Welcome to The Home of Temehu Tourism Services: Zuwarah

There are many fantastic beaches of pure golden sand and clear turquoise water spread along Libya’s northern coast, the most significant of which are those found west and east of the city of Zuwarah (or Zwara), and west of Sabratha and Telil; extending all the way to the Tunisian border. These are great beaches of soft white sand, tall palms and sandy hills. Hence the area was chosen for Libya’s Free Trade Zone as an ideal transit platform for companies seeking to export to Africa, Europe and Asia.

The Name Zwara

The origin of the name Zwara is not possible to answer at present, but the current form of the name, which some writers linked with Roman Casas, appeared for the first time in recorded history as  the Punta dar Zoyara  in a Catalan sailing manual, dated 1375 AD. Just under two centuries later, In 1550 AD, it was mentioned as Zoara by the Berber geographer and Traveller Leo Africanus in his Description de l’Afrique. Before that, the 12th century North African Ibn Khaldun seemed certain to connect it with the other Berber variant tribal names, like Hawarra, who according to Ibn A'bd al-H'akam (Futuh' Ifriqiya wa'l Andalus) established themselves at Leptis Magna, and who according to Ibn Khaldun lived in the province of Tripoli (or Tripolitania) in 700 AD. However, other, more ancient forms of the name were mentioned by other historians and writers, but yet to be taken seriously,  like the pre-historic Tripolitanian Berber tribe Ausorianes, mentioned by Herodotus as a western Libyan tribe. The fact that the name of the ancient Aussian tribe, mentioned by Herodotus to had held ceremonies in honour of the Libyan Goddess Neith around Lake Tritonis, is closely related to the present day sea festival of Awessu in Zwara (see Festivals for more on this) - which is only about 50 miles away from where Lake Tritonis once was.

Presently, the name Zwara is often written in various forms, which although are not totally dissimilar, they are nonetheless confusing when running search queries in the Internet or in library catalogues. There are several reason for this, like dialectical differences and lack of dictionaries. The native Berber population of Zwara call their city Tamort or Tamourt, which means 'earth', 'land', 'town' and 'country', and themselves Aitwilloul, the singular of which is Willoul.  The form Zwara is generally written by the natives of Zwara; and Zowara, Zuwara and Zouara are generally used by Libyans. Zuwarah or Zowarah is : generally used internationally, by writers, Google, Encyclopedia Britannica, etc., in their effort to directly translate how the word is written in Arabic, although the /h/ (which is written as /t/ in Arabic) at the end of the word is not pronounced in Libya.

The Arab writer al-Bakari (11^th century) informs us that the Berber tribes Zwagha, Zwara and Nafousa were among the tribes living in the Tripolitania region, and according to al-Iaqubi (9^th century) the territory of the Nafousa ran from southern Tripolitania to the neighbourhood of Kairouan (in Tunisia).  In fact, until recently, the Zwara territories ran from al-Manqoub (about 20 miles west of Sabratha) to the Tunisian border, where the fishing village ofAbu-kemmash is still inhabited today by various tribes from Zwara city. According to a study published in 1946, Zwara was  the largest region in the whole of Tripolitania, an estimated    one thousand and three hundred and thirteen  square miles (1, 313). While in a recent case study of the Libyan Zwara population, published in the Journal of Applied Science [6 (3): 616-621, 2006], see full article at (http://www.ansijournals.com/jas/2006/616-621.pdf), the authors Tarik B. Benomar, Fuling Biant and Abdolaziz Muosa Shalgam have used a population project model to estimate the population growth for Zwara city until the year 2050, and came to the conclusion that the average population growth rate of Zwara city is 7.2% per year and of the local migration is 131.13% per year. They have also calculated that the total area of Zwara city itself has increased from 3.55 km2 in 1980 to 42.7 km2 in 2000. Food for thought.

Abu-Kemmash

The fishing village of Abu-Kemmash may be connected with the ancient Greco-Phoenician Pisindon whose name derived from the Libyan Sea-God Poseidon, who was worshipped around Lake Tritonis (or today’s Shat’ al-Jareed in Tunisia),  only  a few miles south-west of Abu-kemmach. Standing by the bay of Abu-kemmash and looking out across the sea one can see the line of palm trees marking the shores of Farwa, Libya’s only peninsula. Plato himself mentions Poseidon as the chief God of lost Atlantis, which Robert Graves connects with Lake Tritonis. 

The holy tomb of Ammi Sa’id, at the entrance to the peninsula of Farwa.

According to M. S. Ayoub the area between Zwara and Zerzis (in Tunisia) was probably inhabited by the Garamantes of Germa before they fled the wars and immigrated south, sometime during the 7th century, where they remained until they disappeared into Ghana in the eleventh century. According to a Greek legend, Garama, the ancestor of the Garamantes, was born on the shores of Lake Tritonis. This, however, agrees with lbn Khaldun’s statement that  Germanah (Germa) was first settled by the Berber Lauta tribe which was living on the coast of Tripolitania.

The market in the centre of Zwara in 1940s.

Zwara Minor & Zwara Major

According to at-Tijani (Travels of at-Tijani in Tunes and Tripolitania, 1306-1308 AD), Zwara al-Sughra (Zwara Minor) was also  known as Wat’in(or Zelten), The Land of al-Murabit’in (almuravids). He says it was a village with plenty of high palm trees and sweet water, but during his time it was taken over  by destruction and  its few dwellers are Khawarej. He also says that the most prominent from the land of al-Murabit’in  is al-Shaykh A’ebd al-Rrah’im al-Zwari, who was respected by all and chosen to be their leader for his age and good deeds. From Zelten he continues his travels to Zwara al-Kubra (Zwara Major), known as Kut’eenwhich has a bigger forest than the first one. Then to Willoul, about 20 miles from Wat’in, which he says was named after the tribe of  Ait Willoul who inhabited the area.  Today, the various tribes of Zwara call themselves by the collective name of Ait Willoul, translated by some as “the free people”, from the Berber tilelli (freedom). And from Willoul, he continued to Tellil, a fortress on top of a hill by the seashore surrounded by many houses all the way down to the ground level, where they mingle with gardens and farms , of which they depend on for food.