Cyrenaica

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Flag of Cyrenaica 1949 to 1951

The Kyrenaika (also Cyrenaika ; Arabic برقة, DMG Barqa ; Greek Κυρηναϊκή , pronunciation of ancient Greek Kyrenaïkḗ , modern Greek Kyrinaïkí ; Latin Cyrenaica ; ancient Greek alternative name Κυρηναία Kyrēnaía ) is a landscape in eastern Libya and one of the three historical great provinces of the country, next to Tripolitania in the northwest and Fezzan in the southwest. Its name comes from the ancient city ​​of Cyrene , the old Arabic-Turkish name of the region is Barqa after the ancient city of Barke .

geography

Cyrenaica is located in eastern Libya on the Mediterranean coast between the Syrte and the Egyptian border. The region is 857,000 km², according to other information 818,619 km², with a population of 1,622,480 (as of 2003).

The capital and political center is Benghazi , the second largest city in Libya. In the north, the landscape consists of a narrow coastal plain, behind which the ridge of Jabal al-Achdar ( Montagna Verde in Italian ) rises. The Libyan Desert extends to the south , the most important oases of which are al-Jaghbub and the Kufra oases .

Until 2007 ten of the 32 municipalities of Libya were located on the territory of the former Greater Province of Kyrenaica:

No. شعبية Shaʿbiyya
2003 residents
Area
km²
1 إجدابيا Ajdabiya 165.839 91,620
2 البطنان al-butnane 144,527 83,860
3 الحزام الاخضر al-Hizam al-Achdar 108,860 12,800
4th الجبل الاخضر al-Jabal al-Achdar 194.185 7,800
7th الكفرة al-Kufra 51,433 483.510
8th المرج el Merdj 116,318 10,000
11 القبة al-Quba 93,895 14,722
12 الواحات al-Wahat 29,257 108,670
14th بنغازي Benghazi 636.992 800
16 درنة The NA 81,174 4,908
برقه Cyrenaica 1,622,480 818.690

history

Antiquity and late antiquity

Cyrenean coin from the reign of Ophellas
Cyrenaica after Geographike hyphegesis of Ptolemy
Roman province of Creta et Cyrene

In ancient times the Cyrenaica was settled by Berber tribes , the Libyans , who attacked Egypt several times and in the 10th century BC. BC even achieved rulership over Egypt. Since the 7th century BC The Greeks founded several colonies on the coast from which important cities ( póleis ) developed.

The most important foundation was 631 BC. Chr. Cyrene by Greek colonists from the island of Thera , which they left because of overpopulation and famine. Their leader Aristotle took the Libyan name Battos . His dynasty, the Battiads , could last until 440 BC. Claim against the fierce resistance of neighboring peoples.

In Cyrene worked until about 355 BC. Chr., The Greek philosopher Aristippus of Cyrene , and later he founded philosophical school of Cyrenaics (see. Also Aristippus the Younger ).

After the area from 322 BC First by the Diadoch Ophellas and from 118 BC. Was ruled by a younger branch of the Ptolemies , it came in 96 BC. BC as Cyrenaica under the rule of Rome . In late antiquity, as part of the Diocletian reform of the empire, the province of Creta et Cyrene was divided up, making Cyrenaica its own province under the name Libya superior .

Muslim rule

643 Arab Muslims conquered the country as part of the Islamic expansion . Since then, the Cyrenaica has been controlled mostly from Egypt. Foreign rule and the incursion of the Banu Hilal in the 11th century led to the definitive decline of urban culture. So Cyrene was abandoned and Barka was the new center of the province.

Ottoman rule

This province came under the rule of the Ottomans with Egypt in 1517 .

In 1843, Muhammad as-Sanussi founded the religious state of the Sufi Sanusiya Brotherhood in Kyrenaica . The first religious establishment was established in al-Bayda in Jabal Achdar. The tightly organized order expanded strongly in the following years, 80 more religious houses emerged from the mother convent in al-Bayda, mainly in Cyrenaica, but also in other regions of Libya. After the Ottoman governor took action against the brotherhood in Libya, its center had to be relocated to the oasis of al-Jaghbub , 500 km south-east, in 1856 . In 1895 the order was driven further south from there to the Kufra oases .

Italian rule

In 1912, in addition to Tripolitania, the Ottomans also had to cede Cyrenaica to Italy . Italy condensed its North African conquests into the colony of Libia. In the Second World War , the Kyrenaica was the scene of varied battles from December 1940. There were particularly heavy fighting between the British and German-Italian troops of the Africa Corps under General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel around Tobruk . In December 1942, British troops finally occupied Cyrenaica.

Cyrenaica in independent Libya

In 1951, the Cyrenaica was opened in Libya, which had become independent.

On March 6, 2012, at a meeting of several thousand tribal leaders, militia commanders and politicians in Benghazi, the Cyrenaica declared itself semi-autonomous against the will of the Libyan central government. In doing so, they raised claims to parts of the Fezzan oil region and an extended part of the coast beyond the borders of the historical province . Only supraregional matters should continue to be regulated by the National Transitional Council . A new council was set up to regulate regional affairs and Ahmed al-Zubair was entrusted with its leadership . He was one of the longest political prisoners in Gaddafi's reign and became a member of the National Transitional Council after the regime was overthrown.

The Sheikhs of Cyrenaica (1843–1920)

Sanusiya Dynasty (1843-1920)

Emir of the Cyrenaica (1920–1929, 1946–1951)

Senussi dynasty (1920–1951)
  • 1920–1929 Emir Sayyid Muhammad Idris as-Sanussi , ousted in 1929, restored in 1946, in 1951 accepted the title “King of Libya”, overthrown in 1969

literature

present

  • Thomas Hüsken: Political Culture and the Revolution in Cyrenaica. In: Fritz Edlinger (Ed.): Libyen. Backgrounds, analyzes, reports. Promedia-Verlag, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-85371-330-3 , pp. 47-71.
  • Emrys L. Peters: The Bedouin of Cyrenaica. Studies in Personal and Corporate Power (= Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Vol. 72). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1990, ISBN 0-521-38561-X (new edition, ibid. 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-04046-4 ).

Overview of antiquity

Studies of antiquity

  • Shimon Applebaum: Jews and Greeks in Ancient Cyrenaica. Brill, Leiden 1979, (excerpts online) .
  • David WJ Gill: Euesperides: Cyrenaica and its Contacts with the Greek World. In: Kathryn Lomas (Ed.): Greek Identity in the Western Mediterranean. Brill, Leiden 2004, pp. 391-409.
  • Erwin M. Ruprechtsberger : The Kyrenaica as a Roman province. With a view to prehistory and the early Islamic period (= Linz Archaeological Research. Vol. 42). Nordico Stadtmuseum Linz, Linz 2012, ISBN 978-3-85484-441-9 .
  • John B. Ward-Perkins, Richard G. Goodchild: Christian Monuments of Cyrenaica. The Society for Libyan Studies, Hertford 2003, ISBN 1900971011 , pp. 114-124.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. area around Benghazi: Oil-rich region in eastern Libya declares autonomy , Spiegel Online, March 6, 2012
  2. ^ Libya to Gaddafi - tribal leaders proclaim a semi-autonomous republic in eastern Libya , süddeutsche.de, March 6, 2012