Fezzan

Fezzan: see Fazzan, historic region, Libya.

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Fezzan

 Arabic Fazzan ancient Phazania

Historic region, southwestern Libya. A part of the Sahara, most of its inhabitants dwell in oases in the interior. Central and southern Fezzan are noted for the cultivation of date palms, which cover several hundred thousand acres scattered in numerous oases. It was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC and by the Arabs in the 7th century AD. The Ottomans made it part of their empire in 1842. Fezzan was amalgamated with Tripolitania and Cyrenaica by the Italians in 1912, and it later became a province of the United Kingdom of Libya (1951–63). Thereafter it was part of Libya.

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Fezzan

a region of SW Libya, in the Sahara: a former province (until 1963)

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Fezzan 

a historic region in Libya. According to Herodotus, the Garamantes, Ummidians, and other ancient tribes lived in the Fezzan. The distant location of the tribes from the sea enabled them to repulse incursions by the Romans, Vandals, and other invaders. With the influx of the Arabs in the seventh century, Islam spread throughout the Fezzan. Although the various parts of the region were incorporated into several medieval Arab states, to a certain extent the Fezzan enjoyed de facto autonomy. After the Ottoman Empire seized the coastal regions of Libya in 1551, the population of the Fezzan continued to resist the Turks for more than 30 years. A major anti-Turkish uprising took place in the area between 1838 and 1842. In the second half of the 19th century, the Sanussis exercised great influence there. During and after the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12, the population of the Fezzan offered stubborn resistance to Italian troops, and Italy did not succeed in taking possession of the area until 1930. The region was occupied by French troops from 1943 until their withdrawal in 1956.

From late 1951 to 1963 the Fezzan was one of the three provinces of independent Libya, the other two being Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. With the introduction of the new administrative division of Libya in 1963, the Fezzan was abolished as an independent administrative unit and was divided into the muhafazat (governorates) Ubari and Sebha.