Traghan or Traghen ( ar, تراغن) is a small town in the Murzuk Desert in Murzuq District in southwest Libya. It is located east of Murzuk 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 Sayfawa dynasty, Sefouwa, Sefawa, or Sefuwa dynasty is the name of the Muslim kings (or ''mai'', as they called themselves) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire, centered first in Kanem in western Chad, and then, after 1380, in Borno (today north-easter ...

, a remarkable feat as Traghan lies 1380 kilometres from

Njimi Njimi was the capital of the Kanuri state of Kanem (later Kanem-Bornu), north of Lake Chad, from the 11th through the 14th centuries. Founded by the Sefawa dynasty in the 11th century, the town dominated trans-Saharan trade in ivory and slaves b ...

, the Saifawa capital. The Saifawa were said to have "gained control of the Fezzan by establishing a post in the oasis of Traghan about twenty miles east of modern Murzuk 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 Murzuk; 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 and

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Repub ...

ian 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