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CYRENAICA
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CYRENAICA , in See also:ancient See also:geography, a See also:district of the N. See also:African See also:coast, lying between the Syrtis See also:Major and Marmarica, the western limit being Arae Philaenorum, and the eastern a vague See also:line See also:drawn inland from the See also:head of the gulf of Platea (Bomba). On the See also:south the limit was undefined, but understood to be the margin of the See also:desert, some distance See also:north of the See also:oasis of Augila (Aujila). The See also:northern See also:half of this district, which alone was fertile, was known as Pentapolis from its See also:possession of five considerable cities (r) See also:Hesperides-See also:Berenice (See also:Bengazi), (2) See also:Barca (Merj), (3) See also:Cyrene (See also:Ain Shahat-Grenna), (4) See also:Apollonia (Marsa See also:Susa), (5) Teucheira-See also:Arsinoe (Tocra). In later times two more towns See also:rose to importance, Ptolemais (Tolmeita): and Darnis-Zarine (See also:Derna). These all See also:lay on the coast, with the exception of Barca and Cyrene, which were situated on the high-See also:land now called See also:Jebel Akhdar, a few See also:miles inland. Cyrene was the first See also:city to arise, being founded among Libyan barbarians by See also:Aristotle of See also:Thera (later called See also:Battus) in the See also:middle of the 7th See also:century B.C. (see CYRENE). For about 500 years this district enjoyed See also:great prosperity, owing partly to its natural products, but more to its See also:trade with interior See also:Africa. Under the See also:Ptolemies, the inland cities declined in comparison with the maritime ones, and the Cyrenaica began to feel the commercial competition of See also:Egypt and See also:Carthage; whente easier roads See also:lead into the See also:continent. After all N. Africa had passed to See also:Rome, and Cyrenaica itself, bequeathed by See also:Apion, the last Ptolemaic See also:sovereign, was become (in See also:combination with See also:Crete) a See also:Roman See also:province (after 96 B.C.), this competition told, more severely than ever, and the See also:Greek colonists, grown weaker, found themselves less able to hold their own against the Libyan See also:population. A great revolt of the Jewish settlers in the See also:time of See also:Trajan settled the See also:fate of Cyrene and Barca; the former is mentioned by See also:Ammianus See also:Marcellinus in the 4th century A.D. as " urbs deserta," and See also:Synesius, a native, describes it in the following century as a vast ruin at the See also:mercy of the nomads. See also:Long before this its most famous See also:article of export, the silphium plant, a See also:representation of which was the See also:chief See also:coin-type of Cyrene, had come to an end. This plant, credited with wonderful medicinal and aromatic properties, has not been certainly identified with any existing See also:species. The similar Thapsia garganica (Arab. drias), which now grows freely in Cyrenaica, though it has medicinal properties, has not those ascribed to silphium. Henceforward till the Arab invasion (A.n. 641) Apollonia was the chief city, with Berenice and Ptolemais next in See also:order. After the See also:conquest by Amr See also:ibn el-`Asi, inland Cyrenaica regained some importance, lying as it did on the See also:direct route between See also:Alexandria and See also:Kairawan, and See also:Barra became its chief See also:place. But with the substitution of See also:Ottoman for Arab See also:empire, resulting in the virtual See also:independence of both Egypt and See also:Tripoli, the district lying between them relapsed to anarchy. This See also:state of things continued even after Mahmud II. had resumed direct See also:control over Tripoli (1835), and in the middle of the 19th century Cyrenaica was still so See also:free of the See also:Turks that Sheik See also:Ali See also:bin-See also:Senussi See also:chose it as the headquarters of his nascent See also:dervish order. All over the district were built Senussi convents (zawia), which still exist and have much See also:influence, although the headquarters of the order were withdrawn about the See also:year 1855 to Jarabub, and in 1895 to Kufra, still farther into the See also:heart of Africa. In 1875 the district, till then a sanjak of the vilayet of Tripoli, was made to depend directly on the See also:Ministry of the Interior at See also:Constantinople; and the Senussites soon ceased to be de facto rulers of Cyrenaica. Their preserves have now been still further encroached upon by a number of Cretan Moslem refugees (1901-1902). This is not the first effort made by See also:Turkey to colonize Cyrenaica. In 1869 Ali Riza See also:Pasha of Tripoli tried to induce settlers to go to Bomba and See also:Tobruk; and in 1888 an abortive effort was made to introduce Kurds. To protect the Cretans the Ottoman See also:government has extended the See also:civil See also:administration and created several small garrisoned posts. The district is accordingly safer for Europeans than it -was; but these still find themselves See also:ill received. The Ottoman officials discourage travel in the interior, partly from fear of the Senussites, partly from suspicions, excited by the lively See also:interest manifested by