Western Desert cultural bloc facts for kids

The Western Desert cultural bloc, often just called the Western Desert, is a large cultural area in Australia. It covers about 600,000 square kilometers. This huge area includes several deserts like the Gibson Desert, the Great Victoria Desert, the Great Sandy Desert, and the Little Sandy Desert.

You can find parts of the Western Desert in the Northern Territory, South Australia, and Western Australia. It stretches from the Nullarbor Plain in the south up to the Kimberley region in the north of Western Australia. From the Percival Lakes in the west, it reaches across to the Pintupi lands in the Northern Territory.

Experts like anthropologists (who study human societies) and linguists (who study languages) often use the term "Western Desert." They use it when talking about the many Aboriginal groups who live there. There are about 40 different groups, but they all speak different versions, or dialects, of one main language. This language is usually called the Western Desert language.

Images for kids

• 

  Map of Indigenous Australian cultural regions; the Western Desert cultural bloc is marked "Desert."

See also

In Spanish: Desierto del Oeste (Australia) para niños