Traghan
Encyclopedia
Traghan or Traghen is a small town in the Murzuk Desert in Murzuq District in southwest Libya. It is located east of Murzuk
and Zizau
. A good high road is said to link Traghan to Zizau in the west, with frequent incrustations of salt.
, the Saifawa capital.The Saifawa were said to have "gained control of the Fezzan
by establishing a post in the oasis of Traghan about twenty miles east of modern Murzuk
and some seventy miles west-south-west of ancient Zawila."
Traghan was approached by western explorers on 29 November, 1822. In the late 1820s, Traghan was described as was formerly as considerable a place as Murzuk
; and was, about sixty years ago, the residence of a sultan, who governed eastern Fezzan. It was described as being in a flat, desert plain, with gardens and date groves. It contained four mosques with small mud minarets and the houses were mostly large but in ruin.The population in the late 1820s was estimated to be 500-600 but it had previously been far more populous.Major Denham noted that the people of Traghan were exceptionally skilled in carpet making and their carpets rivaled those of Constantinople
. Hugh Murray
later noted its fine carpets in the early 1850s.
Murzuk
Murzuk is an oasis town and the capital of the Murzuq District in the Fezzan region of southwest Libya. Murzuk lies on the northern edge of the Murzuq Desert, a desert of ergs or great sand dunes, and section of the Sahara Desert.-History:...
and Zizau
Zizau
Zizau or Zezow is a village in the Murzuk Desert in Murzuq District in southwest Libya. It is located east of Murzuk and just to the southwest of Funqul.A good high road is said to connect Zizau to Traghan, with frequent incrustations of salt.The village was visited by western explorers in the...
. A good high road is said to link Traghan to Zizau in the west, with frequent incrustations of salt.
History
Traghan by the 13th century was dominated by the Saifawa dynasty, a remarkable feat as Traghan lies 1380 kilometres from NjimiNjimi
Njimi was the capital of the Kanuri state of Kanem , north of Lake Chad, from the eleventh through the fourteenth centuries. Founded by the Sefawa dynasty in the eleventh century, the town dominated trans-Saharan trade in ivory and slaves between the central Sahara and Libya. The precise location...
, the Saifawa capital.The Saifawa were said to have "gained control of the Fezzan
Fezzan
Fezzan is a south western region of modern Libya. It is largely desert but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise inhospitable Sahara.-Name:...
by establishing a post in the oasis of Traghan about twenty miles east of modern Murzuk
Murzuk
Murzuk is an oasis town and the capital of the Murzuq District in the Fezzan region of southwest Libya. Murzuk lies on the northern edge of the Murzuq Desert, a desert of ergs or great sand dunes, and section of the Sahara Desert.-History:...
and some seventy miles west-south-west of ancient Zawila."
Traghan was approached by western explorers on 29 November, 1822. In the late 1820s, Traghan was described as was formerly as considerable a place as Murzuk
Murzuk
Murzuk is an oasis town and the capital of the Murzuq District in the Fezzan region of southwest Libya. Murzuk lies on the northern edge of the Murzuq Desert, a desert of ergs or great sand dunes, and section of the Sahara Desert.-History:...
; and was, about sixty years ago, the residence of a sultan, who governed eastern Fezzan. It was described as being in a flat, desert plain, with gardens and date groves. It contained four mosques with small mud minarets and the houses were mostly large but in ruin.The population in the late 1820s was estimated to be 500-600 but it had previously been far more populous.Major Denham noted that the people of Traghan were exceptionally skilled in carpet making and their carpets rivaled those of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. Hugh Murray
Hugh Murray
Hugh Campbell Murray was an American lawyer and the third Chief Justice of California.-Life:Murray was born in St Louis, Missouri before his family moved to Alton, Illinois when he was a child. Little is known of his schooling except that he almost certainly studied Latin. In 1846 he began...
later noted its fine carpets in the early 1850s.