See also:Italy in Cyrenaica. At the See also:present See also:day we understand by Cyrenaica a somewhat larger district than of old, and include ancient Marmarica up to the head of the gulf of Sollum (Catabathmus See also:Magnus). The whole See also:area is about 30,000 sq. m., and has some 250,000 in-habitants, inclusive of nomads. Projecting like a See also:bastion into the Mediterranean at a very central point, Cyrenaica seems intended to See also:play a commercial See also:part; but it does not do so to any extent because of (1) lack of natural harbours, Bengazi and Derna having only open and dangerous roads (this is partly due to coastal subsidence; ancient ports have sunk); (2) the difficulty of the desert routes behind it, See also:wells being singularly deficient in this part of the See also:Sahara. The See also:ivory and See also:feather caravans from See also:Wadai and See also:Borku have latterly deserted it altogether. Consequently Cyrenaica is still in a very backward and barbarous state and largely given up to See also:nomad See also:Arabs. There are only two towns, Bengazi and Derna, and not half a dozen settlements beside, worthy to be called villages. In many districts the Senussi convents See also:supply the only settled See also:element, and the See also:local See also:Bedouins largely belong to the Order. There are no roads in the province, and very little See also:internal communication and trade; but a wireless telegraphic See also:system has been installed in communication with See also:Rhodes: and there is a landline from Bengazi to Tripoli. Geologically and structurally Cyrenaica is a See also:mass of See also:Miocene See also:limestone tilted up steeply from the Mediterranean and falling inland by a See also:gentle descent to See also:sea-level again at the line of depression, which runs from the gulf of Sidra through Aujila to See also:Siwa: This mass is divided into two blocks, the higher being the western Jebel Akhdar, on which Cyrene was built (about 1800 ft.): the See also:lower, the eastern Jebel el-Akabah, the ancient Marmaric See also:highlands (See also:loo ft.). There is no continuous littoral See also:plain, the longest See also:strip See also:running from the See also:recess of the Syrtis See also:round past Bengazi to Tolmeita. Thereafter, except for deltaic patches at Marsa Susa and Derna, the See also:shore is all precipitous. Jebel Akhdar, being without " faults," has no deep internal valleys, and presents the See also:appearance of See also:downs: but its seaward See also:face is very deeply eroded, and deep circular sinkings (See also:swallow-holes) are See also:common. There is much See also:forest on its northward slopes, and See also:good red See also:earth on the higher parts, which bears abundant crops of See also:barley; much desired by See also:European maltsters. Plenty of springs issue on the highlands, and wide expanses of grassy See also:country dotted with trees like an See also:English See also:park are met with. Here the Bedouins (mostly Beni Hassa) pasture flocks and herds, amounting to several million head. The See also:climate is temperate and the rainfall usually adequate, but one year in five is expected to be droughty. The southward slopes fall through ever-thinning pasture lands to sheer desert about 8o m. inland. Jebel el-Akabah is much more barren than Jebel Akhdar, and the desert comes right down to the sea in Marmarica, whose few inhabitants are more concerned with See also:salt-See also:collecting and sponge fishing than with See also:agriculture. They have, however, the only good ports on the whole coast, Bomba and Tobruk. Much might be made of Cyrenaica by judicious colonization. All kinds of trees grow well, from the date See also:palm to the See also:oak; and there are over 200,000 See also:wild See also:olives in the country. The conditions in See also:general are very like those of central Italy, and there is ample See also:room for new settlers. (2) See also:Modern Cyrenaica: See also:Paul See also:Lucas, Voyage (1712) ; T. See also:Shaw, Travels and Observations (1738); J. See also:Bruce, Travels (1790) ; P. della See also:Cella, Viaggio da Tripoli, &c. (1819); G. F. See also:Lyon, Narrative of Travels (1821) ; A. Cervelli, in Recueil de voyages, pub. by See also:Soc. de Geog., ii. (1825) ; J. R. Pacho, Relation d'un voyage (1827); . F. W. See also:Beechey, Proceedings of Expedition to explore N. Coast of Africa (1828); H. See also:Barth, Wanderungen, &c. (1849); V. de Bourville, Rapport (185o); J. See also: Percher, Hist. of Discoveries (1864) ; G. See also:Rohlfs, Von Tripoli nach Alexandrien (1871); G. Haimann,. La Cirenaica (1882); M. Camperio, Una Gita in Cirenaica (1881); H. See also:Duveyrier, " La Confr. musulmane de Sidi Moh. See also:Ben Ali es-Senousi " (See also:Bull. soc. geog., 1884) ; H. W. Blundell in Geog. fatten. v. (1895) and See also:Annual Brit. Sch. at See also:Athens, ii. (1895); D. G. See also:Hogarth in Monthly See also:Review (See also:Jan. 1904) ; G. See also:Hildebrand, Cyrenaika, &c. (1904) ; G. de Martino, Cirene e Cartagine (1908). (3) Maps: The best are that by P. Carlo, to illustrate Camperio and Haimann's See also:Report, in See also:Petermann's Mitth. (1881) ; and See also:Sheet No. 2 of See also:Carte de 1'Afrique (Service geog. de 1'armee, 1892). (D. G. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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