- The Erg of Bilma is a Sand Sea in the Fezzan area of the Sahara, which is located in modern Niger.
- It had to be crossed by Camel Caravans until recent times.
Description
- The Erg of Bilma covers an area of 176,000 square miles (455,000 square km). It lies below Libya, between the southern Sahara and the Sahel.
- The Kaouar Cliffs protect a chain of ten oases from the Sand dunes. They run north-south for 150 miles (241km), ending in the Bilma Oasis.
- The Bilma oasis is the last oasis before reaching the Sahel.
Garamantes
- The Garamantes were a Berber Tribe who lived in the Fezzan.
- They crossed the Erg on their Trans Sahara Trade Route between Carthage and the African countries of the Sahel.
- In 19 BCE Septimius Flaccus invaded the Garamantes.
- In 50 CE, Suetonius Paulinus again invaded the Garamantes during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, and this time they became a Roman Client Kingdom until the third century CE.
- Paulinus used a Roman Camel Corps to cross the Sahara.
The Erg of Bilma, Niger