Sahara Sea

Mackenzie's idea was to cut a channel from one of the sand-barred lagoons north of Cape Juby, south to a large plain which Arab traders had identified to him as El Djouf.

He proposed that this inland sea, if augmented with a canal, could provide access to the Niger River and the markets and rich resources of West Africa.

But it covers less than 250 km² and is 500 km north of the geographical area identified as El Djouf (also known as the Majabat al-Koubra[5]) which has an average elevation of 320m.

Mackenzie never travelled in this area but had read of other sub-sea level desert basins in present-day Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt similar to those found near Cape Juby.

Roudaire and de Lesseps proposed that a channel be cut from the Gulf of Gabès in the Mediterranean to the Chott el Fejej[6] which would allow the sea to drain into these basins.

[7] The project was ultimately rejected by the French Government and funding was withdrawn when surveys revealed that many areas were not below sea level as had been believed.

[17] In 1905, engineers working on an irrigation canal in southern California accidentally released the waters of the Colorado River into a formerly dry basin, creating a large saline lake known as the Salton Sea.

A relief map of northwestern North Africa
A relief map of Egypt, with the Qattara Depression shown in blue
Map of Tunisia illustrating the area of Rourdaire's proposed Sahara Sea
Map of the Qattara Depression illustrating the proposed routes of canals or tunnels linking it to the Mediterranean