Jebel Akhdar (Libya) on:
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The Jebel Akhdar ( ar, الجبل الأخضر , en, The Green Mountain) is a heavily forested, fertile upland area in northeastern
In marked contrast to the aridity prevailing in most of Libya, there are forested areas in this region totalling around 3200 km2, although approximately a third of the original forest has already been destroyed to make way for agriculture. In addition to the forests there are also large areas of maquis and steppe-like vegetation. Typical maquis species are the Phoenician juniper (''Juniperus phoenicea''), the mastic tree (''Pistacia lentiscus''), the Kermes oak (''Quercus coccifera'') and the carob tree (''Ceratonia siliqua''). In the drier steppe-like areas, branched asphodel (''Asphodelus ramosus''), prickly burnet (Sarcopoterium spinosum) and white wormwood (''Artemisia herba-alba'') predominate.El-Darier, S.M., El-Mogaspi, F.M. "Ethnobotany and Relative Importance of Some Endemic Plant Species at El-Jabal El-Akhdar Region (Libya)" ''World Journal of Agricultural Sciences'' Band 5, Nr. 3, 2009
More than half of the endemic plant species in Libya are to be found in the Jebel Akhdar and, of these, seven are found only in the region: ''
The Jebel Akhdar ( ar, الجبل الأخضر , en, The Green Mountain) is a heavily forested, fertile upland area in northeastern 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 the east, Suda ...
. It is located in the modern ''shabiyahs'' or districts of Derna, Jabal al Akhdar
Jabal al Akhdar or The Green Mountain ( ') is one of the districts of Libya. It lies in the north east of the country. The capital is Bayda. In its territory, close to the city of Shahhat, can be found the remains of the old Greek colony of C ...
, and Marj.
Geography
The Jebel Akhdar consists of a mountainousplateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
rising to an altitude of , cut by several valleys and wadi
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...
s. It forms the north-western part of the peninsula that sticks north into 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 ...
, with the Gulf of Sidra on the west, and the Levantine Basin
The Levantine Sea (Arabic: بحر الشام, tr, Levanten Denizi, el, Θάλασσα του Λεβάντε) is the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea.
Geography
The Levantine Sea is bordered by Turkey in the north and north-east co ...
on the east. It runs from Bengazi
Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη ('' Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghaz ...
eastward to just east of Derna, fronting the coast for about . Due to erosion and deposition the plateau is sometimes as much as from the shore, but it forms cliffs on the headlands. The final uplift and arching of the plateau was completed in the Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
.
The region is one of the very few forested areas of Libya, which taken as a whole is one of the least forested countries on Earth. It is the wettest part of Libya, receiving some of precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
annually. The high rainfall contributes to the area's large forests containing Chammari
''Arbutus unedo'' is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe. The tree is well known for its fruits, which bear some resemblance to the strawberry — hence the common name ...
, and enables rich fruit, potato, and cereal agriculture, something of a rarity in an arid country like Libya. Camels, goats and sheep are herded in and around the Jebel Akhdar and the herders tend to be nomadic.
Flora
In marked contrast to the aridity prevailing in most of Libya, there are forested areas in this region totalling around 3200 km2, although approximately a third of the original forest has already been destroyed to make way for agriculture. In addition to the forests there are also large areas of maquis and steppe-like vegetation. Typical maquis species are the Phoenician juniper (''Juniperus phoenicea''), the mastic tree (''Pistacia lentiscus''), the Kermes oak (''Quercus coccifera'') and the carob tree (''Ceratonia siliqua''). In the drier steppe-like areas, branched asphodel (''Asphodelus ramosus''), prickly burnet (Sarcopoterium spinosum) and white wormwood (''Artemisia herba-alba'') predominate.El-Darier, S.M., El-Mogaspi, F.M. "Ethnobotany and Relative Importance of Some Endemic Plant Species at El-Jabal El-Akhdar Region (Libya)" ''World Journal of Agricultural Sciences'' Band 5, Nr. 3, 2009
More than half of the endemic plant species in Libya are to be found in the Jebel Akhdar and, of these, seven are found only in the region: ''Arbutus pavarii
''Arbutus pavarii'' is a species of plant in the heath family. It is endemic to Libya's Jebel Akhdar range in coastal Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή παρχίαKurēnaïk ...
'', ''Arum cyrenaicum
''Arum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to Europe, northern Africa, and western and central Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region. Frequently called arum lilies, they are not closely ...
'', '' Bellis sylvestris var. cyrenaica'', ''Cyclamen rohlfsianum
''Cyclamen rohlfsianum'' is a species of perennial plant in the family Primulaceae. It is endemic to Libya. It grows from a tuber in shrubland, especially in limestone cracks, up to above sea level. It is one of the tenderest cyclamen species. ...
