their fields. The Garamantes grew populous and strong, conquering their neighbors and capturing many slaves (who were put to work extending the tunnels). The ancient Greeks and the Romans knew of the Garamantes and regarded them as uncivilized nomads. However, they traded with them, and a Roman bath has been found in the Garamantes' capital of Garama. Archaeologists have found eight major towns and many other important settlements in the Garamantes' territory. The Garamantes' civilization eventually collapsed after they had depleted available water in the aquifers and could no longer sustain the effort to extend the tunnels further into the mountains.[71]

text: Berbers

text: The Berber people occupied (and still occupy) much of the Sahara. The Garamantes Berbers built a prosperous empire in the heart of the desert.[72] The Tuareg nomads continue to inhabit and move across wide Sahara surfaces to the present day.

text: Islamic expansion

text: The Byzantine Empire ruled the northern shores of the Sahara from the 5th to the 7th centuries. After the Muslim conquest of Arabia, specifically the Arabian peninsula, the Muslim conquest of North Africa began in the mid-7th to early 8th centuries and Islamic influence expanded rapidly on the Sahara. By the end of 641 all of Egypt was in Muslim hands. Trade across the desert intensified, and a significant slave trade crossed the desert. It has been estimated that from the 10th to 19th centuries some 6,000 to 7,000 slaves were transported north each year.[73]

text: Ottoman Turkish era

text: In the 16th century the northern fringe of the Sahara, such as coastal regencies in present-day Algeria and Tunisia, as well as some parts of present-day Libya, together with the semi-autonomous kingdom of Egypt, were occupied by the Ottoman Empire. From 1517 Egypt was a valued part of the Ottoman Empire, ownership of which provided the Ottomans with control over the Nile Valley, the east Mediterranean and North Africa. The benefit of the Ottoman Empire was the freedom of movement for citizens and goods. Traders exploited the Ottoman land routes to handle the spices, gold and silk from the East, manufactured goods from Europe, and the slave and gold traffic from Africa. Arabic continued as the local language and Islamic culture was much reinforced. The Sahel and southern Sahara regions were home to several independent states or to roaming Tuareg clans.

text: European colonialism

text: European colonialism in the Sahara began in the 19th century. France conquered the regency of Algiers from the Ottomans in 1830, and French rule spread south from Algeria and eastwards from Senegal into the upper Niger to include present-day Algeria, Chad, Mali then French Sudan including Timbuktu, Mauritania, Morocco (1912), Niger, and Tunisia (1881). By the beginning of the 20th century, the trans-Saharan trade had clearly declined because goods were moved through more modern and efficient means, such as airplanes, rather than across the desert.[74]

text: The French Colonial Empire was the dominant presence in the Sahara. It established regular air links from Toulouse (HQ of famed Aéropostale), to Oran and over the Hoggar to Timbuktu and West to Bamako and Dakar, as well as trans-Sahara bus services run by La Companie Transsaharienne (est. 1927).[75] A remarkable film shot by famous aviator Captain René Wauthier documents the first crossing by a large truck convoy from Algiers to Tchad, across the Sahara.[76]

text: Egypt, under Muhammad Ali and his successors, conquered Nubia in 1820–22, founded Khartoum in 1823, and conquered Darfur in 1874. Egypt, including the Sudan, became a British protectorate in 1882. Egypt and Britain lost control of the Sudan from 1882 to 1898 as a result of the Mahdist War. After its capture by British troops in 1898, the Sudan became an Anglo-Egyptian condominium.

text: Spain captured present-day Western Sahara after 1874, although Rio del Oro remained largely under Sahrawi influence. In 1912, Italy captured parts of what was to be named Libya from the Ottomans. To promote the Roman Catholic religion in the desert, Pope Pius IX appointed a delegate Apostolic of the Sahara and the Sudan in 1868; later in the 19th century his jurisdiction was reorganized into the Vicariate Apostolic of Sahara.

text: Breakup of the empires and afterwards

text: Egypt became independent of Britain in 1936, although the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 allowed Britain to keep troops in Egypt and to maintain the British-Egyptian condominium in the Sudan. British military forces were withdrawn in 1954.

text: Most of the Saharan states achieved independence after World War II: Libya in 1951; Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia in 1956; Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger in 1960; and Algeria in 1962. Spain withdrew from Western Sahara in 1975, and it was partitioned between Mauritania and Morocco. Mauritania withdrew in 1979; Morocco continues to hold the territory.

text: In the post-World War II era, several mines and communities have developed to utilize the desert's natural resources. These include large deposits of oil and natural gas in Algeria and Libya, and large deposits of phosphates in Morocco and Western Sahara.

