Al-Hasa oasis, also known as Al-Ahsa oasis, inSaudi Arabia is the largest oasis in the world
Ingeography, anoasis is an isolated place in thedesert where there isvegetation. Most often, this occurs around a source ofwater. Oases provide ahabitat foranimals and are a source of water in the desert.
The knowledge of the location of oases has been important fortrade and transportation routes in desert areas.Caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water and food can be refilled. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases ofAwjila,Ghadames andKufra, in modern-dayLibya, have at various times been vital to both North-South and East-Westtrade in the Sahara Desert.
The wordoasis came into English viaGreek ὄασις , which was borrowed fromEgyptianwḥ3t orDemoticwḥỉ.[1] It was not borrowed fromCopticouaḥe (*/waħe/), as is sometimes suggested; the Greek word is attested several centuries before Coptic existed as a written language.
