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Awjila (Berber: Awilan, Awjila, Awgila; أوجلة; Latin: Augila) is an oasis town in the Al Wahat District in the Cyrenaica region of northeastern Libya. Since classical times it has been known as a place where high quality dates are farmed. From the Arab conquest in the 7th century, Islam has played an important role in the community. The oasis is located on the east-west caravan route between Egypt and Tripoli, Libya, and on the north-south route between Benghazi and the Sahel between Lake Chad and Darfur, and in the past was an important trading center. It is the place after which the Awjila language, an Eastern Berber language, is named. The people cultivate small gardens using water from deep wells. Recently, the oil industry has become an increasingly important source of employment. Awjila and the adjoining oasis of Jalu are isolated, the only towns on the desert highway between Ajdabiya, to the northwest, and Kufra, to the southeast. An 1872 account describes the cluster of three oases: the Aujilah oasis, Jalloo (Jalu) to the east and Leshkerreh (Jikharra) to the northeast. Each oasis had a small hill covered in date palm trees, surrounded by a plain of red sand impregnated with salts of soda. Between them these oases had a population of 9,000 to 10,000 people. The people of the oasis are mainly Berber, and some still speak a Berber-origin language. As of 2005 the Awjila language was highly endangered. The Awjila (Augila) oasis is mentioned by Herodotus (c. 484 – 425 BC). He describes the nomadic Nasamones who migrated between the coasts of Syrtis Major and the Augila oasis, where they may have exacted tribute from the local people. Herodotus says it was a journey of ten days from the oasis of Ammonium, modern Siwa, to the oasis of Augila. This distance was confirmed by the German explorer Friedrich Hornemann (1772–1801), who covered the distance in nine days, although caravans normally take 13 days. In the summer the Nasamones left their flocks by the coast and travelled to the oasis to gather dates.

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Related concepts (8)

Awjila

Benghazi

Benghazi (bɛnˈɡɑːzi) (lit. Son of [the] Ghazi) is the second-most populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 1,207,250 in 2020. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean, Benghazi is also a major seaport. A Greek colony named Euesperides had existed in the area from around 525 BC. In the 3rd century BC, it was relocated and refounded as the Ptolemaic city of Berenice. Berenice prospered under the Romans, and after the 3rd century AD it superseded Cyrene and Barca as the centre of Cyrenaica.

Kufra

Kufra (ˈkuːfrə) is a basin and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of nineteenth century Kufra became the centre and holy place of the Senussi order. It also played a minor role in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. It is located in a particularly isolated area, not only because it is in the middle of the Sahara Desert but also because it is surrounded on three sides by depressions which make it dominate the passage in east-west land traffic across the desert.