'', ''Cynara cyrenaica
''Cynara'' is a genus of thistle-like perennial plants in the family Asteraceae. They are native to the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, northwestern Africa, and the Canary Islands. The genus name comes from the Greek ''kynara'', which mea ...
'', ''Onopordum cyrenaicum
''Onopordum'', or cottonthistle, is a genus of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. They are native to southern Europe, northern Africa, the Canary Islands, the Caucasus, and southwest and central Asia. They grow on disturb ...
'' and ''Romulea cyrenaica
''Romulea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1772. It is distributed in Europe, the Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa.Al-Sodany, Yassin, Shehata, M.N. and Shaltout, Kamal Hussein "Vegetation along an elevation gradient in Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar, Libya" January 2003 ''Ecologia Mediterranea'' 29(2):125-138
Documents created during the New Kingdom of
Image:The outskirts of the city of Bayda - Libya..jpg, Area near the centre of Jebel Akhdar, (The outskirts of the city of Bayda).
Image:Derna 5.jpg, Eastern end of Jebel Akhdar, (near Derna).
Image:Al Marj escarpment4.JPG, Marj escarpment area.
Image:Al Bakour bridge1.JPG, Al Bakour escarpment area.
Image:Al Bakour 1.jpg, Al Bakour at the western end of Jebel Akhdar, near Taucheira).
Image:Jebel Akhdar deforestation.jpg, An example of the severe soil erosion which can result from
File:Quercus coccifera - Kermes oak, Adana 2016-11-27 01-1.jpg, ''
File:Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) - cropped.jpg, Striped hyena (''Hyaena hyaena'')
File:Fox - British Wildlife Centre (17429406401).jpg, Red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'')
File:A female common genet in the dining room, Satao Camp.jpg, Common genet (''Genetta genetta'')
File:Herpestes ichneumon Египетский мангуст, или фараонова крыса, или ихневмо́н.jpg, Egyptian mongoose (''Herpestes ichneumon'')
File:Atelerix algirus.jpg, North African hedgehog (''Atelerix algirus'')
File:Petrosaltator rozeti-Zootaxa.jpg,
History
Ancient
Documents created during the New Kingdom of Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
record that to the west there were large populations of metal workers who lived in towns and had plentiful livestock. The only plausible location for these "Libyans" is the Jebel Akhdar.
The ancient Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
colony of Cyrene was located in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar, with the ruins remaining. It was the Greeks who introduced farming to the Jebal Akhdar when they colonised its verdant valleys in around 600 BC.
Italian occupation
During the Italian occupation these mountains were identified as a promising area for agriculture and many Italians moved here in the 1930s. This settlement was interrupted during World War II and the villages and farms were deserted and were later reoccupied by Libyans. The mountain chain was the site of major battles between the British Commonwealth and the Axis forces during World War II.Liberation
The Libyan leaderOmar al-Mukhtar
Omar al-Mukhṭār Muḥammad bin Farḥāṭ al-Manifī ( ar, عُمَر الْمُخْتَار مُحَمَّد بِن فَرْحَات الْمَنِفِي ; 20 August 1858 – 16 September 1931), called The Lion of the Desert, known among ...
used this heavily forested mountainous region to resist the Italian colonization of Libya
The Italian colonization of Libya began in 1911 and it lasted until 1943. The country, which was previously an Ottoman possession, was occupied by Italy in 1911 after the Italo-Turkish War, which resulted in the establishment of two colonies: It ...
for more than twenty years.
Galleries
Landscapes
deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...
in the Jebel Akhdar (near Wadi el Kuf Bridge
Wadi el Kuf Bridge (Formal Arabic: , ''Jisr Wadi Al Kuf''), is a bridge located 20 km west of Bayda, Libya. It is the second highest bridge in Africa.
It was designed by Italian civil engineer Riccardo Morandi. Construction of the bridge be ...
).Flora
Quercus coccifera
''Quercus coccifera'', the kermes oak, is an oak bush in the ''Ilex'' section of the genus. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, south to north from Morocco to France and west to east from Portugal to Cyprus an ...
'' ( Fagaceae)
File:Viburnum tinus. Fiyáu (flores).jpg, '' Viburnum tinus'' (Adoxaceae
Adoxaceae, commonly known as moschatel family, is a small family of flowering plants in the order Dipsacales, now consisting of five genera and about 150–200 species. They are characterised by opposite toothed leaves, small five- or, more rare ...
)
File:Myrtus communis12.jpg, '' Myrtus communis'' ( Myrtaceae)
File:Ceratonia siliqua Keciboynuzu 1370984 Nevit.jpg, '' Ceratonia siliqua'' ( Fabaceae)
File:Retama raetam Jardin botanico Barcelona.jpg, ''Retama raetam
''Retama raetam'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to northern Africa from the Western Sahara to Sudan, Sicily, Israel, Sinai Peninsula, the Palestine region and Saudi Arabia, and widely naturalized elsewhere.
