In western Africa, just south of the Sahara Desert, lies the landlocked nation of Burkina Faso. The nation experienced a 200 percent increase in urban population between 1975 and 2000. Much of that growth occurred in the capital city of Ouagadougou: Between 1960 and 1993, Ouagadougou experienced a 14-fold increase in area.
Although it is only the tenth largest country in Africa, Ethiopia is the second most populous country on the continent. Nearly a third of the country’s urban population lives in Adis Abeba (more commonly known as Addis Ababa).
Though governed by separate countries, the cities of El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, merge into an apparently seamless metropolis in this satellite image, but vegetation is confined mostly to the United States' side of the border.
In the arid stretches of southern Algeria lies the Ouargla Oasis. The imagery shows both urbanization near the oasis, and an assortment of irrigated fields in the region.