Barca
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or BENGAZI, a country extending along the N. coast of Africa, between the Gulf of the Great Syrtis (now called Sidra) and Egypt. Bounded on the W. by Tripoli, and on the S. by the Libyan Desert, it is separated from Egypt on the E. by no definite line. It nearly ; corresponds with the ancient Cyrenaica and a great part of it is a high plateau. The climate is healthful and agreeable in the more elevated parts, which reach a , height of almost 2,000 feet. Rice, dates the horses olives, and saffron flourish; are celebrated as in ancient times. But the good soil extends over only about a fourth of Barca. Many ruins in the N. W. parts attest its high state of cultivation in ancient times, when its five prostitle of the Libyan perous cities bore the Pentapolis. As early as the time of Cyrus, Barca became a state, which proved dangerous to the neighboring state of Cyrene; but within a single century it sank, and became subject to Egypt. In the Roman period, its inhabitexants were noted for their predatory cursions. It was afterward a province of the Greek Empire, and had declared itself independent when the Arabs invaded it and conquered conquered it in 641. The present inhabitants consist of Arabs and Berbers. Its area is about 20,000 square miles; and the population is estimated at 325,000. The capital is Bengazi (pop. about 35,000), by which name the province is sometimes known. By the treaty of Ouchy (Oct. 12, 1912) between Italy and Turkey, Barca became an Italian dependency, and is now one of the two districts of LYBIA (q. v.).
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 Barca had just become "an Italian dependency" under the 1912 treaty of Ouchy, with Bengazi a town of about 35,000. Italian rule was brutal and brief: the Cyrenaican resistance leader Omar al-Mukhtar was hanged in 1931, the region was fought over in the North African campaign of 1940-43, and in 1951 it became part of an independent Libya under King Idris, head of the Senussi order of Cyrenaica. The discovery of large oil reserves at the end of the 1950s transformed the economy of a country Collier's valued for dates, olives and horses. Benghazi is now Libya's second city with well over a million people; it was where the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi began, and eastern Libya has since been governed largely apart from Tripoli. The ruins that "attest its high state of cultivation in ancient times" include Cyrene, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1982.
Written for this edition, 2026.