In Berber languages, Fezzan (or ifezzan) means "rough rocks".[5]Fezzan could also be a derivation from the region's Greek name Phasania or Phazania, which may mean "the country of the pheasants".[6]
Geography
Wan Caza dunes in the Sahara Desert of Fezzan
Fezzan is crossed in the north by the ash-Shati Valley (Wadi Al Shatii) and in the west by the Wadi Irawan. These two areas, along with portions of the Tibesti Mountains crossing the Chadian border and a sprinkling of remote oases and border posts, are the only parts of the Fezzan able to support settled populations. The large dune seas known as ergs of the Idehan Ubari and the Idehan Murzuq cover much of the remaining land of Fezzan.
[7][8]
From the 5th century BCE to the 5th century CE, Fezzan was home to the Garamantes, who operated the Trans-Saharan trade routes successively between Carthage and the Roman Empire in North Africa and Sahelian states of west and central Africa.
Satellite image of Libya, with Fezzan on the lower left half, showing the large desert
With the end of the Roman Empire[10] and the following commercial crisis, Fezzan began to lose importance. The population was greatly reduced due to the desertification process of the Sahara during the early Middle Ages.
During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Fezzan became a part of the Kanem Empire, which extended as far as Zella, Libya.[11] Wars against the Kanem–Bornu Empire in the early sixteenth century led to the founding of the Awlad Muhammad dynasty, with Murzuk becoming the capital of Fezzan. Around 1565 it was ruled by Muhammad ibn al-Muntasir.
The Ottoman rulers of North Africa asserted their control over the region in the 17th century. In the reign of Abdulhamid II (1876–1909) Fezzan was used as a place of political exile for Young Turks because it was the most remote province from Istanbul.[12]
Beginning in 1911, Fezzan was occupied by Italy. However, Italy's control of the region was precarious until at least 1923, with the rise of Benito Mussolini. The Italians were resisted in their early attempts at conquest by tribal Arab adherents to the militant SanusiyaSufi religious order. The Tuareg clans of the region were only pacified by European expansion shortly before the Second World War, and some of them collaborated with the Italian Army in the North African Campaign.[13]Free French troops occupied Murzuk, a chief town of Fezzan, on 16 January 1943, and proceeded to administer Fezzan with a staff stationed in Sabha, forming the Military Territory of Fezzan-Ghadames.[14]
French administration was largely exercised through Fezzan notables of the family of Sayf Al Nasr. Disquieting to the tribes in western Fezzan was the administrative attachment of Ghat, and its surrounding area, to French-ruled Algeria.[14] However, when the French military control ceased in 1951, all of Fezzan became part of the Kingdom of Libya.[15]
There are oil wells in Fezzan capable of producing 400,000 barrels per day, but oil companies fly in staff from northern Libya. The local tribes are not getting any money from the oil trade, and so have turned to smuggling migrants from other parts of Africa, which is feeding the European migrant crisis and is a $1 billion per year industry.[18]
^The Arabic Amazigh dictionary / 3 volumes/ published by the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco. (Dictionnaire bilingue arabe-amazigh, tome 1 (1990), tome 2 (1996), tome 3 (1999), Publications de l'Académie marocaine.)
^ abBerry, LaVerle Bennette "Chapter 1 – Historical Setting -World War II and Independence – Allied Administration" Area Handbook for Libya (1987 edition) Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; available at: A Country Study: Libya, accessed 17 May 2009.
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