a historic region in Libya. In the seventh century B.C., Greek cities were founded along the coast of Cyrenaica, the largest being Cyrene. From the sixth to the fourth century B.C. the region was part of the Achaemenid Empire. It was later incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great. After Alexander’s death, Cyrenaica was under the rule of the Ptolemies. In the first century B.C., it became a Roman province; it subsequently was under Byzantine rule. In A.D. 640–650, Cyrenaica was conquered by the Arabs, and in the 16th century it fell to the Turks.
After the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12, the Italians occupied part of Cyrenaica; they annexed the remainder of the territory in 1928. The region, together with Tripolitania and Fezzan, later formed the Italian colony of Libya. At the end of World War II (1939–45), Cyrenaica was occupied by British forces, who established a large military base there; the base was closed after the revolutionary coup in Libya in 1969. From 1951 (December) to 1963, Cyrenaica was one of the three provinces of Libya. With the introduction of new administrative divisions, the region ceased to exist as an independent unit and was divided into the muhafazat (governorships) of Benghazi, Darnah, and Al Jabal al Akhdar.