Zuwarah

Zuwarah (Arabic: زوارة‎ Zuwāra, Berber: Tamurt n Wat Willul, Scots: Toun o the At-Willul) ^[1] is a port ceety in northwastren Libie, wi a population o 45,000. It is situatit 68 mile (109 km) wast o Tripoli an 37 mile (60 km) frae the Tunisian border. It is the caipital o the An Nuqat al Khams shabiyah (municipality). Its population mainly belangs tae the Ibadi branch o Islam, an speaks Zuara Berber, a Zenati Berber leid.

The Berber tribe o Zwara wis citit bi al-Bakri in the 11t century, thegither wi Louata, Lemaya, Nefusa, Mezata an Zouagha, as a tribe dwellin in the surroondins o the Gulf o Gabès.

The settlement wis first mentioned bi the traveller al-Tidjani in the years 1306-1309 as Zwara al-saghirah ("Little Zwarah").^[2] In a Catalan sailin manual (1375) it wis cried as Punta dar Zoyara, it later served as the wastren ootpost o Italian Libie (1912–43), being the terminus o the nou-defunct Italian Libya Railway frae Tripoli 65 mile (105 km) tae the east. Its airtificial harbour shelters a motorized fishin fleet. Cereals, dates, an esparto grass (uised tae make cordage, shoes, an paper) are local products.

The toun is mentioned bi Leo Africanus. It wis here in Zuwarah that Muammar al-Gaddafi first proclaimed the Libie "Cultural Revolution" in 1973.

1. ↑ Mitchell (2007: 29, 195).
2. ↑ "Voyage du Scheikh Et-Tidjani dans la régence de Tunis pendant les années 706, 707 et 708 de l'hégire (1306-1309)", transl. by M. A. Rousseau, Journal Asiatique 1853, p. 121.

• Terence Frederick Mitchell, Ferhat. An Everyday Story of Berber Folk in and around Zuara (Libya), Köln, Köppe, 2007 - ISBN 978-3-89645-396-9

• offeecial Zuwara wabsteid Archived 2020-01-29 at the Wayback Machine - in Arabic

Coordinates: 32°56′N 12°05′E / 32.933°N 12.083°E / 32.933; 12.083