The Rabyanah Sand Sea , Rabyanah , is a sand desert region spanning approximately 65,000 km in southeastern Libya .
31-962: The area of the Rabyanah Sand Sea is in the western part of the Libyan Desert in the Kufra District of the Cyrenaica region. It is named after the oasis town of Rabyanah located towards its eastern end. Together with the Calanshio Sand Sea and the Great Sand Sea , the Rabyanah Sand Sea is part of the greater Libyan Desert . This Libya location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Libyan Desert 24°N 25°E / 24°N 25°E / 24; 25 The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with
62-735: A massive sand plain, low plateaus, and dunes. The desert features a striking diversity of landscapes including mountains, oases, and sand seas. To the south lie the main mountain ranges, from the Jebel Uweinat (1,980 m or 6,500 feet), on the Libya-Egypt-Sudan border, the Tibesti to the south, on the border with Chad, and the Acacus to the southwest. The main oases are Jaghbub and Jalo in east, in Cyrenaica, Kufra in
93-580: A rocky plateau to the west, on the Tunisian border, coloured by iron oxide deposits. To the southeast, between Kufra and the Libya-Egypt-Sudan border, lies the Jebel Arkenu , with the associated Arkenu structures , thought to be caused by meteorite strikes. North of the Gilf Kebir plateau, among the shallow peripheral dunes of the southern Great Sand Sea , is a field of Libyan desert glass . This
124-619: A territory known as Ancient Libya . (It was not until 1934 that former Ottoman Tripolitania became known as Libya .) In his book Libyan Sands , Ralph Bagnold went as far as to suggest that the Libyan Desert was a separate geographical entity from the Sahara, cut off by the mountains and plateaus of the Ennedi and Tibesti in northern Chad, and the Akakus and Tassili n'Ajjer along
155-788: Is part of the greater Sahara Desert . Murzuk developed around an oasis which served as a stop on the north-south trade route across the Sahara Desert. From the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD, Marzuk was home to the Garamantian Empire , a city state which operated the Trans-Saharan trade routes between the Carthaginians—and later the Roman Empire—and the Sahelian states of West and Central Africa. By 1300,
186-458: Is primarily sand and hamada or stony plain. Sand plains, dunes , ridges, and some depressions (basins) typify the endorheic region, with no rivers draining into or out of the desert. The Gilf Kebir plateau reaches an altitude of just over 1,000 m (3,300 feet), and along with the nearby massif of Jebel Uweinat is an exception to the uninterrupted territory of basement rocks covered by layers of horizontally bedded sediments, forming
217-528: Is thought to be associated with a meteorite impact, marked by the Kebira crater , on the Libya-Egypt border. A specimen of the desert glass was used in a piece of Tutankhamun 's ancient jewellery. The Libyan Desert is barely populated apart from the modern settlements at oases of the lower Cyrenaica region in southeastern Libya. The indigenous population are Bisharin tribe , Mahas , and Berber . Where
248-924: The Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12, the desert became the scene of a two-decade struggle between the Italians and the Senussi starting from 1915, who were centred on the Jebel Akhdar in Cyrenaica and on the Kufra oasis. It ended in 1931 with the conquest of Kufra by the Italians. During the 1930s the Libyan desert was the scene of exploration and mapping by the Italian Army and Air Force. Others, such as Ralph Bagnold and László Almásy also travelled in south-eastern Libya and southern Egypt, searching for
279-638: The Sahara ". The Ottoman army usually maintained a garrison there, but local control remained in the hands of the Sultan of Fezzan. In the early nineteenth century, Murzuk served as the jumping off point for multiple British expeditions in search of Lake Chad and the legendary Timbuktu . The 1822, the Denham , Oudney and Clapperton expedition traveled from Tripoli to Murzuk, where they attempted to obtain protection and supplies for their journey south. The town
310-772: The Western Desert Campaign . The deep desert saw operations by the Italian Auto-Saharan Companies , in combat with the Allied Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and the Free French Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais du Tchad (RTST). Other actions included the Siege of Giarabub (now Jaghbub), the battle of Kufra and the raid on Murzuk , all in 1941. The Calanshio Sand Sea is the site of
