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تامورت Zuwarah زوارة
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. زوارة مدينة ليبية تقع على شاطئ البحر الابيض المتوسط ،
حوالي 110 كم
غرب
العاصمة
طرابلس 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 Zuwara), and west of Sabratha and Tellil; extending all the way to the Tunisian border. These are great beaches of soft white sand, palm trees 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 following photo shows the same market area in 2008. The heart of Zuwarah centre. It was here that Col. Mua'mmar al-Qaddafi first announced the Libyan Cultural Revolution , in 1973. The stage from which he delivered the speech was located right behind the dark car on the left-hand side of the edge of the photo.
The Name Zuwarah ( زوارة ) And Its Variants:
1- Ausorianes:The earliest known name which one can associate with the present Zuwarah is perhaps the prehistoric 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 Zuwarah, one is even more inclined to link the Ausorianes of Herodotus with the present day Zuwarah.
2- Arzosei, Arzuges or Arzugitani:These tribes also inhabited the interior regions of Tripolitania and all the way to Lake Tritonis in classical times, and therefore including the entire Zuwarah region. According to Brogan, a bishop of Tusuros (Tozer) passed through the land of the Arzuges in his way to Carthage, presumably to take ship from Tacape, and that a boundary stone found between Be-Zereos and Tibubuci bears the tribal name Arzosei. Also related is the Punic (Berber-Phoenician) tribe name Zeugitane or Zeughitane, which was mentioned during the reign of Massinissa; easily identifiable with Zwagha (/gh/ = /r/).
3- Casas:Next, comes the Roman Casas of the second century BC. This name has been widely suggested by several writers and historians to have been the ancient name of Zuwarah. However, in a recent map the name Casas was also associated with Abu-Kammash, some 40 km to the west of Zuwarah. But since Abu-Kammash itself was in a way a fishing village occupied by local families from Zuwarah, and since Zuwarah itself was a huge region stretching from west of Sabratha to the Tunisian border, composed of various villages and castles, then the name Casas could have been originally used to refer to any of the settlements or homes in the Zuwarah region. This is also indicated by the meaning of the name Casas itself, which in today's Italian (based on Latin) means several things including: 'homes', 'houses', and 'places', and therefore it could have been used by the Romans to describe the settled settlements of the various villages of the Zuwarah region, as opposed to the nomadic state generally applied to the ancient Libyans, who subsisted on herbage and the flesh of wild beasts as told by Sallust's hallucinations, and as preserved in the name Numidia, Massinessa's kingdom, which then included Zuwara and Tripolitania. In summary, Casas would indicate a settled state as opposed to a nomadic way of life, as is still the case with the Tuareg of the Sahara, with Zuwarah (or Casas) being the later capital city of the entire region. This distribution is further confirmed by at-Tijani in his Travels of at-Tijani in Tunes and Tripolitania (1306-1308 AD), in which he described Zuwarah as a group of villages, rather than one, including: Wat'in (Zuwarah Minor), Kut’een (Zuwarah Major), and Willoul. (See below for details). Based on the Tabula Peutingeriana (a pictorial road-map of the Roman empire) and archaeological evidence such as Roman road milestones, D.E.L. Haynes, relates that there were several Roman road systems in Tripolitania, including the Coast Road, which in fact stretched from Alexandria to Carthage, and, with a fair degree of certainty, gives the following stations.
4- Zwwara:Next, Casas or Cazaz moves on to Zwawa or Zuara: the origin of the name Zwara or Zuwarah is not easy to ascertain, even though its derivation from Casas itself may not seem that far fetched. But the current form of the name 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 Hawwara, 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. In this instance Hawwara, Hoggar, Zuwara and Zuwawa are all forms of the same root. The change of /gg/ or /bb/ to /ww/ is very common in Berber, as in tabburt = tawwurt. 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 reasons for this but arguably the most certain would not exclude dialectical differences or lack of published dictionaries. The form Zwara is generally written by the natives of Zuwarah; and Zowara, Zuwara, Zwara and Zouara are generally used by the rest of the Libyans; while Zuwarah (or Zowarah) is generally used internationally, by writers, scholars, 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.
5- Tamort:Having said all that, the Berbers of Zuwarah call their city Tamort, and they never use any of the above forms when they talk to each other in Berber. The above forms are only used when speaking Arabic. The name Tamort or Tamourt means several things, all of which are well recognised in universal Berber language, from Sebta to Siwa, including 'home', 'earth', 'land', 'village', 'town', 'country', and 'the Earth' (as a planet). And so it follows that the Berbers of Zuwarah call themselves Ait willoul, the singular of which is Willoul, meaning 'free' and 'born'.
At-Tijani: Zuwara Minor & Zuwara 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 az-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 ’ een, which 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 loul (born). And from Willoul, he continued to Tellil, just before Zwagha (Sabratha), 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, on which they depend for food.
