Fezzan

/fez zahn"/, n.

a former province in SW Libya: part of the Sahara with numerous oases. 220,000 sq. mi. (570,000 sq. km).

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Arabic Fazzān ancient Phazania

Historic region, southwestern Libya.

A part of the Sahara, most of its inhabitants dwell in oases in the interior. Southern Fezzan is noted for its date palms, which cover several hundred thousand acres scattered in numerous oases. It was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC and by the Arabs in the 7th century AD. The Ottomans made it part of their empire in 1842. Fezzan was made part of Tripoli by the Italians in 1912, and it became a province of the United Kingdom of Libya (1951–63). Thereafter it was part of Libya.

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▪ region, Libya

also spelled  Fazzān,  Latin  Phazania,  

      historic region of northern Africa and until 1963 one of the three provinces of the United Kingdom of Libya. It is part of the Sahara (desert) and now constitutes the southwestern sector of Libya.

      Fezzan's climate is extreme, with very hot summers and cool winters. Rainfall is scarce and irregular and is somewhat more plentiful in the north than in the south. Most of Fezzan's nearly 200,000 inhabitants dwell in desert oases in the centre and south, notably in Marzūq and in Sabhā. The inhabitants are of basically Arab origin, mixed with Berber and black African elements. Fezzan is noted for its extensive production of date palms, which number in the millions of trees and cover several hundred thousand acres scattered in numerous oases. Date production is supplemented by cereal, vegetable, and fruit crops. There is a large oil field at Marzūq, and sodium carbonate is produced at both Marzūq and Sabhā.

      The Greek historian Herodotus mentioned Fezzan as part of the territory of the Garamantes. The Romans conquered the Garamantes in 19 BC and annexed their country, which the Romans called Phazania, to the Roman Empire. In 666 the Arabs conquered Phazania and subjected it to Islām. Thereafter it was ruled by a succession of Arab and native dynasties until subdued by the Turks and made a part of the Ottoman Empire in 1842.

      Emissaries of the Sanūsīyah religious brotherhood began founding lodges in Fezzan in the mid-19th century and were for a time the dominant influence in the region. Fezzan was amalgamated with Cyrenaica and Tripolitania under Italian rule in 1912. In 1951 a United Kingdom of Libya was proclaimed, and the three regions remained provinces until 1963, when Libya became a unitary state.

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