The Urban Geography of Benghazi
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Durham E-Theses The urban geography of Benghazi Bulugma, M. R. How to cite: Bulugma, M. R. (1964) The urban geography of Benghazi, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9559/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk THE URBAN GEOGRAPHY OP BENGHAZI By Hadi M.R. Bulugma, B.A., M.Litt. Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. of the University of Durham September 1964 Preface The .selection of the subject resulted from the desire to acquire detailed knowledge of the various problems of the urban geography of a town of my country. Detailed urban geographical studies in Libya do not exist despite their vital importance for future economic and social development, especially with the new prospects created by the discovery of oil. My grateful acknowledgments are rendered to Professor J.I. Clarke, who supervised my research for three years with a great degree of patience, and to Professor W.B. Fisher who kindly accepted me in his department. It would be ungracious of me not to recognize my debt to the officials of the Libyan University and to the Ministry of Education of Libya. Lastly, to the great number of individuals and institutions who helped in the provision of statistics, reports and maps I also offer my grateful thanks. H.M.E. Bulugma. -iii- CONTENTS Page Preface i - xiv Introduction Chapter I Position and Site 1 - 31. Chapter II The Evolution of Benghazi 3 2 - 80 Chapter III Benghazi Today 81 - 133 Chapter IV Land Use 134 - 148- Chapter V Functions 149- 233a Chapter VI Sphere of Influence 234 - 253• Chapter VII Population 254 - 318• Chapter VIII Growth of Social Services 319 - 342- Chapter IX Standards of Living 343 - 360 • Conclusion 361 - 363 Appendices 364 - 365 Bibliography 366 - 368 Summary 369 -iv- List of Maps and Diagrams 1. Location map with the municipal "boundaries 2. Climatic zones of Northern Cyrenaica 3. Geological map of Northern Cyrenaica k. Benghazi: ancient and modern 5. Benghazi: after the Beecheys 6. Benghazi: after Be Agostini 7. Beida 8. Plan of the Municipality land in Sabri 9. Water resources of Benghazi 10. Evolution of Benghazi 11. Flan of a modern Arab house 12. Plan of a block of council houses 13. Street pattern: old town Ik, Benghazi: sewerage and sewerage purification 15. Distribution of upper storey buildings 16. Distribution of main shops by main streets 17. Functions of Benghazi 18. Benghazi new harbour: after A. Romano 19. Benghazi harbour: after the International Bank 20. Distribution of main industries 21. Juliana chalet 22. Cyrenaica 23. Libyan population by size of family 2k. Distribution and size of population 19&k Census 25. Libyan Native population by Sex and Age -iva- 26. Population density of Benghazi 27. Benghazi General Hospital 28. Distribution of income groups by survey households List pf Plates I Consolidated dunes near the prison. II Piazza del Sale, photograph Benghazi Municipality. III Sabri: part of the Italian defensive wall. IV Benghazi's twin-domed Cathedral. V A typical street in the Arab town. VI The Customs Office. VII 19th century Municipality Square, photograph Benghazi Municipality. VIII A water seller in the Arab town. IX Fuehat water storage tank. X Well (G 3) near Benina Village. XI A view of Sabri shanty town. XII A cafe in the shanty town. XIII The western entrance of the Fonduk. XIV Suk el-Gerid. XV The Fish Market. XVI A well in Fuehat. XVII Conversion of residential premises into commercial ones. XVIII Juliana petroleum tank reservoirs. XIX Extensive damage to most moles. XX Part of the dock-yards. XXI Qhar Yunes Airport. XXII Brick manufacturing. XXIII A quarry in Fuehat. -va- XXIV Suk el-Dalara. XXV Charcoal in the Fonduk. XXVI Fruit and Vegetables in the Fonduk. -vi- List of Appendices Appendix 1. Fonduk Activities Appendix 2. Fonduk Activities -vii- INTRODUCTION Although the site of Benghazi has "been occupied since ancient times the development of the centre remained slow and erratic until the early decades of this century. The centre was almost certainly founded by Greek settlers from the Jebel at some time before 515 B.C. However, no certain reasons are yet known for the establishment of what was then known as Eusperides. Berenice replaced Eusperides. In the third century B.C. the city was re-named in honour of the wife of the Egyptian King Ptolomy III. Eusperides had direct sea communications