text: A number of Trans-African highways have been proposed across the Sahara, including the Cairo–Dakar Highway along the Atlantic coast, the Trans-Sahara Highway from Algiers on the Mediterranean to Kano in Nigeria, the Tripoli – Cape Town Highway from Tripoli in Libya to N'Djamena in Chad, and the Cairo – Cape Town Highway which follows the Nile. Each of these highways is partially complete, with significant gaps and unpaved sections.

text: People and languages

text: The people of the Sahara are of various origins. Among them the Amaziɣ including the Turūq, various Arabized Amaziɣ groups such as the Hassaniya-speaking Sahrawis, whose populations include the Znaga, a tribe whose name is a remnant of the pre-historic Zenaga language. Other major groups of people include the: Toubou, Nubians, Zaghawa, Kanuri, Hausa, Songhai, Beja, and Fula/Fulani (French: Peul; Fula: Fulɓe).

text: Arabic dialects are the most widely spoken languages in the Sahara. Arabic, Berber and its variants now regrouped under the term Amazigh (which includes the Guanche language spoken by the original Berber inhabitants of the Canary Islands) and Beja languages are part of the Afro-Asiatic or Hamito-Semitic family.[citation needed] Unlike neighboring West Africa and the central governments of the states that comprise the Sahara, the French language bears little relevance to inter-personal discourse and commerce within the region, its people retaining staunch ethnic and political affiliations with Tuareg and Berber leaders and culture.[77] The legacy of the French colonial era administration is primarily manifested in the territorial reorganization enacted by the Third and Fourth republics, which engendered artificial political divisions within a hitherto isolated and porous region.[78] Diplomacy with local clients was conducted primarily in Arabic, which was the traditional language of bureaucratic affairs. Mediation of disputes and inter-agency communication was served by interpreters contracted by the French government, who, according to Keenan, "documented a space of intercultural mediation," contributing much to preserving the indigenous cultural identities in the region.[79]


document_title: Ellen's Game of Games

question_text: when does the new season of ellen's game of games start

question_tokens: when does the new season of ellen 's game of games start

text: Ellen's Game of Games

text: Series overview[edit]

text: SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedNielsen ratingsFirst airedLast airedRankAverage viewers(in millions)18December 18, 2017 (2017-12-18)February 6, 2018 (2018-02-06)N/AN/A213January 8, 2019 (2019-01-08)N/AN/AN/A

text: Format[edit]

text: This section may require copy editing.  (October 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Each episode is a self-contained mini-tournament with contestants being selected to play in one of four preliminary games. The winner of each game advances to the semi-final round to play "Know or Go." The last remaining player will play the "Hot Hands" game for a chance to win $100,000.

text: Preliminary games[edit]

text:
Aw Snap: Contestants are joined by a bungee cord. The first contestant to move five apples into a basket using only their teeth advances.
Blindfolded Musical Chairs: This game starts by blindfolding five contestants. In four different heats, the contestants have to dance around until the music stops. DeGeneres then presses buttons that cause a number of stools to rise up from the dance floor. Like musical chairs, the contestants who are able to sit on one of the chairs advance to the next round. The one contestant left standing in each heat is eliminated. At the end of the fourth round, the final contestant left advances.
Danger Word: For this game, two teams of two people each compete. One member of each team stands by DeGeneres and acts as a clue-giver; the other member of the team sits behind three cannons. For each round, there is a "winning word" and a related "danger word" (e.g., winning word "lettuce", danger word "salad"). The two teams then alternate giving clues, similar to the game Password. If a guesser gives the winning word, the opposing team gets a strike — and the opposing guesser gets sprayed with something from one of the cannons. If a guesser says the danger word, their team is given a strike, and the guesser is sprayed. The first team to get three strikes is eliminated, and the winning team chooses one contestant to play "Know or Go."
Dizzy Dash: The game starts with DeGeneres reading aloud a trivia question to the contestants. Before contestants can answer, they are spun around in order to disorient them. To answer the question, the contestants must run to a nearby podium and grab the ball on top of it. The first contestant to answer three questions correctly gets to advance.
Don't Leave Me Hanging: In this game, three contestants are suspended in the air from harnesses. The contestants take turns coming up with answers that fit a given category, such as "States that end in 'A.'" A category ends when one contestant gives an incorrect answer, repeats a previous answer, or takes too long to respond — when that happens, the contestant gets a strike. A contestant who gets three strikes is eliminated and is then launched to the top of the studio.
In Your Face, Honey: This is a game played with couples. Two couples will compete against each other, one member from each couple attempts to throw a ball as close to the target as possible. Whichever couple accumulates the most points after two attempts decides who will advance to "Know or Go."
Make It Rain: For this game, two contestants answer trivia questions asked by DeGeneres for turns at pulling down one of several umbrellas. One of the umbrellas contains a cash prize of $10,000, in addition to a chance at playing "Know or Go." The rest of the umbrellas are filled with water.
Master Blaster: This game involves three contestants attached to bungee cords. The contestants then compete to solve a jigsaw-style puzzle. The losing contestants are "blasted" into the air and do not get to proceed to the next round.
One-Eyed Monster: In this game, one by one, contestants enter the monster. They must answer a question with either the numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. For each number the contestant is off, he or she must pull one of the monster's teeth (e.g., if the correct answer is 3, saying either 2 or 4 results in pulling one tooth). However, if the contestant gets the answer exactly right, he or she will not have to pull out any of the monster's teeth and is safe. Pulling the wrong tooth causes the monster's jaws to snap shut, eliminating the contestant.
Say Whaaaat?: This game involves two teams of four that compete against each other. One member of the team must relay a message to the other member who is wearing a set of headphones and, therefore, must use lip reading. The team that collects the most points wins and chooses one member to compete in the "Know or Go" round. If there is a tie, the teams must do it again.
Scary Go Round: Contestants in this game must try to move three large balls across a series of rotating platforms within three minutes. The second contestant can fire balls from a "ball blaster" to impede the first contestant's progress. The contestant who completes the task in the fastest time wins. If there is a tie, both players must do it again.
Tuba Toothpaste: Contestants are seated before a row of buttons shaped like valves on a tuba. DeGeneres then poses challenging trivia questions to each contestant. Contestants who give correct answers are safe. When contestants answer incorrectly, DeGeneres spins a wheel to determine how many valves (one, two, or three) the contestant must press. One of the valves causes the tuba to eject toothpaste at the contestant; when that happens, the losing player is eliminated and the other contestants advance.
You Bet Your Wife: In this game, two teams of spouses or fiancés compete against each other. One partner from each couple is suspended from the ceiling in a harness. The other two partners do an auction-style bid on how many answers their partners can give in a given category (e.g., "national brands of toothpaste") within the 30-second timeframe. When one of the partners on the ground issues a challenge, the other team's suspended partner must give the required number of responses; there is no penalty for incorrect answers. Giving the required number of responses earns that team one point, while the opposing team's suspended partner gets dropped. If the challenged team fails, they get dropped. The first team to earn three points wins and then chooses one member of the pair to play "Know or Go."