341-470: The Algerian border in the west. Since that time the meaning has come to revert to the definition given above. The Libyan Desert covers an area of approximately 1,300,000 km (500,000 square miles), and extends approximately 1,100 km (680 miles) from east to west, and 1,000 km from north to south, in about the shape of a rectangle slanting to the south-east. Like most of the Sahara, this desert
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#1732787746325372-749: The Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the northeastern Sahara Desert , from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates today's Sahara , and parts of the Libyan Desert include the Sahara's most arid and least populated regions; this is chiefly what sets the Libyan Desert apart from the greater Sahara. The consequent absence of grazing, and near absence of waterholes or wells needed to sustain camel caravans, prevented Trans-Saharan trade between Kharga (the Darb al Arbein) close to
403-571: The Nile, and Murzuk in the Libyan Fezzan . This obscurity saw the region overlooked by early European explorers, and it was not until the early 20th century and the advent of the motor car before the Libyan Desert started to be fully explored. The term Libyan Desert began to appear widely on European maps in the last decades of the 19th century, typically identified as straddling the borders of present-day Egypt and Libya. This name derived from
434-583: The area was ruled by the Kanem Empire . According to Helmuth Kanter, a Moroccan tribe overran the area in 1310 and established Murzuk as the capital of their sultanate. The fortress, now in ruins, was built around this time. By 1400 the city was ruled by the Bornu Empire , and the legacy of Kanem-Bornu sovereignty is still evident, as some streets have names in the Kanembu and Kanuri languages. In
465-577: The coldest month of the year. Winter days are very warm, sunny and dry. Annual precipitation averages only 7 mm (0.32 in) making the location one of the driest places on Earth. The sky is always clear and bright throughout the year. In 2013, the first Toubou national festival in Libya was held in Murzuk. The city also has an annual cultural festival, which was postponed in 2014 due to security concerns. In 2013, two new cultural centers were opened in
496-859: The desert extends into Egypt and no longer in Libya, it is generally known as the " Western Desert ". The term "Western Desert" contrasts with the Eastern Desert to the east of the Nile River , which lies between the Nile and the Red Sea . The Libyan desert is said to be one of the least hospitable regions on Earth. Its climate is surprisingly variable, being hot in summer, with average daytime temperatures of 50 °C (122 °F) and above, though this drops rapidly at night. In winter, days are cool, with temperatures averaging 27 °C (81 °F), but at night this can drop below freezing, with temperatures of −9 °C (16 °F) recorded. At these times
527-506: The fever. I speak of the Turks. It attacks them principally in the beginning of the hot, and cold, weather, or in May and November. ... Mourzuk is emphatically called, like many places of Africa, Blad Elhemah , country of fever." The town declined in importance as modern transportation replaced traditional trade routes in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The Ottomans ceded Fezzan, along with
558-475: The formation of hoar frost is not uncommon, and they are known as "White Nights". In the north, along the Mediterranean shore, cool onshore winds blow inland, while further south, hot, dry winds, known as Ghibli , blow from the interior, creating blinding sand-storms. Periodic droughts are common in the desert, often lasting several years. Historically, "Libya" referred to an ill-defined area to
589-639: The later half of the 15th century, the area became a tributary of the Hafsid dynasty in Tunis . Early in the 16th century, Muhammad al-Fasi established the Awlad Muhammad dynasty of Murzuq, which would hold power in the city until 1812. Al-Fasi is traditionally held to be a Moroccan sharif , but according to John Ralph Willis, oral tradition indicates that he was a pilgrim from Saguia el-Hamra in present-day Western Sahara . According to this tradition, he
620-711: The lost oasis of Zerzura . Bagnold also travelled into northern Chad, to the Mourdi Depression , recording his findings in his book Libyan Sands: Travel in a Dead World , which was published in 1935. During the Second World War the north-eastern desert between El Agheila and the Egyptian border was the scene of heavy fighting between the Axis powers and the Western Allies , a period known as
