Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica (in Arabic برقة or Barqa) is a historical region located on the northeast coast of the which is now Libya (Africa). It is a plateau about 130 km wide, located about 20 km inland, which slopes down towards the sea through a series of terraces. The Mediterranean climate, the regular rains, the numerous oases and the fertility of its soil made it a historically outstanding region of North Africa.

Cyrenaica was the birthplace of the 2011 Libyan War, and remained under the control of the National Transitional Council for most of the war; The capital of the Transitional Council was in Benghazi throughout the fighting. Several tribal leaders and commanders of the rebel militias that control eastern Libya have declared autonomy for Cyrenaica, thus making it independent from direct control of Libya. the capital Tripoli.

History

Greek Colonization

In the seventh century B.C. It was settled by Dorian colonists from the Greek island of Thera (present-day Santorini). The head of the colonists was a man named Aristaeus, who took the name Bato (probably a Libyan title, although in Greek means stammerer), who founded the city of Cyrene around 630 B.C. c.

Bato founded a kingdom in Cyrenaica and a dynasty, the Batiads. Over the next two hundred years the Greeks founded four other major colonies:

• Boat (Merj)
• Evespérides (called later Berenice, and currently Bengasi)
• Tauquira (after Arsinoe, currently Tocra)
• Apolonia, the port of Cirene (now Marsa Susa).

Along with Cyrene, these five cities were known as Pentapolis. The fertile coastal plain where they are located is named after the most prosperous of these cities, Cyrene. The following centuries were times of political struggles against the monarchy. After the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses II (son of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia) in the year 525 B.C. C., the kings of Cyrene became tributaries of Egypt. When Egypt became independent from the Persians, in the year 450 B.C. C. approximately, the monarchy was overthrown and Cyrenaica became a republic.

Cirenaica cities around 400 BC.

Later, in 331 B.C. C., Cyrene was conquered by Alexander the Great, and later it was incorporated into Ptolemaic Egypt. During this time, the economy experienced a progressive decline. Ptolemy VIII bequeathed Cyrenaica to his son, his native Ptolemy Apion who, at his death in 96 BC. C. leaves the kingdom in inheritance to Rome.

Roman times

The Roman province of Cirenaica (s. IV to I a. C.)

In 74 B.C. C., Cyrenaica became a Roman province, which also included Crete, called Creta et Cyrenaica. With the partition of the Roman Empire in 395, Cyrenaica was assigned to the Eastern Empire. It remained in the hands of the Byzantines until the Arabs invaded it in 641. For ten centuries it was under the rule of different Arab and Berber dynasties.

Modern stage

In the early 18th century, it became a possession of the Ottoman Empire, known as Benghazi.

German Tanks Panzer III circulating in the Libyan desert in 1941.

In September 1911, after the Italian-Turkish War broke out between Italy and the Ottoman Empire, Cyrenaica was occupied by the Italians. At the end of the war, in October 1912, Turkey ceded Cyrenaica and Tripoli (renamed Tripolitania) to Italy. In 1934, Italy united both territories in the Italian colony of Libya. During the North African Campaign of World War II heavy fighting took place between the Allies against the Italian army and the German Afrika Korps. In late 1942, the armed forces of the British Empire gained the upper hand and took control of all of Libya until 1951, when the country declared itself independent as the Kingdom of Libya.

Cyrenaica was the place of origin of the popular rebellion that would give rise to the Libyan War of 2011, and it remained under the control of the National Transitional Council during most of the time that the conflict lasted; The capital of the Transitional Council was in Benghazi throughout the fighting. In early 2012, after the victory of the Libyan rebels, various tribal leaders and rebel militia commanders declared autonomy for Cyrenaica after a regional congress, thus becoming independent from the direct control of the capital Tripoli.

Political-administrative organization

The territory corresponding to Cyrenaica was divided into 7 shabiyat, or districts, according to the organization of Libya in 22 shabiyat of 2006. (But since 2012 the division into shabiyat has been replaced by the organization of the territory into baladiyah or municipalities).

Libyan Administrative Division.