Can you name the countries the Sahara Desert is in? by funkytim

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Countries in the Sahara Quiz

by funkytim

Created Jan 21, 2010 in Geography
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	JeroAdmi:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 09:35 GMT	11 points
	Western Sahara isn't a country. It's occupied by Morocco.

	foyherald:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 09:49 GMT	3 points
	@JeroAdmi: Western Sahara has no representation at the UN and is not recognised by most member countries of the UN, however Morocco only occupies certain areas of the disputed territories and UN relief agencies (amongst others) actively work in the region.

	BadReligion:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 10:06 GMT	8 points
	Well, Western Sahara isn't a country per Sporcle convention.

	foyherald:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 10:24 GMT	2 points
	@BadReligion: Sporcle convention seems to be that a country must be recognised by the UN, but if you read about Western Sahara the UN has been trying for years to come to a solution to what is happening in the part of North Africa. It has been noted that a lot of countries that have UN representation are not recognised by other member nations, Kosovo is a good example!

	funkytim:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 11:02 GMT	1 point
	Countries, territories and borders will always be a murky area. Western Sahara is a country in some definitions and not in others, and this will always be up for debate like so many areas. I count it as a country.

	1447:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 12:16 GMT	3 points
	In a quiz like this, it's fair to include Western Sahara, IMO. It's a large area, partly occupied by Morocco, and recognized by 28 countries. If this were a "Countries of the World" type of quiz, with hundreds of answers, it would have been too obscure, but in a quiz with 11 answers, I don't see the problem.

	bballeranders22:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 12:49 GMT	-4 points
	who cares if Western Sahara is a country or not i feel like its a given if you have one answer left you would try it..my problem is i must be living a lie because it lies between Nigeria and Sudan somehow alphabetically

	Triden7:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 14:23 GMT	2 points
	i think that all quizzes on Sporcle should follow the same guidelines with respect to accepted countries of the world as per the "Countries of the World" quiz. Western Sahara is not one of them.

	Kerouac_:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 14:51 GMT	5 points
	Kosovo isn't in the UN, but its still on sporcle.

	devourerofsouls:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 15:04 GMT	1 point
	In my opinion, Western Sahara is a country based on the de facto sovereignty over certain areas. However, if your source is going to be the CIA factbook, then I would suggest that only countries recognized in that source (and thus by the USA) be considered countries.

	WinnieNicklaus:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 16:00 GMT	2 points
	I'd have gotten Western Sahara if you accepted "SADR". If you're going to call Western Sahara a country, at least accept the name of the government that claims sovereignty over it: Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

	oxburger:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 18:55 GMT	0 points
	Sporcle precedence has shownm western sahara is not a country. Should be a bonus answer at best.

	mattbufford:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 19:44 GMT	0 points
	I'm sorry, but Western Sahara isn't recognized as a country. Just because the maker of this quiz decides to count it as one doesn't mean that anyone else does. I disagree with a lot of "sporcle conventions" on what we consider countries (ie. Kosovo and Taiwan), but Western Sahara is most definitely NOT an independent political entity.

	joebobs:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 20:14 GMT	0 points
	Right, these debates will always happen, that is why we have 'sporcle conventions'. This is based on the published Countries of the World quiz. It doesn't matter if we agree with them (personally, I think Palestine should be included), the idea is that it acts as a consensus so that we know what answers should be expected in a quiz. If you include answers that aren't part of the sporcle convention, you have to a) notify the players, e.g. in the instructions, put 'one of these countries is not a conventional sporcle country. b) keep it and accept that people will constantly vote down your quiz and it will never be published. c) remove it. Also, I'm sure the Sahara doesn't stop at national borders and it extends into Senegal, Burkina Faso, C.A.R, so on.

	jdisastupidhead:	Jan 21st, 2010 at 20:32 GMT	7 points
	Honestly. Does every single person need to tell him/her that WS is not a country? I think maybe one or two times will do. How about saying that it was a good quiz overall and a creative idea? (Which it is).

	funkytim:	Jan 22nd, 2010 at 08:41 GMT	3 points
	I've changed Western Sahara to a bonus answer, I didn't realise it would be so controversial. WinnieNicklaus, in that case, you need to answer instead with People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Republic of Chad, Arab Republic of Egypt...

	3knamix:	Feb 3rd, 2010 at 12:45 GMT	0 points
	how do you have chad and not burkina faso

	funkytim:	Feb 8th, 2010 at 14:43 GMT	4 points
	Because the Sahara is in Chad but not Burkina Faso

	jUNKIEd:	Apr 20th, 2010 at 00:35 GMT	1 point
	The borders of the Sahara seem fairly debatable. You could argue for the inclusion of Burkina Faso, Senegal, Cameroon maybe even Eritrea and Ethiopia.

	survivorfan2000:	Nov 23rd, 2011 at 16:59 GMT	1 point
	Eritrea and Ethiopia both touch the Sahara. If you look on a map you will see on the western part of ethiopia and Eritrea a sliver of land touches the Sahara. Recently a new country was added to the UN. It is called South Sudan it touches the Sahara.

	funkytim:	Nov 24th, 2011 at 14:01 GMT	1 point
	I think everyone agree's this quiz is crap. The last comment was 18 months ago.