and perhaps its effective defensive site developed serious defects because of the gradual silting up of the lagoon on which it was founded. The transfer from the old site was, therefore, inevitable. The recorded history of both the old and new centres is very scanty whilst the remains of the latter site, on which present Benghazi has developed, have been almost entirely consumed by the Islamic city which since the 15th century A.D. has occupied the site. However, both centres have failed to compete with the other Greek and later Roman centres on the Jebel as neither of them achieved the honour of being the capital of the Pentapolis. After the Roman occupation, and with the Arab conquest there came a new mode of life. Agriculture on the plateau and fortified military poajte^on/the fringe zone of the desert -viii- were no longer necessities. Within the city the walls were reconstructed by the Byzantines in the sixth century, hut city life does not seem to have lasted for more than two to three centuries after this, when the centre became one of the numerous.ruined sites and so remained until the middle of the 15th century. This time the revival was initiated by Tripolitanian:. merchants trading between Tripoli city and the eastern parts of Cyrenaica. The name Bernik used by some Arab geographers to refer to Berenice began to give way to that of Marsa Ibn Ghazi as early as the second half of the l6th century. The new name is no doubt that of a Moslem Saint of whom nothing is known except that .his tomb is thought to be somewhere in the main cemetery. During the long Turkish domination, Marsa Ibn Ghazi although it developed a new function as the seat of the Turkish provincial governors, in fact benefited very little and consequently remained in no way distinguished by the new development. Trade activities by Misuratans from Trlpolitania were far more important for the survival of the provincial capital. When the Italians took over the Cyrenaican littoral in 1911, Benghazi although characterized by its castle, great mosque, municipality and prison was still a small unplanned of town mostly of mud buildings with a population/under seventeen thousand. Suburbs were limited to a shanty town in the -ix- north and a few scattered agglomerations around the marabouts tombs in the south-east. There were no modern roads or railways and in fact land communication between the town proper and the south-east extensions of the later Berka and Fuehat quarters had only been built late last century. In reality Benghassi was merely a small isolated centre with no profound urban characteristics. The surrounding harsh landscape with a belt of almost continuous salt marshes immediately followed by a large semi-arid infertile plain did not revive the classical European outlook in choosing the capital for Cyrenaica. The Italians, surpris• ingly enough, were enthusiastic for the continuance of the political status of Turkish Benghazi. To this end, the face of African Benghazi had to be replaced by a character• istic face of the motherland. Thus, soon after their arrival, the Italians began to work out their ideas towards achieving this aim. Military and political circumstances, on the other hand, soon showed that the Italians had indeed underestimated the native resistance. The inevitable outcome was a delay of all intended development schemes. The new European Benghazi was therefore not built as quickly or as easily as the Italians had envisaged and in fact for the first time since the Byzantine period Benghazi had to be given a defensive wall. It is true that some changes were taking place, but -X- essentially the old town remained unchanged for almost two decades. The emergence of Italian Benghazi was therefore hound to he slow and limited in scale. The fact that development in the early years was fundamentally for military purposes, combined with the disadvantages of the available sites for conspicuous planned urban development may account for this. However, this does not mean that the Italians have not succeeded in creating a new Benghazi. On the contrary Benghazi of today owes much to Italian planning and initiative. It is true that the old remained along side the new: a feature which, no doubt, has been a handicap for comprehensive development. The Italian phase of develop• ment was unquestionably the most important event in the long history of the city. By the end of World War II Benghazi had been utterly devastated.