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31-513: Oral history of the Aïr describes the foundation of the sultanate around 1405 by local Tuareg tribes that seek an inter-tribal organisation for mediation between different clans and to settle disputes. For this, the first Sultan, Yunǝs, is chosen for being the son of a distant Tuareg from Targa (Libya) and a local taklit or female slave, which made him politically neutral between the factions ( Iṣandalăn , Itesăn , Ilisăwăn and Ibǝrkorăyăn ) involved in

62-695: A derivation from the region's Greek name Phasania or Phazania , which may mean "the country of the pheasants ". 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

93-608: A district or quarter in the city where idǝrfan ( freedmen ) resided, although the tribes only visited occasionally since they retained their nomadic lifestyle. Originally, the seat of the Sultanate was Tadaliza , and then Tin Chaman, which are now archaeological sites in the Air Mountains . Sultan Ilisawan (1430-1449) settled in Agadez and built a palace there, proclaiming it as the capital of

124-650: A mediator between the French administration and the people. Source This Berber -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Niger location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Fezzan Fezzan ( UK : / f ɛ ˈ z ɑː n / fez- AHN , US : / f ɛ ˈ z æ n , f ə ˈ z æ n / fez- AN , fə- ZAN ; Berber languages : ⴼⵣⵣⴰⵏ , romanized:  Fezzan ; Arabic : ‏ فَزَّان ‎ , romanized :  Fazzān [fazˈzaːn] ; Latin : Phazania )

155-543: A rebel stronghold, an island of rebel control in the mainly Gaddafi-controlled western part of the country. During the early stages, forces allied to the national transitional government succeeded in evacuating most non-combatants into Tunisia; the Wazzin border crossing was captured and held to ensure supply lines from Tunisia; all the mountain towns were retaken; and the front extended to the plains, cutting regime communications lines and allowing electricity to be restored. They were

186-551: A strong (if clandestine) faith among the Berbers of the Nafusa mountains for centuries after, down to the modern day. The lingering heterodoxy of the Nafusa people has placed them frequently at odds, or under suspicion, by the largely orthodox Sunni population of the rest of Libya. This distinct culture, suppressed and oppressed by the Libyan regime, has risen to new prominence in the course of

217-619: Is a mountain range in the western Tripolitania region of northwestern Libya . It also includes the regions around the escarpment formed where the northern end of the Tripolitanian Plateau meets the Mediterranean coastal plain or the Jefara . The area was a major population and cultural center of the Libu , who repeatedly expanded west. In the aftermath of the great Berber Revolt of

248-463: Is almost unpopulated, in marked contrast to the situation in Libya. The mountain area is rarely more than 25 km (16 mi) in depth, from its southern boundary, the flat arid plateau some 650 m (2,100 ft) above sea level, to its northern limit on the plain, where the land falls to below 150 m (490 ft). Much of the 500 m (2,000 ft) drop in level is accomplished abruptly, at

279-536: Is the southwestern region of modern Libya . It is largely desert , but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys ( wadis ) in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise inhospitable Sahara Desert . The term originally applied to the land beyond the coastal strip of Africa proconsularis , including the Nafusa and extending west of modern Libya over Ouargla and Illizi . As these Berber areas came to be associated with

310-604: The Abbasid Arab governor of Egypt invaded Ifriqya, defeated the Nafusa in a battle at Tawergha in 761 (his third attempt - his first two armies had been repulsed) and put an end to their putative new state. However, the Nafusa mountains themselves remained unconquered. Throughout the 9th century, while the Aghlabids ruled in Ifriqiya, the Ibadi maintained an independent puritan republic in

341-790: The Idehan Ubari and the Idehan Murzuq cover much of the remaining land of Fezzan. 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. The Roman generals Septimus Flaccus in 19 BCE and Suetonius Paulinus in 50 CE led small-scale military expeditions into

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372-624: The Libyan Civil War (2011) , when their initiatives led to the Nafusa Mountains becoming a major front in that war. The terrain and topography of the region are critical strategic factors, constraining mechanised advances from the flat plain and plateau, and favouring guerrilla tactics based on close local knowledge and the advantage of high ground. By the end of June 2011 the Nafusi people had almost succeeded in liberating themselves completely from

403-520: The Military Territory of Fezzan-Ghadames . 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 . However, when the French military control ceased in 1951, all of Fezzan became part of the Kingdom of Libya . Fezzan

434-577: The 13th and 14th centuries, the Fezzan became a part of the Kanem Empire , which extended as far as Zella, Libya . 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

465-490: The 8th century, Ibadi missionaries that had fled from the Umayyad Caliphate took refuge in the Nafusa Mountains. Preachers converted and organized the native Nafusa people into a fighting force. Under the leadership of Imam Abu al-Khattab al-Ma'afari, the Nafusa descended from the mountains and proceeded to conquer all of the crumbling Fihrid emirate of Ifriqiya - capturing Tripoli in 757 and Kairouan in 758. But

