Mitzda

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Georeferencing Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap
Arabic مزدة
Mitzda
Mizda (Libya)
Mitzda
Mitzda
Coordinates 31 ° 27 ′  N , 12 ° 59 ′  E Coordinates: 31 ° 27 ′  N , 12 ° 59 ′  E
Basic data
Country Libya

Shaʿbiyya

al-Jabal al-Gharbi
ISO 3166-2 LY-JG
height 454 m
Residents 24,363 (2003)

Mizda (more rarely Mizdah , Arabic مزدة Mizda ) is an oasis town in the Gebel el Garbi district in Libya . The city is 454 m above sea level and is around 150 km south of the state capital Tripoli .

location

Mizda lies in the plain of the Upper Sofeggin, a semi-desert, which is characterized by gravel and scree fields ( Hammada ). The wide, sandy basin of the Wadi Sofeggin that runs here is the most important and largest dry valley in Tripolitania and, with its many tributaries, forms an unmanageable river system. It extends from the city of az-Zintan in the highlands of the Jabal Nafusa down to the south. This is where a mighty, steep step, partly criss-crossed by wide dry valleys, begins, which ultimately slopes down to Fessan . At this level, the Wadi Sofeggin runs in a crescent-shaped arc along the south and south-east sides of the Nafusa mountain range to the level near the coast and to Misrata .

vegetation

The vegetation of the Upper Sofeggin includes bushes and desert shrubs, the occurrence of which is concentrated in the floodplains of the wadis. Some trees, mainly acacia and tamarisk , survived deforestation by charcoal burners in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The dry valleys lead the rainwater, which sometimes comes from the Nafusa Mountains, to the south of the mountainous region and enable the formation of oases there.

history

Roman Empire and Late Antiquity (3rd century to 533)

In Roman times there was presumably a border fort of the Tripolitan Limes here . Clear finds are dated to this time. An important Roman border road led from az-Zintan down to Mizda at least since the 3rd century AD. Several Roman milestones were found along this road, which were erected during the reign of Emperor Caracalla (211-217). At this time or a little later, small castle-like fortresses were built along this road. They were supposed to prevent barbarian incursions (viam incursionibus Barbarorum) . South of Mizda, the road extended into Fessan and the Sahara. Even then, the oasis was an important center of north-south trade.

During late antiquity and beyond, a Christian community was formed around Mizda. Near Mizda in Chafagi Aamer , the remains of a church have been archaeologically examined. Together with the church of Souk el Oti (el Awty), which was already known but was only excavated in 1989, these two churches are the only known so far in the Libyan semi-desert. They are exemplary of the typical Tripolitan church construction during the pre-Byzantine era, which ended with the reconquest of Tripolitania from 533 AD.

Ottoman period (1551 to 1912)

After Libya was conquered by the Ottomans in 1551, the new rulers built a fortress on a hill immediately west of the old town. The house of the German Africa explorer Heinrich Barth (1821–1865), who stopped here on his way south with an Anglo-German expedition and described ancient building remains in the area, has been preserved to this day. Another member of this expedition was Adolf Overweg (1822–1852). On April 7, 1850, the researchers arrived at the small oasis with a few hundred inhabitants. The oasis, still an important caravan center , consisted of two districts and was surrounded by around 200 date palms and some barley and wheat fields . Both districts were separated from each other like a fortress. They were surrounded by a double wall with several towers and loopholes. Before the Turkish era, the two places are said to have fought continually. The researchers also reported on the Ottoman fortress occupied by 400 men. Their purpose was to monitor the residents of the area. There were three cannons in their only bastion .

Italian occupation (1913 to 1943)

After the Turks were driven out (1911–1912), the Italian winners settled in Tripolitania. The occupation of Mizda took place in July 1913. A fort was then built further south of the old town. After the Second World War , archaeologists were able to discover some Roman spoils in the masonry of this garrison, two of which also bore damaged inscriptions.

The Ottoman Empire did not accept the loss of Tripolitania. It therefore promoted the rebellious Sufi - Islamic Senussi brotherhoods, which had previously acted against the influence of Constantinople . An alliance was formed which subsequently succeeded in overcoming the Italian armed forces bound in Europe during the First World War and conquering almost all of Libyan territory. Mitzda also fell temporarily under the new Islamic alliance. However, the Italians managed to retake the oasis town in February 1924. As an important garrison base on the edge of the Sahara , Mizda was to receive a railway line after the establishment of the fascist colony of Italian Libya (1934-1943), which was planned to start in Tripoli. This project never went beyond the planning phase.

