5. Atacama Desert (Chile), the driest desert

The Atacama Desert is on a virtually rainless plateau in South America, covering a 1,000-kilometer strip of land on the Pacific coast of South America west of the Andes Mountains. According to the "Guinness Book of World Records", the Atacama Desert is the driest in the world. A 400-year drought recorded here lasted from the late 16th century to 1971.