Waddan, Libya Explained

Official Name:Waddan
Other Name:Ueddan
Native Name:ودان
Pushpin Map:Libya
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Libya
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Libya
Subdivision Type1:Region
Subdivision Name1:Fezzan
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Jufra
Unit Pref:Imperial
Population As Of:2004
Population Footnotes:[1]
Population Total:27590
Population Blank1 Title:Ethnicities
Population Blank2 Title:Religions
Timezone:EET
Utc Offset:+2
Coordinates:29.1611°N 16.1436°W
Elevation Footnotes:[2]
Elevation M:246
Elevation Ft:807

Waddan (Arabic: ودان, Italian: Ueddan) is an oasis town of the Sahara Desert in the northeast Fezzan region of southwest Libya, in the Jufra District. It was an important town on the ancient trade routes across the Sahara.

Geography

Waddan is the oldest city in Jufra District located 230km (140miles) south of Sirte, and 19km (12miles) northeast of Hun. The town is at the crossroads of the Sirte-Waddan Road and the Fezzan Road.

The natural springs support native date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) groves.

History

In the Seventh Century C.E., Waddan was the primary town among the oasis settlements in the al-Jufra area.[3] It was captured for Islam during the southern excursion of Amr ibn al-As in 642 C.E. by commander Bishr ibn Arta’t, although he only extracted tribute and didn't garrison the town.[4] However, the nephew of Amr ibn al-As, Uqba ibn Nafi, reconquered Waddan in 666-667, and established a military post there.[5]

During the Libyan Civil War, NATO forces bombed an ammunition store in the town.[6] On 8 September 2011, the town was reported to be under the control of forces allied with the National Transitional Council.[7]

Although the Libyan government had declared in 2014 that it has destroyed all of its chemical weapons,[8] after the fall of Gaddafi and the start of the Libyan civil wars additional chemical weapons were discovered.[9] While the Libyan civil wars raged, some were destroyed at the GEKA facility in Germany,[10] but the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency established a chemical munitions elimination facility in Waddan, where they destroyed 570 chemical weapons over the course of its operation.

Economy

The economy of the town is based primarily on the production of dates, the fruit of Phoenix dactylifera. It is a travel stop on the road from Sirte to Hun and Sawknah, and boasts its Waddan Tourist Park. Since Roman times it has been a stop on the trade route down to Chad.[11] [12]

Waddan has geothermal resources that have yet to be exploited.[13]

Archaeology

Above the town, in the upper stretches of Wadi Waddan, there are paleolithic rock art sites.[14]

In Waddan are the pre-Islamic underground water irrigation channels or foggaras (al-Faqarat),[15] as well as a number of circular tombs. The pre-Ottoman Arab fortress (Toza)[16] has not been fully excavated. The ruins of the ancient cities of Bossi and Dalbak lie one kilometer southwest of Waddan.

References

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Waddan, Jufra, Libya . Wolfram Alpha .
  2. Web site: Waddan topographic map . World topographic map . 10 November 2023.
  3. Book: Mattingly . David J. . Sterry . Martin J. . Rayne . Louise . Al-Haddad . Muftah . 2020 . Pre-Islamic Oasis Settlements in the Eastern Sahara . Sterry . Martin J. . Mattingly . David J. . Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond . Trans-Saharan Archaeology . Cambridge, England . Cambridge University Press . 112–146, on pages 132–133 . 978-1-108-49444-1 .
  4. News: LibyaMohammed . 27 May 2021 . The city of Waddan . The Libya Observer . https://web.archive.org/web/20210528120026/https://libyaobserver.ly/culture/city-waddan . 28 May 2021 . live .
  5. Book: Cunliffe, Barry W. . 2023 . Facing the Sea of Sand: The Sahara and the Peoples of Northern Africa . Oxford, England . Oxford University Press . 198 . 978-0-19-285888-7 .
  6. News: Reuters . Libyan rebels take new villages in Western Mountains . 15 June 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160310222038/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110615 . 10 March 2016 . live .
  7. News: Alexander . Caroline . Stephen . Chris . 8 September 2011 . Libya Fighters Tighten Noose Around Holdouts . . https://web.archive.org/web/20121106150935/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-07/libya-fighters-occupy-town-close-to-qaddafi-loyalist-stronghold-of-sirte.html . 6 November 2012 . live .
  8. Web site: Libya: Chemical . Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) .
  9. Web site: Chaney . Andrea . 11 August 2021 . DTRA's Cooperative Threat Reduction Historic Mission in Libya . Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) . https://web.archive.org/web/20210811143552/https://www.dvidshub.net/news/402832/dtras-cooperative-threat-reduction-historic-mission-libya . 11 August 2021 .
  10. Web site: The OPCW coordinated a complex and agile international effort for a chemical weapons-free Libya . 11 January 2018 . Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) .
  11. Wilson . Andrew . 2012 . Saharan trade in the Roman period: short-, medium-and long-distance trade networks . Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa . 47 . 4 . 409–449 . 10.1080/0067270X.2012.727614 . 162330439 .
  12. Magnavita . Carlos . Dangbet . Zakinet . Bouimon . Tchago . 2019 . The Lake Chad region as a crossroads: an archaeological and oral historical research project on early Kanem-Borno and its intra-African connections . Afrique: Archéologie & Arts . 15 . 15 . 97–110, page 5 . 10.4000/aaa.2654 . free .
  13. Masheiti . Salah . Agnew . Brian . 2010 . Thermodynamic Simulation Modelling of Low-Temperature Geothermal Source Located in Arid-Zone Area North Africa . Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (JJMIE) . 4 . 1 . 61–68 . Hashemite University .
  14. Menardi Noguera . Alessandro . Soffiantini . Michele . 2008 . The rock-art sites of the upper Wadi Waddan (Jebel Uweinat, Libya) . Sahara: Prehistory and History of the Sahara . 19 . 109–128 . Segrate . Milan, Italy . abstract
  15. Rayne . Louise . etal . 2020 . Detecting Change at Archaeological Sites in North Africa Using Open-Source Satellite Imagery . Remote Sensing . 12 . 22 (3694) . 1–29, page 3 . 10.3390/rs12223694 . free . 2020RemS...12.3694R .
  16. McGregor . Andrew . 2016 . The Strategic Topography of Southern Libya . CTC Sentinel . 9 . 5 . 21–22 .

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