On January 20, 1943, the Italian garrison of Mizda was defeated during the Africa campaign (1940-1943) after heavy fighting by motorized units of the Forces françaises libres under Lieutenant Colonel Louis Dio (1908-1994). The Italians were supposed to stop the Allied forces in order to prevent their advance towards Jebel Nafusa . The following day the Allies marched into the place. Large amounts of enemy material could be captured.

present

Between 2001 and 2007 Mizda was the capital of the subsequently dissolved Mizda Municipality . Today this administrative unit is the core part of the newly founded al-Jabal al-Gharbi municipality. Many Awlad Busayf tribesmen live in Mitzda . After the Libyan civil war in 2011 , displaced Mashashiya tribesmen , whose houses were destroyed because they were accused of loyalty to the dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi, who was overthrown in 2011 , also found refuge here. The city was therefore attacked by militias from Sintan in 2012 and 2013, which resulted in a total of 120 deaths. In March 2012, ammunition experts from Human Rights Watch found two different types of cluster munitions, banned by many countries, in working order in different locations in Mitzda . This came from the ammunition bunkers of the army barracks in Mizda, which is located west of the city. The ammunition was during the NATO - air strikes on Libya in 2011 came from the barracks.

Mizda has a gas station and several restaurants.

Population development

Around 1933, around 1000 people lived in the oasis village of Mizda. Between the 1963 and 1973 censuses, the population rose from 6,213 to 11,472. During the 1984 census, there were 11,510 residents in Mitzda. By 2003 their number had increased to 24,363 residents.

Personalities

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hans Weis: The Sahara barrier as a corridor. Your transport routes through the ages. In: Heinrich Schiffers u. a .: The Sahara and its peripheral areas. Representation of a large natural area . Volume 2 (=  Human Geography Africa Studies. 61). Weltforum, Munich 1972, pp. 409–443; here: p. 418.
  2. ↑ Olwen Hackett , David Smith : Ghirza. A Libyan settlement in the Roman period. Department of Antiquities, Tripoli 1984, p. 33.
  3. ^ David Mattingly : Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 12.
  4. ↑ Florian Schimmer: New evidence for a Roman fort and 'vicus' at Mizda (Tripolitania). In: Libyan Studies. 43, 2012, pp. 33-39.
  5. ↑ Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: IRT 957 (with photo) , accessed on February 11, 2015.
  6. ↑ Michael Mackensen : Gasr Wames, a burgus-like small fortress of the middle 3rd century on the Tripolitan limes Tentheitanus (Libya) . In: Germania 87, 2009 (2011), pp. 75-104, here: p. 97.
  7. ↑ AE 1991, 1621 .
  8. ^ David Mattingly : Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 207.
  9. ↑ Ottoman fortress at 31 ° 26 '38.17 "  N , 12 ° 58' 37.51"  O .
  10. ↑ a b Carl Ritter : About Dr. H. Barth and Dr. Overweg accompaniment of J. Richardson's travel expedition to Lake Chad and inner Africa . In: Monthly reports on the negotiations of the Society for Geography in Berlin . Volume 8, The whole series, 12th year, 1851, pp. 81–132. Pp. 107-108.
  11. ^ John Wright: A History of Libya . Hurst & Co., London 2012, ISBN 978-1-84904-227-7 , p. 116.
  12. ↑ Italian Fort at 31 ° 26 '27.35 "  N , 12 ° 58' 48.67"  O ; historical center at 31 ° 26 '41.66 "  N , 12 ° 58' 48.68"  O .
  13. ↑ Florian Schimmer: New evidence for a Roman fort and 'vicus' at Mizda (Tripolitania) . In: Libyan Studies 43, 2012, pp. 33–39, here: p. 34.
  14. ↑ Angelo Del Boca: Mohamed Fekini and the Fight to Free Libya . (= Italian and Italian American Studies ), Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-230-10886-8 , p. 120.
  15. ↑ Nafusa Mountains at 31 ° 51 '53.64 "  N , 11 ° 47' 35.88"  O .
  16. ^ Charles de Gaulle : War Memoirs. Unity 1942-1944 . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1959, p. 129.
  17. ↑ David Blink: Glossary of Libyan Tribes , Qadhafi's Tribal Woes ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.davidblink.com
  18. ^ Barred from their homes. ( Memento from February 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Report. Amnesty International, London 2013, pp. 6-7, wayback, accessed February 9, 2016.
  19. ↑ Action on Armed Violence, Handicap International, u. a. (Ed.): Cluster Munition Monitor 2012 . Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, 2012, ISBN 978-2-8399-1076-7 , p. 14.
  20. ↑ Edgar Fletcher Allen: Cook's Traveller's Handbook to North Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya . Simpkin, Marshall, London 1933, p. 299.
  21. ↑ Abdalla Misallati, Wilford A. Bladen, PP Karan: Urban Systems and Urban Regions in Libya. In: Ram Nandan Prasad Sinha (Ed.): Environment and human response. Selected Essays in Geography . Concept Publishing, New Delhi 1990, ISBN 81-7022-243-5 , p. 63.
  22. ↑ City Population: The districts of Libya and all cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants
  23. ↑ Calendario atlante 2015 de Agostini . De Agostini Libri, Novara 2014, p. 692.
  24. ↑ Aida Bamia : al-Faqih (Fagih), Ahmad Ibrahim. In: Simon Gikandi (Ed.): Encyclopedia of African Literature . Routledge, New York 2005, ISBN 0-203-36126-1 , pp. 256-257.