Territories of Zuwarah:Based on various historical documents and sources, it becomes evident that the territories of Zuwarah (as a region composed of various villages and towns) included most of Tripolitania. The Arab writer al-Bakari (11th century) informs us that the Berber tribes Zwagha, Zwara and Nafousa were among the tribes living in the Tripolitania region. While al-Yaqubi (9th century) had informed us that the territory of the Nafousa ran from southern Tripolitania to the neighbourhood of Kairouan (in Tunisia). After the various arrivals during the course of the centuries, the Nafousa tribes were forced back towards their stronghold (the mountains), while the various Zwawa, Zwagha and Zwara tribes were slowly pushed west towards the border as Tripoli continued to grow across the centuries. Currently, the Zuwara territories ran from al-Manqoub (about 20 km east of Zuwara) to the Tunisian border (about 60 km west of Zuwara), where the fishing village of Abu-kemmash is still inhabited today by various tribes from Zuwara city. According to a study published in 1946, Zuwarah was the largest region in the whole of Tripolitania: an estimated one thousand and three hundred and thirteen square miles (1,313). In a recent case study of the Libyan Zuwara population, published in the Journal of Applied Science [6 (3): 616-621, 2006], 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 Zuwara city is 7.2% per year, while that 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.
The holy tomb of Ammi S3id (Sidi Sa'eed or Sa'id), just before Farwa, during the 1920s. The tomb was demolished during the last decades of the 20th century, and then was rebuilt, as shown below. Sidi Sa'id was also the name of one of the most important battles fought by the locals against the Italian armies.
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 (the Leuathae of the Byzantine period), along the coast of Tripolitania.
Ighermawen (The Castles):Ighermawen, meaning 'the castles', is a place of ancient ruins, about four kilometres west of Zuwarah city, including a Roman villa, dilapidated buildings, shreds of pottery and mosaics, possibly dating to the second century BC. The site has always been there and is part of the local culture. It has not however been documented or studied. Future research may one day shed more light on the distant history of Zuwarah.
Tawsent
This area of Zuwara beach is locally called Tawsent. It is located between Zuwara city and Zuwara Marina (the seaport of Zuwara). The dark material on the beach is seaweed and sea grasses brought ashore by the waves. A few years ago these seaweed heaps reached up to three meters high, and formed a huge platform, about few hundred meters long, with several holes in between going all the way down to the water level. Walking across the top of the platform one often sees water coming up these holes as waves hit the bottom of the holes. But these are history now, as they were cleared away a few years ago in a massive clean-up operation of the beach. The above photo shows the process to have started again and it will take decades, if not centuries, for the seaweed to reach the levels it had reached before. Natural landmarks such as these ought to be left alone and even protected for the wildlife they harbour and for their aesthetic beauty. Tawsent has started the recovery process. Those gaps in between the patches grow to become the holes referred to above. The area is a good and quite place for fishing.
Produce of Zuwarah:Tisent ('salt'):The ancient produce of the towns and villages of Zuwarah (from Tellil and Willoul to Abukammash and Farwah) included salt (tisent), lime (jeer), gypsum (ulous), cereals (timz'een & irden), dates (izegnan), and esparto grass, generally used to make ropes, mats and sandals. Surrounded by salt marches, the main export of the region was salt, with the main importers being Venice, in Italy. The Berber name for salt, namely tisent, appears to be related to the above Tawsent, which leads one to ask: Was Tawsent the seaport through which salt was exported to Europe? Maybe, as Tawsent is located very close to the seaport of Zuwarah (Zuwarah Marina) - less than one mile further east. Or was the area behind Tawsent an ancient source of good salt? Or was it just a plain coincidence?
Awessu
The Ancient Sea Worship
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Internet Links |
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www.zuwara.com
Interesting discussion forum
full of issues which the people of Zuwarah
share and put forward; regarding not only the present
but also the past and the future.
The following clip shows one of the issues currently
being debated; concerning the myths weaved around
the development of the so-called New Zuwarah and
the new free trade zone. Do you go along with the
current and embrace time and change,
or stand against it and
be swept away to oblivion? Yes and No; catch 22.
One of the replies:
To read more of or take part in this hot discussion, please click here to be taken to zuwara.com .
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New Libyan Oil refinery Between Zuwarah And Mellita: Foster Wheeler revealed that its Milan-based subsidiary has been awarded a contract for a new 200,000 barrels per stream facility at Mellita, west of Zuwarah city. The company has been awarded the contract by Zwara Oil Refinery Company Limited (ZORCO) for consultancy and project management services. Read more here .
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Zuwarah Free Trade Zone Information and laws regarding the establishment of Libyan free trade zones, including Zuwarah Free Trade Zone and Musratha Free Trade Zone. zuwarahfreetradezone dot com
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