Hun or Houn ( ar, هون, Hūn) is an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

town in the northern Fezzan region of southwest

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

. The town is the capital of the Jufra District. The "International Autumn Tourism Festival" is an annual

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

usually held at the end of September.

History

Hon el-Fuara, March 1941, Gruppe Schwerin, German Army

During the colonial Italian Libya period, Hun was the administrative capital of the Italian Fezzan region, called '' Territorio del Sahara Libico''. Hun was the Italian military center of southern Italian Libya, and was not part of the national

Fourth Shore The Fourth Shore (in Italian ''Quarta Sponda'') or Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana/ASI) was the name created by Benito Mussolini to refer to the Mediterranean shore of coastal colonial Italian Libya and WWII Italian Tunisia ...

territory of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

as Italian Tripolitania and

Italian Cyrenaica Italian Cyrenaica (; ) was an Italian colony, located in present-day eastern Libya, that existed from 1911 to 1934. It was part of the territory conquered from the Ottoman Empire during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911, alongside Italian Tripolita ...

. In the 1939 census Italians were 3% of the total population of 35,316 in the city. They disappeared from Hun after Italy's loss of Libya in

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 opposin ...

. An important Libyan Italian born in Hun was the internationally renowned painter

Mario Schifano Mario Schifano (20 September 1934, Khoms, Libya – 26 January 1998, Rome, Italy) was an Italian painter and collagist of the Postmodern tradition. He also achieved some renown as a film-maker and rock musician. He is considered to be one of th ...

(1934–1998). In the 1930s the Italian government made some important improvements to the small town, including a connection to the coast via the new

Fezzan Road Fezzan Road is an asphalt road in central Libya, running from Abu Qurayn near the coast to Sabha in the Sahara Desert. It is long. History Fezzan Road was constructed in the early 1960s. It was the largest road project in Libya since the Itali ...

. During the

Libyan Civil War Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...

, on 8 May 2011,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

hit 8 headquarters compound buildings, 12 ammunition storage and 20 vehicle storage.

Geography

Hun is about halfway between Sabha and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

coast in the Sahara Desert. The natural landscape around Hun mainly consists of black

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

mountains, with extensive sand dunes, and date palm trees - ''Phoenix dactylifera'' groves indicating

oases In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

. The cities of Waddan and Sokna are the nearest settlements. Hun is settiling in between of Waddan and Sokna, Hun is the biggest town in the area and population at Aljufra, It is considered the administrative capital of the region . There is a ruined ksar it was an Italian fort (Forti), It was restored and it is now the Saharawi Museum. There are also several old and new

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s in the city . All three towns are oases characterized by the abundance of

natural spring A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh w ...

s and date palm trees. Hun has a hot desert climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''BWh'') with long, extremely hot summers and short, warm winters as well as very little rainfall throughout the year. In this part of the desert, summer daytime temperatures are a bit moderated due to the influence of the cooler offshore winds from the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

, although average high temperatures consistently exceed 40 °C (104 °F) during the hottest months of the year. The region receives an average annual rainfall of .

Economy and culture

There are public buses to the cities of

Sirte Sirte (; ar, سِرْت, ), also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups, and loyalty to Muammar G ...

and Sabha. There is also a military airport located between Hun and Waddan,

Al Jufra Airbase Al Jufra Airbase is a Libyan Air Force base in Waddan, northeast of Hun, a desert city in the Jufra District of Libya. It was originally used by the Libyan Arab Air Force from 1969 to 2011. The runway length does not include paved overruns on ...

. Hun is 240 km south of

, 370 km from

Misrata Misrata ( ; also spelled Misurata or Misratah; ar, مصراتة, Miṣrāta ) is a city in the Misrata District in northwestern Libya, situated to the east of Tripoli and west of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. With ...

and 272 km north of Sabha. The "International Autumn Tourism Festival", is an annual festival usually held at the end of September. It is organized for four days every year from 1996. It is aimed at promoting tourism and culture and organizes concerts and exhibitions.

Notes

External links

Lexicorient - Hun, the migrating town

{{District capitals of Libya Populated places in Jufra District Oases of Libya Italian Libya Baladiyat of Libya

History

Geography

Economy and culture

See also

Notes

External links