Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica, region, north-eastern Libya. Colonized by the ancient Greeks, Cyrenaica originally extended along the African coast from what is now the Gulf of Sidra, in the west, to within 80 km (50 mi) of the Nile delta, in the east. The region consists mainly of a plateau about 130 km (80 mi) wide, sloping seaward in a series of terraces. A Mediterranean climate, numerous oases, and fertility make it an outstanding region of North Africa.

Greek occupation of the territory was probably begun by Battus I (fl. 7th century bc), first of the Battiadae, who founded Cyrene (now Shaḩḩāt) about 630 bc. The Greeks later established four other notable cities: Teucheira, later named Arsinoë (now Tūkrah); Barce (now al-Marj); Hesperides, later Berenice (now Banghāzī); and Apollonia (now Sūsah, or Marsá Sūsah, in present-day Libya). In about 450 bc the monarchy was overthrown and Cyrenaica became a republic. It was conquered in 331 bc by Alexander the Great and annexed about 321 bc by the Egyptian king, Ptolemy I. Under the Ptolemies, Cyrenaica became known as Pentapolis, in recognition of its five major cities. These, however, gradually declined in commercial importance during the Ptolemaic dynasty. In 96 bc Ptolemy Apion, in his will, left Cyrenaica to the Romans, who later established it as a Roman province. With the subsequent decline of the Roman Empire, the region gradually passed under the domination of its Hamitic natives (see Hamite). The Arabs seized it in ad 641, and early in the 18th century it became a Turkish possession, eventually known as Bengasi. In September 1911, on the outbreak of war between Italy and Turkey, Cyrenaica was occupied by the Italians. At the end of the war in October 1912, Turkey ceded Cyrenaica, along with the region of Tripoli (renamed Tripolitania), to Italy, which merged them into the colony of Libya in 1934.