Libyan Desert Map

The Libyan Desert is a desert across Libya, Egypt and Sudan, covering about 1,100,000 km² (425,000 sq mi). This map shows its extent on shaded relief, with the surrounding mountains, rivers, borders and cities.

Libyan Desert Map
Libyan Desert MapPNG 2000×2872 (1.7 MB)Libyan Desert Map (PDF A4) (714 KB)

How to read this map

The Libyan Desert is about 1,100,000 km² (425,000 sq mi) in area. It extends across Libya, Egypt and Sudan. Its typical elevation is about 1,024 m (3,360 ft).

The dashed outline marks the Libyan Desert as mapped by Natural Earth. Towns and cities on the map include Cairo, Khartoum, Alexandria, Athens, Tel Aviv, Jeddah, Aleppo and İzmir. Labeled countries: Sudan, Libya, Chad, Egypt, Turkey, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Syria, Greece and Eritrea.

Greens show lower elevations; tan and brown show higher land, with pale tones toward the highest terrain. Shadows emphasize the slopes, and vertical relief is exaggerated so landforms are easier to read. Dashed lines show country borders.

The relief uses Terrain Tiles (SRTM, GMTED2010 and ETOPO1 elevation data). Rivers, lakes, borders and the outline of the Libyan Desert come from Natural Earth, and the figures on this page from Wikidata. Natural Earth draws features at a small scale, so the outline is a guide to where the Libyan Desert is, not a surveyed boundary.

Blank physical map

The blank version keeps the mapped features and removes the place labels. Download it for a geography worksheet or practice identifying the features.

Libyan Desert Map without names
Blank version of libyan desert map.PNG 2000×2872 (1.7 MB)Libyan Desert Map: blank (PDF A4) (690 KB)

Libyan Desert facts

FactValue
Area1,100,000 km² (425,000 sq mi)
CountriesLibya, Egypt and Sudan

Data sources and license

Map design and rendered images: Atlas of Maps, CC BY 4.0. Source databases retain their own licenses; the map license does not replace them.

Maps of the countries: Libya, Egypt, Sudan. Compare with the world mountain ranges map.

Frequently asked questions

How big is the Libyan Desert?

About 1,100,000 km² (425,000 sq mi).

Where is the Libyan Desert?

The Libyan Desert is in Libya, Egypt and Sudan.

Can I download a blank map of the Libyan Desert?

Yes. The blank version keeps the relief, rivers and borders and the highlighted desert but removes the place names. Both versions are free to download as PNG and as an A4 PDF.

Use this map

You can download, print and share this map for free, in class, in school projects, in presentations and on websites, as long as you credit the source: Libyan Desert Map · Atlas of Maps (atlasofmaps.com), license CC BY 4.0.

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