Zuwarah, or Zuwara or Zwara (

Berber language The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight,, ber, label=Tuareg Tifinagh, ⵜⵎⵣⵗⵜ, ) are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related languages spoken by Berber commun ...

: At Willul or Zwara, ) is a coastal Berber-speaking city in

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 ...

. Zuwara or At Willul is famous for its beaches and seafood. It is situated west of

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 ...

and from the

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

n border. It is the capital of the

Nuqat al Khams Nuqat al Khams ( ar, النقاط الخمس ''Nuqāṭ al Ḫams'') is one of the districts of Libya. It is in the northwest of the country, in what had been the historical region of Tripolitania. Its capital is Zuwara. Nuqat al Khams has a nor ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

. Its population speaks

Zuwara Berber Zuwara Berber or Twillult language (also: ''Zuara'', ''Zwara'', (Berber name: Twillult, ⵝⵡⵉⵍⵍⵓⵍⵝ) is a Berber dialect, one of the Berber Zenati languages. It is spoken in Zuwara city, located on the coast of western Tripolitania ...

, a Zenati

. Zuwarah consists of 49 districts.

History

The settlement was first mentioned by the traveller

Abdallah al-Tijani Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Tijānī ( 1275–1311) was a chancery official and author in the Hafsid Caliphate. He is best known for his ''Riḥla'', an account of his travels in 1306–1309 and a detailed descriptio ...

in the years 1306-1309 as ''Zwara al-saghirah'' ("Little Zwarah"). In the

Catalan Atlas The Catalan Atlas ( ca, Atles català, ) is a medieval world map, or mappamundi, created in 1375 that has been described as the most important map of the Middle Ages in the Catalan language, and as "the zenith of medieval map-work". It was pro ...

(1375) it was called as Punta dar Zoyara. The town is mentioned by

Leo Africanus Joannes Leo Africanus (born al-Hasan Muhammad al-Wazzan, ar, الحسن محمد الوزان ; c. 1494 – c. 1554) was an Andalusian diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later ...

in the 16th century. It later served as the western outpost of

Italian Libya Libya ( it, Libia; ar, ليبيا, Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of the Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica ...

(1912–43), being the terminus of the now-defunct Italian Libya Railway from Tripoli to the east. Its artificial harbour shelters a motorized fishing fleet. Cereals, dates, and

esparto Esparto, halfah grass, or esparto grass is a fiber produced from two species of perennial grasses of north Africa, Spain and Portugal. It is used for crafts, such as cords, basketry, and espadrilles. ''Stipa tenacissima'' and ''Lygeum spartum ...

grass (used to make cordage, shoes, and paper) are local products. It was in 1973 in Zuwara that

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

first proclaimed the Libyan "Cultural Revolution".

2011 Libyan civil war

During the

2011 Libyan Civil War The First Libyan Civil War was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. It erupted with the Liby ...

, the city was reported by

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

to be under control of the local

anti-Gaddafi forces The anti-Gaddafi forces were Libyan groups that opposed and militarily defeated the government of Muammar Gaddafi, killing him in the process. These opposition forces included organized and armed militia groups, participants in the Libyan Civil ...

on 23 February 2011, and lost by the government of

. Thousands of anti-government protesters, gathered in the Zuwara town square on 24 February, repulsed another

Libyan Army The Libyan Army ( ar, الجيش الليبي) is the brand for a number of separate military forces in Libya, which are under the command of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). Since December 2015 the groups of t ...

attempt to retake the city. Loyalist forces used the pro-government towns of Jumayl and Riqdalin to the south as bases for their attacks on the city. However, from March onwards, the city was under the control of loyalist forces. Amidst the August rebel coastal offensive, rebels took Zuwara on 18 August. In September 2011, and following the fall of the Gaddafi government, Zuwara was the first City in Libya to democratically elect its local council."The voice of Libya's minorities"
; November, 2011

Climate

Zuwara has a

hot semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(

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 ...

''BSh'').

References

Sources

Terence Frederick Mitchell Terence Frederick Mitchell (3 May 1919 – 1 January 2007), commonly known as T. F. Mitchell, was a British linguist and Professor of Linguistics and Phonetics at the University of Leeds. Biography Mitchell was born in Devon and educated at T ...

, ''Ferhat. An Everyday Story of Berber Folk in and around Zuara (Libya)'', Köln, Köppe, 2007 -

External links