F ...
'' (Fabaceae)
File:Pistacia lentiscus.jpg, '' Pistacia lentiscus'' (Anacardiaceae
The Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the cashew family or sumac family, are a family of flowering plants, including about 83 genera with about 860 known species. Members of the Anacardiaceae bear fruits that are drupes and in some cases produce ...
)
File:Lycium shawii.jpg, '' Lycium shawii'' ( Solanaceae)
File:Rhamnus lycioides fruits.JPG, ''Rhamnus lycioides
''Rhamnus lycioides'', the black hawthorn, European buckthorn, or Mediterranean buckthorn, is a shrub up to about 1 metre tall in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It is found in the Mediterranean region, in southern Europe and northern Africa ...
'' ( Rhamnaceae)
File:Juniperus phoenicea berries.jpg, ''Juniperus phoenicea
''Juniperus phoenicea'', the Phoenicean juniper or Arâr, is a juniper found throughout the Mediterranean region.
Description
''Juniperus phoenicea'' is a large shrub or small tree reaching tall, with a trunk up to in diameter and a rounded o ...
'' ( Cupressaceae)
File:Artemisa herba alba floratrek2013.jpg, ''Artemisia herba-alba
''Artemisia herba-alba'', the white wormwood, is a perennial shrub in the genus '' Artemisia'' that grows commonly on the dry steppes of the Mediterranean regions in Northern Africa (Saharan Maghreb), Western Asia (Arabian Peninsula) and South ...
'' (Asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
)
File:Cichorium spinosum Pembroke Range Malta 05 06 2010 05.jpg, '' Cichorium spinosum'' (Asteraceae)
File:Limoniastrum monopetalum 2.JPG, '' Limoniastrum monopetalum'' (Plumbaginaceae
Plumbaginaceae is a family of flowering plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. The family is sometimes referred to as the leadwort family or the plumbago family.
Most species in this family are perennial herbaceous plants, but a few grow ...
)
File:Sarcopoterium spinosum fruit RJP 02.jpg, ''Sarcopoterium spinosum
''Sarcopoterium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family. The genus is sometimes considered synonymous to ''Poterium''. The sole species within this genus, ''Sarcopoterium spinosum'', is common to the southeast Mediterranean region a ...
'' ( Rosaceae)
File:Crucianella maritima 1.JPG, '' Crucianella maritima'' (Rubiaceae
The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules a ...
)
File:Suaeda mollis kz1.JPG, '' Suaeda vermiculata'' (Amaranthaceae
Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...
)
File:Marrubium vulgare flowerhead12 QNR (15715443619).jpg, ''Marrubium vulgare
''Marrubium vulgare'' (white horehound or common horehound) is a flowering plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae), native to Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern and central Asia. It is also widely naturalized in many places, including most of ...
'' ( Lamiaceae)
File:Cyclamen rohlfsianum02.jpg, ''Cyclamen rohlfsianum
''Cyclamen rohlfsianum'' is a species of perennial plant in the family Primulaceae. It is endemic to Libya. It grows from a tuber in shrubland, especially in limestone cracks, up to above sea level. It is one of the tenderest cyclamen species. ...
'' (Myrsinaceae
Myrsinoideae is a subfamily of the family Primulaceae in the order Ericales. It was formerly recognized as the family Myrsinaceae, or the myrsine family, consisting of 35 genera and about 1000 species. It is widespread in temperate to tropical ...
). Endemic species
File:Asphodelus ramosus in Haifa.jpg, ''Asphodelus ramosus
''Asphodelus ramosus'', the branched asphodel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the order Asparagales. Similar in appearance to ''Asphodelus albus'' and particularly '' Asphodelus cerasiferus'' and '' Asphodelus aestivus'', it may be distingui ...
'' (Asphodelaceae
Asphodelaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Asparagales. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists, but the circumscription has varied widely. In its current circumscription in the APG IV system, it includes about 4 ...
'')
File:Pacratium maritimum Paestum.jpg, ''Pancratium maritimum
''Pancratium maritimum'', or sea daffodil, is a species of bulbous plant native to the Canary Islands and both sides of the Mediterranean region and Black Sea from Portugal, Morocco and the Balearic Islands east to Turkey, Syria, Israel and t ...
'' ( Amaryllidaceae)
Fauna
North African elephant shrew
The North African elephant shrew (''Petrosaltator rozeti'') or North African sengi is a species of elephant shrew in the family Macroscelididae. It is found in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, and (since the extinction of the North African e ...
(''Petrosaltator rozeti'')See also
* Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe – ''lower elevations'' * Mediterranean woodlands and forests – ''higher elevations''References
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 Geographical areas Natural regions Mountains of Libya Jabal al Akhdar Derna District Cyrenaica Geography of Libya