Jaghbub ( ar, الجغبوب) is a remote desert village in the

Al Jaghbub Oasis The Al Jaghbub Oasis is a protected area in northeastern Libya lying close to the border with Egypt. It adjoins the desert village of Jaghbub which is inhabited by Berbers with a population of about 400. Geography The Al Jaghbub Oasis is located ...

in the eastern

Libyan Desert The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the north-eastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates t ...

. It is actually closer to the

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

ian town of Siwa than to any Libyan town of note. The oasis is located in

Butnan District Butnan ( ar, البطنان ') sometimes called ''Tubruq District'' or ''Tobruk District'' from the former name, occasionally ''Marmarica'', is an administrative district (shabiyah) in eastern Libya. Its capital city is Tobruk. In the north, B ...

and was the administrative seat of the Jaghbub Basic People's Congress. Supported by reservoirs of underground water and date production, the town is best known for its hard-won self-sufficiency.

Idris of Libya Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi ( ar, إدريس, Idrīs; 13 March 1890 – 25 May 1983) was a Libyan political and religious leader who was King of Libya from 24 December 1951 until his overthrow on 1 September 1969. He ruled ov ...

was born in Jaghbub on 12 March 1890.

Geography

The Jaghbub oasis is located in a deep depression that extends below sea level. This depression, an area lower than the surrounding region, reaches to about -10 m. To the east the Siwa Oasis lies in a similar depression and even further east the large

Qattara Depression The Qattara Depression ( ar, منخفض القطارة, Munḫafaḍ al-Qaṭṭārah) is a depression in northwestern Egypt, specifically in the Matruh Governorate. The depression is part of the Western Desert of Egypt. The Qattara Depressi ...

also lies below sea level.

History

It was once the headquarters of the Senussi Movement and home of a long disappeared Islamic university and the former Senussi palace (which is now in rubble). Jaghbub was a part of

until December 1925, when it was ceded to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

as part of a deal to fix the

Egypt–Libya border The Egypt–Libya border ( ar, الحدود المصرية الليبية) is 1,115 km (693 mi) in length and runs from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the tripoint with Sudan in the south. Description The border starts in the north o ...

. In February 1931, the Italian

colonial administration Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

led by Marshal

Rodolfo Graziani Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's '' Regio Esercito'' ("Royal Army"), primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and durin ...

decided to build a barbed-wire fence stretching from the Mediterranean port of

Bardia Bardia, also El Burdi or Barydiyah ( ar, البردية, lit=, translit=al-Bardiyya or ) is a Mediterranean seaport in the Butnan District of eastern Libya, located near the border with Egypt. It is also occasionally called ''Bórdi Slemán''. ...

to Jaghbub 270 km away. Supervised by armoured patrols and the air force, the fence sought to cut off the rebels from their supply sources and contacts with the Senussi leadership in Egypt. The construction of the fence began in April, 1931 and was completed in September. This, along with the deportation of almost the entire population of the Jebel Akhdar, was decisive and precipitated the end of the rebellion. The fence still runs along the Libyan-Egyptian border from near

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near ...

, finishing at Jaghbub where the

Great Sand Sea The Great Sand Sea is an approximately sand desert (erg) in the Sahara between western Egypt and eastern Libya in North Africa. Some 74% of the area is covered by sand dunes. Geography The Great Sand Sea stretches about from north to south an ...

begins. The construction of the fence was dramatized in the film ''

Lion of the Desert ''Lion of the Desert'' is a 1980 epic historical war film about the Second Italo-Senussi War, starring Anthony Quinn as Libyan tribal leader Omar Mukhtar, a Bedouin leader fighting the ''Regio Esercito'' ( Royal Italian Army) and Oliver Reed as ...

''. The

Siege of Giarabub The siege of Giarabub (now Jaghbub) in Libya, was an engagement between Commonwealth and Italian forces, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. In the aftermath of , the invasion of Egypt by the Italian 10th Army Operatio ...

was fought between Commonwealth and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Italian and Libyan colonial troops led by Colonel

Salvatore Castagna Salvatore Castagna (Caltagirone, 14 January 1897 – Rome, 3 February 1977) was an officer in the Royal Italian Army during World War II, most notable for his leadership during the siege of Giarabub. After the war he became a general in the ...

resisted a siege by mostly Australian troops for three months before being forced to surrender on 23 March 1941. The resistance of the Italian troops was celebrated by the

fascist regime Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

and used to minimize the military defeat in

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 ...

Notes

{{Authority control J J Protected areas of Libya Baladiyat of Libya

Geography

History

See also

Notes