 Satellite photo of the El-Kufra Valley | ||
| El-Kufra · الكفرة | ||
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El-Kufra (also Cufra, Arabic:الكفرة, al-Kufra) is a depression and a group of oases in the region of Kufra (Schaʿbīyat el-Kufra) in the southern Cyrenaica 950 kilometers south of Benghazi in Libya. The depression is known today because of the local irrigation and agricultural projects and as a contact point for refugees from the southern regions of Africa. Around 40,000 people live in the valley.
places
- el-Jauf (el-Jauf, el-Jawf, Arabic:الجوف, al-Ǧauf, „the center“) - capital and administrative center of the valley and region of el-Kufra.
Other goals
- Buema (also Buma, Qaret en-Nasrani (Hill of the Christians)) - oasis east of el-Jauf. This is where the el-Kufra airfield is located.
- Et-Tāg (Arabic:التوج, at-Tūǧ, „the crown“) - village founded in 1895. Holy place of Sanūsī brotherhood, as there are several graves of the Sanūsī family here.
- Et-Tleilīb (also et-Tallāb) - Oasis 20 kilometers southwest of El-Jauf.
- Ez-Zurgh - Uninhabited oasis 4 kilometers south of el-Jauf.
background
location
El-Kufra is an approximately 8,800 square kilometer, roughly elliptical depression in southeast Libya. It extends about 50 kilometers from southwest to northeast. Their width reaches up to 20 kilometers.
Naming
The name el-Kufra derives from the Arabic word kafir (Arabic:كافر), The Arabic term for non-Muslims or people who reject the Islamic faith. The origin for this is likely to be found in the non-Muslim Tubu Bedouins who once lived here.
history
It is possible that the valley has been inhabited since the ancient Egyptian Empire. There was a caravan route at that time, the Abū Ballāṣ path, which is roughly in ʿAin Aṣīl started and about that Gilf Kebir Plateau to the Gebel el-ʿUweināt or led to el-Kufra. The stretch from ʿAin Aṣīl to the Gilf Kebir Plateau is already occupied by numerous sites.[1]
The first literary mention comes from the Arab historian in 1154 Muḥammad al-Idrīsī (around 1100–1166). He found the depression orphaned, but stated that it was once inhabited and flourished.[2]Leo Africanus (1490 – after 1550) reported a country named Berdoathat was crossed by a caravan.
The original population, the Tebu Beduins, were expelled or colonized in 1730 after the incursions of the Arabized Berber tribe of the ez-Zuwayya.
In 1895 the followers of the Sanūsī Brotherhood were expelled from the Libyan el-Ǧaghbūb by the Ottomans. They settled in el-Kufra and built it up as their new center.
Since 1911 the Italians tried to get el-Kufra into their sphere of influence, but met the bitter resistance of the Sanūsī brotherhood here. The Italians had Kufra bombed since the beginning of 1930. But it was not until January 19, 1931 that Italian troops under General succeeded Rodolfo Graziani (1882–1955) the taking. This conquest hit the headlines of the international press: The London "Times" reported under the title "Flight from Kufra",[3] that three men of the tribe of ez-Zuwayya entered the police station Tineida after being dated for 21 days Gebel el-ʿUweināt had walked 420 miles (676 kilometers) through the desert to get help for their tribe members.
The Italians built an airport here and built a camp at et-Tāg. During the Second World War it was quite possible that the Italians could have intervened in the German-Italian campaign in Africa from here. To forestall this, the area in south-west Egypt was taken over by the British Long Range Desert Group explored. In March 1941, el-Kufra was made by the troops coming from Chad Forces françaises libres (Free French Forces) under General Philippe de Hauteclocque (1902–1947) besieged and captured. As a result, el-Kufra served the Allies as a base.
With Libya's independence, the armed forces were also forced to leave the country.
Since the 1970s, several irrigation projects have been initiated that draw their water from fossil groundwater. In recent years, however, the groundwater level has sunk massively, so that the risk of the depression drying out is realistic.
In recent times el-Kufra has been used as a stopover for numerous African emigrants whose final destination is Europe.
Adventurer and explorer
There were few Europeans in the past who got as far as el-Kufra. The first European was the German Africa explorer Gerhard Rohlfs (1831-1896), who came to el-Kufra in 1879 after several unsuccessful attempts with the support of the African Society.[4] The followers of the Sanūsī brotherhood made further visits hardly possible since 1895. Only Italian troops succeeded in conquering the valley in 1931.
economy
The main branch of the economy is agriculture. The fossil water is brought to the circular fields by 1 kilometer irrigation systems.
language
getting there
An almost 1000 kilometers long trunk road leads from Ajdabiya near the Mediterranean coast to el-Kufra.
The 1 Airport of el-Kufra
(IATA: AKF, 24 ° 10 '36 "N.23 ° 18 ′ 48 ″ E) is rarely used in the east. It is only served by Libyan Arab Airlines.
Tourist Attractions
- Et-Tāg:
- Zāwiya, mosque of the Sanūsī Brotherhood with an octagonal minaret. Graves of the Sanūsī family.
- Some cannons from the former Italian fortress
activities
mobility
kitchen
accommodation
security
respect
climate
health
Practical advice
literature
- : Italian Touring Club Guide: Libia. Milano: Touring Club Italiano, 1937 (2nd edition) (in Italian).
Individual evidence
- ↑: With donkeys, jars and water bags into the Libyan Desert: the Abu Ballas Trail in the late Old Kingdom / First Intermediate Period. In:British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan (BMSAES), vol.7 (2007), Pp. 1–36, especially table on page 15, PDF.
- ↑: Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African history. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1981, Fontes historiae Africanae: Series Arabica; 4th, P. 125.
- ↑Correspondent: Imperial and Foreign News: Flight from Kufra; Fugitives In The Desert, The Times
, Monday 25 May 1931, issue 45831, p. 9, columns A and B. - ↑: Kufra: trip from Tripoli to the Kufra oasis; executed on behalf of the African Society in Germany by Gerhard Rohlfs. Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1881.
