- The Grand Erg Oriental is a Field of Sand Dunes (Erg) in the Sahara Desert, which is located in northeastern Algeria and western Tunisia.
- It reaches 370 miles (600km) across and 120 miles (200km) down. To the west lies the smaller Grand Erg Occidental.
Caravan Route
- The Erg was crossed by an ancient Caravan route which ran north-south between the Mediterranean and the Sahel African Kingdoms via the Erg and a series of oases fed by underground rivers.
- The route:
- Cirta (Constantine)
- Lambaesis
- A Roman Legionary Fort which guarded the Passes through the Aures Mountains.
- Its retired legionaries lived in adjacent Timgad.
- Touggourt
- An oasis that lies on the northern edge of the Erg. It has extensive oases fed by underground rivers where date palm forests grow.
- El Oued
- The road branched east to the oasis at El Oued and the port of Gabes (Tacapae).
- Ouargla (Wargla)
- An oasis in the Erg.
- Hassi Messaoud
- Another oasis in the Erg, 53 miles or 85km southeast of Ouargla, where a road branched east to the oases of:
- Borj El khadra
- Located in Tunisia on the eastern edge of the Erg, then on to the port of Gabes (Tacapae) also in Tunisia.
- Ghadames
- Erg of Bilma
- This sand sea lies in Niger and the caravans passed through a chain of ten oases running along the Kaouar cliffs. The last oasis before reaching the Sahel is the Bilma oasis.
- Sahel African Kingdoms
Grand Erg Oriental