Horse latitudes are regions noted for their lack of winds. They lie at about 30° north and 30° south latitude, between the belts of the trade winds and the prevailing westerlies. Sailors were the first to call these regions the horse latitudes, perhaps because many horses died on sailing ships delayed there by the lack of wind. In the horse latitudes, the air tends to sink toward the earth’s surface, and rainfall is light. Most of the world’s major deserts, including the Australian Desert and the Sahara in northern Africa, lie at the horse latitudes.
