Traghan or Traghen ( ar, تراغن) is a small town in the Murzuk Desert in

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 ...

in southwest Libya. It is located east of

Murzuk Murzuk, Murzuq, Murzug or Merzug ( ar, مرزق) is an oasis town and the capital of the Murzuq District in the Fezzan region of southwest Libya.Robinson, Harry (1960) "Murzuq" ''The Mediterranean Lands'' University Tutorial Press, London, p. 414 ...

and Zizau. A good high road is said to link Traghan to Zizau in the west, with frequent incrustations of salt.

History

Traghan by the 13th century was dominated by the Saifawa dynasty, a remarkable feat as Traghan lies 1380 kilometres from Njimi, the Saifawa capital. The Saifawa were said to have "gained control of the

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 ...

by establishing a post in the oasis of Traghan about twenty miles east of modern

and some seventy miles west-south-west of ancient Zawila." Traghan was approached by western explorers on 29 November 1822. In the late 1820s, Traghan was described as was formerly as considerable a place as

; and was, about sixty years ago, the residence of a sultan, who governed eastern Fezzan. It was described as being in a flat, desert plain, with gardens and date groves. It contained four mosques with small mud minarets and the houses were mostly large but in ruin. The population in the late 1820s was estimated to be 500-600 but it had previously been far more populous. Major Denham noted that the people of Traghan were exceptionally skilled in carpet making and their carpets rivaled those of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

. Hugh Murray later noted its fine carpets in the early 1850s. The town was the site of a battle between the

Libyan National Army The Libyan National Army (LNA; ar, الجيش الوطني الليبي, ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii'') is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa ...

and Chadian militants in 2018 during the

Second Libyan Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Second Libyan Civil War , partof = the Arab Winter, Libyan Crisis, Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, War on terror, and Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomatic conflict , image ...

References

Populated places in Murzuq District Sahara Baladiyat of Libya {{Libya-geo-stub