651-647: The missing World War II aircraft Lady Be Good . The wreck was discovered 200 km (120 mi) north of Kufra 15 years after it was reported missing in 1943. Murzuk Murzuk , Murzuq , Murzug or Merzug ( Arabic : مرزق ) is an oasis town and the capital of the Murzuq District in the Fezzan region of southwest Libya . It lies on the northern edge of the Murzuq Desert , an extremely arid region of ergs or great sand dunes which
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#1732787746325682-539: The old Ottoman fort eventually surrendered to the attackers, and the planes and facilities at the nearby airbase were destroyed. The British and Free French then withdrew, setting the garrison free, as they didn't have the transport or rations to carry the prisoners back to allied lines. In 1960 Murzuk had a population of 7,000 residents. During the Libyan Civil War , Toubou tribal fighters reportedly captured Murzuk on 17 August 2011. On 22 February 2019 it
713-567: The rest of their Libyan territories, to the Italians in 1912, following the Italo-Turkish War . Murzuk became part of colonial Italian Libya , although the town was not actually occupied by the Italians until 1914. On 11 January 1941, during the Second World War , Murzuk and its small Italian airbase were the target of a raid by about 70 men of the British Long Range Desert Group and a handful of Free French soldiers from Chad . A small Italian garrison holed up in
744-414: The slave trade, and Murzuk soon became an important part of a slaving network which extended into present-day Chad and Central African Republic . By the late 16th century, it had gained more importance than Ghat and Ghadames . Under Ottoman rule (1578–1912), Murzuk was at times the capital of Fezzan , and enjoyed a long period of prosperity. The town had a major fort, and was termed the " Paris of
775-678: The south west is the Idehan Murzuq , bordering Chad, and to west lies the Idehan Ubari , bordering Algeria. The sand seas contain dunes up to 512 m (1,680 feet) in height, and cover approximately one quarter of the total desert region. Other features are the Aswad al Haruj (the "Black Desert"), a large circular region of black volcanic shield in the centre of the country, and the Hamada al Hamra [ de ] (the "Red Desert")
806-520: The southeast, and Murzuk in the south, in Fezzan. The sand seas lie in a ring around the border of Libya. To the east lies the Calanshio Sand Sea , the western lobe of the Great Sand Sea straddling the Libya-Egypt border, and stretches 800 km (500 miles) from Jaghbub and Jalo in the north to Kufra in the south. To the south-east lies the Rebiana Sand Sea , near the border with Sudan. To
837-575: The west of Ancient Egypt , whose boundary traditionally was the lake of Mareotis , outside Alexandria . The ancient Greeks, such as Herodotus , regarded the whole of the North African littoral, to Cape Spartel in Morocco , as "Libya". Later, the Romans organized the region the provinces of Libya Inferior and Libya Superior , which covered western Egypt and Cyrenaica. Thus the "Libyan Desert"
868-467: Was considered unhealthy by many British explorers and led to illness for many, killing some and forcing others back to Tripoli. According to James Richardson : "Feb 26th (1846). I must now consider myself recovered from indisposition. At first, people talked so much about Mourzuk fever that I thought I must have it as a matter of course ... Three-fourths of the Europeans who come here invariably have
899-797: Was reported by the Benghazi General Command that Murzuk had been captured by forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar . On 4 August 2020, an airstrike by the Libyan National Army against a wedding in Murzuk killed 43 people and injured 60. Murzuk has a hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWh ) typical of the Fezzan , a Libyan region lying on the heart of the Sahara Desert . Averages high temperatures exceed 40 °C (104 °F) during summer for 3 months (June, July, August) and averages high temperatures remain above 19 °C (66.2 °F) during
930-624: Was the desert to the south of Ancient Libya . With the organization of the Italian colony of Libya in the 20th century the term "Libyan Desert" for this region became a misnomer, and the area of desert within Egypt became known as the " Western Desert " (i.e. west of the Nile, in contradistinction to the Eastern Desert, east of the Nile). Following the conquest of the territory by Italy during
961-452: Was the leader of a caravan who, on arriving at the fortress of Murzuk, was asked to take control of the city by local Fezzani rulers. The reason suggested for this is an intensification of Tuareg or Berber raids, or that he was attracted by slave trade. According to tradition, he built a castle in Murzuk, which has been identified possibly as the ruined "Qal'at Awlad Muhammad". The establishment of his dynasty reinvigorated pilgrim traffic and