it is the Sahara Desert, which covers an area of about 3.6 million square miles (9.4 million square kilometers) in North Africa. It is also the hottest desert on Earth, withHowever, if we are considering the largest hot and arid desert in the world, it is the Sahara Desert, which stretches over 3.6 million square miles (9.4 million square kilometers) across North Africa. It covers parts of 11 countries, including Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan, and Tunisia. The Sahara is also the world's third-largest desert after the polar deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic.