Awjila (
Berber: ''Awilan'', ''Awjila'', ''Awgila''; ar, أوجلة; Latin: ''Augila'') is an
oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
town in the
Al Wahat District
Al Wahat or The Oases ( ar, الواحات ', en, The Oases), occasionally spelt ''Al Wahad'' or ''Al Wahah'' ( en, The Oasis) is one of the districts of Libya.''Statesman's Yearbook 2006'' Its capital and largest city is Ajdabiya. The district i ...
in the
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...
region of northeastern
Libya. Since
classical times
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
it has been known as a place where high quality
dates are farmed. From the
Arab conquest
The spread of Islam spans about 1,400 years. Muslim conquests following Muhammad's death led to the creation of the caliphates, occupying a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territories ...
in the 7th century,
Islam has played an important role in the community. The oasis is located on the east-west
caravan route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a sin ...
between
Egypt and
Tripoli, Libya, and on the north-south route between
Benghazi
Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη ('' Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghaz ...
and the
Sahel between
Lake Chad and
Darfur
Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju ...
, and in the past was an important trading center. It is the place after which the
Awjila language
Awjila (also ''Aujila'', ''Augila'', ''Aoudjila'', ''Awgila'', ''Awdjila''; own name: Jlan n Awilen; in other Berber varieties Tawjilit) is a severely endangered (considered "moribund" by ''Ethnologue'') Eastern Berber language spoken in Cyrenai ...
, an Eastern
Berber language
The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight,, ber, label=Tuareg Tifinagh, ⵜⵎⵣⵗⵜ, ) are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related languages spoken by Berber commu ...
, is named. The people cultivate small gardens using water from deep
wells. Recently, the
oil industry has become an increasingly important source of employment.
Location
Awjila and the adjoining oasis of
Jalu
Jalu, Jallow, or Gialo ( ar, جالو) is a town in the Al Wahat District in northeastern Libya in the Jalo oasis. An oasis, a city, and it is the main center of the oasis region in eastern Libya. It is located at the confluence of longitude a ...
are isolated, the only towns on the desert highway between
Ajdabiya
Ajdabiya ( ; ar, أجدابيا, Aǧdābiyā) is a town in and capital of the Al Wahat District in northeastern Libya. It is some south of Benghazi. From 2001 to 2007 it was part of and capital of the Ajdabiya District. The town is divided into ...
, to the northwest, and
Kufra, to the southeast.
An 1872 account describes the cluster of three oases: the Aujilah oasis, Jalloo (
Jalu
Jalu, Jallow, or Gialo ( ar, جالو) is a town in the Al Wahat District in northeastern Libya in the Jalo oasis. An oasis, a city, and it is the main center of the oasis region in eastern Libya. It is located at the confluence of longitude a ...
) to the east and Leshkerreh (
Jikharra
Jikharra (إجخرة ''Ijkharrah'') is a desert oasis town formerly in the Al Wahat District, Cyrenaica region, in north-eastern Libya. Prior to 2007, it was in the Ajdabiya District
Ajdabiya ( ar, إجدابيا) was one of the districts of Lib ...
) to the northeast. Each oasis had a small hill covered in date palm trees, surrounded by a plain of red sand impregnated with salts of soda.
Between them these oases had a population of 9,000 to 10,000 people.
The people of the oasis are mainly
Berber, and some still speak a Berber-origin language.
As of 2005 the
Awjila language
Awjila (also ''Aujila'', ''Augila'', ''Aoudjila'', ''Awgila'', ''Awdjila''; own name: Jlan n Awilen; in other Berber varieties Tawjilit) is a severely endangered (considered "moribund" by ''Ethnologue'') Eastern Berber language spoken in Cyrenai ...
was highly endangered.
Climate
History
Classical times
The Awjila (Augila) oasis is mentioned by
Herodotus (c. 484 – 425 BC).
He describes the nomadic
Nasamones who migrated between the coasts of
Syrtis Major and the Augila oasis, where they may have exacted tribute from the local people.
Herodotus says it was a journey of ten days from the oasis of Ammonium, modern
Siwa, to the oasis of Augila.
This distance was confirmed by the German explorer
Friedrich Hornemann
Friedrich Conrad Hornemann (15 September 1772 – 1801) was a German explorer in Africa.
Hornemann was born in Hildesheim, a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, located about 30 km southeast of Hannover. He was a young man when, early in 1796, ...
(1772–1801), who covered the distance in nine days, although caravans normally take 13 days.
In the summer the Nasamones left their flocks by the coast and travelled to the oasis to gather dates.
There were other permanent inhabitants of the oasis.
Ptolemy (c. 90 – 168) implies that the Greek colonists had forced the Nasamones to leave the coast and take up residence in Augila.
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gener ...
, writing around 562, says that even in his day sacrifices continued to be made to
Ammon
Ammon (Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in p ...
and to
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
of Macedon in two Libyan cities that were both called Augila. He was probably referring to what are now
El Agheila on the Gulf of Sirte and the oasis of Awjilah.
According to Procopius the temples of the oasis were converted into Christian churches by the Byzantine Emperor
Justinian I (c. 482 – 565).
The 6th-century geographer
Stephanus of Byzantium described Augila as a city.
Early Arab era
The Arabs launched a campaign against the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
soon after the Prophet
Muhammad died in 632, quickly conquering Syria, Persia and Egypt. After occupying
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
in 643, they swept along the Mediterranean coast of Africa, taking
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...
in 644,
Tripolitania in 646 and
Fezzan in 663.
The region around Awjila was conquered by Sidi
‘Abdullāh ibn Sa‘ad ibn Abī as-Sarḥ.
He was the Prophet's companion and standard bearer, and an important saint. His tomb was established in Awjila around 650.
A modern structure has since replaced the original tomb.
The Sarahna family, who consider themselves the family of Sidi Abdullah, are the protectors of his tomb.
When the
Senussi center was established in Awjila in 1872, the Sarahna assumed the role of Islamic teachers.
After being introduced in the 7th century, Islam has always been a major influence on the life of the oasis.
The Arab chronicler
Al-Bakri
Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...
says that there were already several mosques around the oasis by the 11th century.
According to oral tradition, in the 12th century a learned man from the coast of Tripolitania said that there were forty shrines in Awjila,
and forty saints hidden among the people of the oasis. By the late 1960s only sixteen shrines remained.
Some of the saints in the surviving tombs lived during the early years of Islam,
and the details of their life and even their family lineage have been forgotten.
Trading centre
In the 10th century Awjila was a stage on the trading route between the
Ibadi Berber capital of
Zuwayla
Zawila (also spelled Zuila, Zweila, Zwila, Zawilah, Zuwayla or Zuweila) is a village in southwestern Libya. During the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Fezzan region.
When Uqba ibn Nafi passed through the area in 46 A.H. (666/67 CE), there ...
in the Fezzan and the newly established
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyn ...
capital of Cairo in Egypt.
The east-west caravan route from Cairo to Tripoli, the Fezzan and Tunis went via
Jaghbub
Jaghbub ( ar, الجغبوب) is a remote desert village in the Al Jaghbub Oasis in the eastern Libyan Desert. It is actually closer to the Egyptian town of Siwa than to any Libyan town of note. The oasis is located in Butnan District and was t ...
,
Jalu
Jalu, Jallow, or Gialo ( ar, جالو) is a town in the Al Wahat District in northeastern Libya in the Jalo oasis. An oasis, a city, and it is the main center of the oasis region in eastern Libya. It is located at the confluence of longitude a ...
and Awjila.
In the early
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') i ...
era (13th century), trade from Egypt was along a route that led via Awjila to the Fezzan, and then on to
Kanem,
Bornu and to cities such as
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrati ...
on the
Niger bend. Awjila became the main market for slaves from these regions.
Most of these slaves supplied domestic needs.
Gold was purchased from
Bambouk
Bambouk (sometimes Bambuk or Bambuhu) is a traditional name for the territory in eastern Senegal and western Mali, encompassing the Bambouk Mountains on its eastern edge, the valley of the Faleme River and the hilly country to the east of the riv ...
and Bouré in what is now
Senegal but then was part of the
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire ( Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or Manden; ar, مالي, Māl ...
of the
Mandinka people
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic gro ...
.
In exchange, Egypt exported textiles.
During the
Ottoman period in Egypt, Awjila lay on the route taken by pilgrims traveling from Timbuktu via
Ghat,
Ghadames and the Fezzan,
avoiding the main Ottoman centers.
In 1639 Awjila came under the rule of the Turkish ruler of Tripolitania, who stationed a permanent garrison at Benghazi.
In the 18th century, the merchants of Awjila held a monopoly over the trade between Cairo and the Fezzan.
Describing the trade between Egypt and
Hausaland
The Hausa ( autonyms for singular: Bahaushe ( m), Bahaushiya ( f); plural: Hausawa and general: Hausa; exonyms: Ausa; Ajami: ) are the largest native ethnic group in Africa. They speak the Hausa language, which is the second most spoken languag ...
, Hornemann lists:
Around 1810 a Majabra trader from Jalu named Schehaymah became lost while travelling to
Wadai via
Murzuk
Murzuk, Murzuq, Murzug or Merzug ( ar, مرزق) is an oasis town and the capital of the Murzuq District in the Fezzan region of southwest Libya.Robinson, Harry (1960) "Murzuq" ''The Mediterranean Lands'' University Tutorial Press, London, p. 414 ...
in the Fezzan.
He was found by some
Bidayat
Tuba, also Bidayat (Bideyat), is a dialect of the Zaghawa language found in Chad and western Sudan. In contrast to their Zaghawa kin, Bidayat speakers are more nomadic. This difference led early ethnographers to refer to them as different grou ...
, who took him via
Ounianga to Wara, the old capital of Wadai.
The Sultan of Wadai,
Abd al-Karim Sabun (1804–1815) agreed with Schehaymah's proposal to open a caravan route to Benghazi along a direct route through
Kufra, and Awjila /
Jalu
Jalu, Jallow, or Gialo ( ar, جالو) is a town in the Al Wahat District in northeastern Libya in the Jalo oasis. An oasis, a city, and it is the main center of the oasis region in eastern Libya. It is located at the confluence of longitude a ...
.
This new route would bypass both Fezzan and
Darfur
Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju ...
, states that until then had controlled the eastern Saharan trade.
The first caravans travelled the route between 1809 and 1820.
The trade was disrupted for a while in the 1820s due to political instability in Wadai, but starting in the 1830s every two or three years a caravan would travel the route.
Usually there were two or three hundred camels carrying ivory and skins, along with a batch of slaves.
Trade increased from the 1860s. The main stations between Benghazi and the southern terminal at
Abéché
Abéché ( ar, أبشه, ''Absha'') is the fourth largest city in Chad and is the capital of Ouaddaï Region. It has within it the remnants of the ancient capital, including palaces, mosques, and the tombs of former sultans.
History
The city of ...
were the assembly point at Awjila / Jalu where the caravans were made up, and the center at Kufra where food and water could be obtained.
Later the north-south route again grew in importance due to disruption of traffic on the Nile by the
Mahdist revolution in the
Sudan.
Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi
Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi (; in full Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Sanūsī al-Mujāhirī al-Ḥasanī al-Idrīsī) (1787–1859) was an Algerian Muslim theologian and leader who founded the Senussi mystical order in 1837. His militant mystical move ...
stayed in Jalu and Awjila before opening his first lodge in al-Baida in 1843.
Over the next ten years the lodges of the
Senussi became established throughout the
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and Ar ...
s of Cyrenaica.
Later they spread the Senussi influence further south, helping quell violence and resolve trade disputes.
Each post on the north-south route, including Awjila, was protected by a Senussi sheikh.
As late as 1907, a significant amount of the trade passing through Benghazi was in goods carried over this route, and goods would also have been routed from interior points such as Awjila and Jalu east to Egypt and west to Tripoli.
Recent years
Today the main activities of the people in Awjila are agriculture and working for the oil sector companies, as this area is the cradle of Libyan wealth.
The main crops are dates from the many varieties of palm trees, tomatoes, and cereals.
The Awjila oasis is known for the high quality of its dates.
Starting in the 1960s, the oil industry drove growth in the once-sleepy village.
In 1968 the population of the village was about 2,000 people, but by 1982 it had risen to over 4,000, supported by twelve mosques.
A 2007 travel guide gives the population as 6,790.
The
Great Mosque of Atiq is the oldest ''masjed'' (
mosque) in the
Sahara with its unique style of architecture with rooms that are naturally air conditioned. In the scorching heat of the summer days the rooms are cool and at night they are warm.
The oasis was a destination for viewing the
Solar eclipse of March 29, 2006
A total solar eclipse occurred on March 29, 2006. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's a ...
.
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{Authority control
Populated places in Al Wahat District
Cyrenaica
Oases of Libya
Baladiyat of Libya