Tajarhi, Tegerhi or Tajirhi ( ar, تجرهي) is an oasis and crossroads village in the
Murzuq District
Murzuq ( ar, مرزق ''Murzuq'') is one of the districts of Libya. It is in the south of the country. Its capital is Murzuk. The city was occupied by the Ottoman Empire in 1578 and served as the capital of Fezzan off and on until the Ottomans ...
of
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 ...
. It lies in the
Sahara Desert
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, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
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and is the last refueling point in Libya before reaching
Madama
Madama is a border settlement on the northeast frontier of Niger. Little more than an army post, the settlement serves as a frontier station controlling travel between Niger and Libya. It is also the site of a former French colonial fort, buil ...
, the first station in Niger (after the unpopulated frontier station at
Tumu), some 282 kilometers to the south,
["Tajarhi, Libya"](_blank)
Falling Rain Genomics, Inc. or 361 km by track. Tajarhi has an airstrip (HL-57) south of town.
History
Tajarhi was and still is the southernmost village in
Fezzan
Fezzan ( , ; ber, ⴼⵣⵣⴰⵏ, Fezzan; ar, فزان, Fizzān; la, Phazania) is the southwestern region of modern Libya. It is largely desert, but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys (wadis) in the north, where oases enable ...
, located at the desert trade routes to the
Niger River
The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...
,
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
and the
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
.
[Bruce-Lockhart, Jamie (2008) ''A sailor in the Sahara: the life and travels in Africa of Hugh Clapperton, Commander RN'' I. B. Tauris, London]
pages 102-103
Among the goods traded north were slaves,
[Lovejoy, Paul E. (2004) ''Slavery on the frontiers of Islam'' Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton, New Jersey]
page 41
and the trade in slaves through Tajarhi increased after Tunisia and Algeria abolished the trade in 1846 and 1848, respectively.
[Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. (1987) ''A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, page 316, ] Tajarhi was described by British naval officer
George Francis Lyon
George Francis Lyon (23 January 1796 – 8 October 1832) was an English naval officer and explorer of Africa and the Arctic. While not having a particularly distinguished career, he is remembered for the entertaining journals he kept and ...
in 1819 as a lush oasis with groves of date palms and wild ducks on the brackish lakes.
Beginning in 2004, a paved road has been built from
al-Qatrun via Tajahi up until the Libyan border with Niger at Tumu. In this section, the long-distance road directly follows the very old caravan route from
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
/
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 ...
in the North to Lake Chad in the South, also known as
Bilma Trail or
Garamantean Road.
Notes
External links
"Tajarhi Map — Satellite Images of Tajarhi"Maplandia
in Italian
{{Murzuq
Populated places in Murzuq District
Sahara