496-666: The Nafusa mountains. The Imamate of Nafusa was in close alliance with the other Ibadi remnant, the Rustamid dynasty in Tiaret , both constant thorns on either side of the Aghlabids, in communication with each other across the back highlands of North Africa. In 879, the Tulunids of Egypt invaded Aghlabid Ifriqya and captured Tripoli. But the Nafusa challenged and destroyed the Egyptian army in 880. Again

527-466: The Nafusa victory was short-lived. In 896-97, the Aghlabid emir Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya recovered Tripolitana and defeated the Nafusa in a great battle at Manu (south of Gabès ). In the aftermath, citing them as heretics, Ibrahim II executed all the Nafusa prisoners and put an end to their independent imamate (Tahert fell shortly after, in 911). Despite the destruction of their states, Ibadi Islam remained

558-547: The Sultanate in 1430. In the 18th century, Tuareg confederacies from the north migrated south into the Air region, which led to unrest between the existing Tuareg confederacies in the Air region. By the end of the century, the Kel Geres were pushed south after being outnumbered by the Kel Owey . German explorer Heinrich Barth visited Agadez in 1850 and described it as a ghost town, which

589-554: The control of the regime. The Nafusa Mountains form the boundary between the Libyan coastal plain, known as the Jafara, to the north, and the Tripolitanian Plateau to the south. The beds (strata) of the Tripolitanian Plateau slope downwards to the south and tilt upwards towards the north creating the highest portion of the plateau as the Nafusa mountains which rise to over 750 m (2,500 ft). The plateau ends abruptly on

620-477: The escarpment, where local topographic prominences may be up to 350 m (1,100 ft). It is from below, on the plain, viewing the steep slopes and sharply-etched skyline that the area appears mountainous; from the plateau the land appears merely hilly, and in fact it is rather flat apart from the effects of differential erosion. Towns in the mountains include Gharyan , Yafran , Zintan , Qotros , Jadu , Kabaw , Al-Qawalish and Nalut , which have all been

651-529: The first rebel combatants to be supplied with arms by air-drop. In the course of the civil war, many towns in the area were subjected to shelling by artillery and rockets from both sides, with much damage to infrastructure. Regime forces cut off electricity and water supplies. Médecins Sans Frontières sent a team in Zintan to help the large number of wounded. Al Galaa was without electricity and water for seven weeks, and more than 45,000 refugees fled for safety to

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682-428: The founding. From then on, every Sultan had to be married to a taklit , as to prevent tribal rivalries. Yunǝs' successor and tegăze (nephew by his sister) Ălxăsăn transferred the seat of the Sultanate to the then recently (1413) founded Agadez , inhabited by Kel Gubǝr , Ibǝrkorăyăn and Igdalăn Tuareg, as well as Katsināwa Hausa merchants, who established the first indigo dyeing facilities. Every tribe had

713-633: The militant Sanusiya Sufi 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 . 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

744-568: The north with an escarpment which has up to 350 m (1,100 ft) of topographic prominence. A series of deep valleys which drain north toward the Jefara cut into this escarpment. It extends about 250 km (160 mi) within Libya, from just east of the city of Gharyan (about 60 km (40 mi) south of Tripoli) in the east to the city of Wazzin at the Tunisian border in the west. Spurs and isolated upthrusts continue into Tunisia, but this region

775-599: The northern reaches of the Sahara , and the Roman explorer Julius Maternus traveled there in early 1st century CE. Paulinus reached Fezzan and went further south. With the end of the Roman Empire 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

806-461: 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. [REDACTED] Media related to Fezzan at Wikimedia Commons 26°19′58″N 13°25′31″E  /  26.3328°N 13.4253°E  / 26.3328; 13.4253 Nafusa The Nafusa Mountains ( Arabic : جبال نفوسة )

837-453: 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 . 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

868-486: The regions of Tripoli , Cirta or Algiers , the name was increasingly applied to the arid areas south of Tripolitania . After the 1934 formation of Libya, the Fezzan province was designated as one of the three primary provinces of the country , alongside Tripolitania province to the north and Cyrenaica province to the northeast. In Berber languages , Fezzan (or ifezzan ) means "rough rocks". Fezzan could also be

899-460: The sites of military action during the 2011 civil war. Since 2007, the mountains stretch across two districts: Jabal al Gharbi District and Nalut District . The mountain villages raise primarily goats, olives and grain, but also have fig and apricot orchards. The Nafusa Mountains became first a hotbed for anti-Gaddafi protests (with protests breaking out relatively early in Nalut and Zintan) and then

930-714: Was a stronghold for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi through much of the 2011 Libyan Civil War , though starting in July, anti-Gaddafi forces began to gain ground , taking control of the region's largest city of Sabha in mid-to-late September. The LF country code (.lf) was reserved "on behalf" of Libya Fezzan (for an "indeterminate period of time") by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). 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

961-530: Was confirmed by French explorer Amédée-François Lamy at the time of his expedition. The Sultanate fell under French administration in 1906. At the time of the Kaocen Revolt , Sultan Tegama awaited the arrival of Kaocen , and after he was defeated by the French, the Sultan and many other conspirators fled the region. In 1917, the Sultan who had preceded Sultan Tegama was recalled by the French to Agadez to act as

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