Fezzan

Fezzan (Berber: ⴼⴻⵣⵣⴰⵏ, Arabic: فزان‎ Fizzān, Turkish: Fizan, Latin: Phasania) or Phazania is the southwestern region of modern Libya. It is largely desert, but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys (wadis) in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise inhospitable Sahara Desert. The term originally applied to the land beyond the coastal strip of Africa proconsularis, including the Nafusa and extending west of modern Libya over Ouargla and Illizi. As these Berber areas came to be associated with the regions of Tripoli, Cirta or Algiers, the name was increasingly applied to the arid areas south of Tripolitania.

Name

In Tamazight (Berber language), Fezzan (or ifezzan) means "rough rocks".

Fezzan could also be a derivation from the region's Latin name Phasania or Phazania, which may mean "the country of the pheasants" or be related to the Biblical name Phut.

Geography

Fezzan is crossed in the north by the Ash-Shati Valley (Wadi Al Shatii) and in the west by the Wadi Irawan. These two areas, along with portions of the Tibesti Mountains crossing the Chadian border and a sprinkling of remote oases and border posts, are the only parts of the Fezzan able to support settled populations. The large dune seas known as ergs of the Idehan Ubari and the Idehan Murzuq cover much of the remaining land of Fezzan.