text: Hot Hands[edit]

text: The contestant has 30 seconds to identify the faces of ten celebrities that fit a certain category (e.g., "80s Stars"). After identifying a celebrity, the contestant must press a button to move on to the next face. Contestants may pass if they are unsure but will need to wait three seconds until the next face automatically appears. Contestants earn an escalating amount of money based on the number of faces they correctly identify, as shown in the table below. Correctly identifying ten celebrities earns the grand prize of $100,000.

text:
Correct answers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Money won

$100

$1,000

$2,500

$10,000

$20,000

$30,000

$40,000

$50,000

$75,000

$100,000

text: Reception[edit]

text: Ratings[edit]

text:
No.

Title

Air date
Rating/share(18–49)
Viewers(millions)
DVR(18–49)
DVR viewers(millions)
Total(18–49)
Total viewers(millions)

1

"Game of Games"

December 18, 2017
1.7/6
7.23[5]
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

2

"I'll Have What She's Playing"

January 2, 2018
2.2/8
8.84[6]
0.3
0.95
2.5
9.77[7]

3

"Say Hello to My Little Friends"

January 2, 2018
2.4/8
8.88[6]
0.3
1.00
2.7
9.87[7]

4

"Hasta la Vista, Honey!"

January 9, 2018
2.1/8
7.87[8]
0.3
0.87
2.4
8.76[9]

5

"Just Keep Spinning"

January 16, 2018
2.2/8
8.78[10]
0.2
0.89
2.4
9.67[11]

6

"You Can't Handle the Toothpaste"

January 23, 2018
1.8/7
7.57[12]
0.3
0.85
2.2
8.42[13]

7

"Ellen, We Have a Problem"

January 30, 2018
1.8/7
7.58[14]
0.2
0.80
2.0
8.37[15]

8

"I See Dizzy People"

February 6, 2018
1.9/7
7.70[16]
0.2
0.74
2.1
8.45[17]

text: International versions[edit]

text: In Germany, Sat.1 broadcasts a local version of the show hosted by Bülent Ceylan, which has broadcast since 14 September 2018.

text: In Australia, Network Ten has a local version of the show, hosted by Grant Denyer which began on 7 October 2018.[18]

text: In Spain, Antena 3 will air a local version, hosted by Silvia Abril in 2018.[19]

text: Legend:      Currently airing        No longer airing         Upcoming

text:
Country

Local title

Channel

Presenter

Premiere date

End date

 Germany

Game of Games (Sat1)

Sat.1

Bülent Ceylan

September 14, 2018

TBC

 Australia

Game of Games (Ten)

Network Ten

Grant Denyer

October 7, 2018

December 9, 2018

 Spain

Juego de juegos

Antena 3

Silvia Abril

2018

TBA