The selection of the subject resulted from the desire to acquire detailed knowledge of the various problems of the urban geography of a town of my country. Detailed urban geographical studies in Libya do not exist despite their vital importance for future economic and social development, especially with the new prospects created by the discovery of oil.

The Awlad Muhammad came to power in Fazzan in the last quarter of the fifteenth century or in the early years of the sixteenth, and built Murzuq and made it their capital. Murzuq soon became one of the most important commercial, political and intellectual centres of the Sahara in the sixteenth century and continued to be so thereafter. This study limits itself to the period the sixteenth century until the end of the dynasty of the Awlad Muhammad in 1813AD, and is primarily concerned with the political, cultural and economic history of Fazzan in the framework of the history of Libya during this period, and of Libya's relations with the bilad as-Sudan, with emphasis on the interior development of Fazzan and on its relations with the Sudanic States in Hausaland and, in particular, Bornu, with which Fazzan maintained close ties throughout this period. The thesis is divided into 8 chapters and appendices. Chapter I: an introduction gives Ca) a full examination and description of the sources, Cb) a short description of the geographical setting, (c) an historical background. Chapter II: 'The establishment of the Awlad Muhammad' deals with_the crucial years just before and after the establishment of the Awlad Muhammad until 1577. In other words, it examines the conditions under which • Muhammad al-Faai and his successors were able to build a political base which enabled them to establish hereditary rule in Fazzan. Chapter III: 'The internal political developments' describes the political developments in Fazzan and discusses how the Awlad Muhammad succeeded in maintaining their power despite the efforts of the Ottomans in Tripoli to terminate their rule; the struggle for power and control of the country, within the family of the Awlad Muh•ammad and between them and the outsiders • Chapter IV: 'The relations between the Awlad Muhammad and the Ottomans and the Qaramanlis in Tripoli' deals with the Ottoman policy toward the Sahara and the Sudan, and how the Ottomans sent a military expedition in 1577 to occupy Fazzan; also their attempt, without success, to rule Fazzan directly from Tripoli. Chapter V: 'The end of the Awlad Muhammad' discusses the reasons why the Fasha decided to reannex~ Fazzan and·bring it back under the direct rule of Tripoli in 1813, and assesses the story from the various sources of the way the dynasty of the Awlad Muhammad came to an end. Chapter VI: 'The administration of the Awlad Muhammad in Fazzan' deals with the concept of the maKhzan, office titles, the army, taxation and revenue. Chapter VII: 'Intellectual activities and educational institutions' examines the development of intellectual life and the educational institutions in Fazzan. Chapter VIII: 'Tripoli-Fazzan diplomatic contacts with the Sudan' deals with relations and interaction of both Tripoli and Fazzan with the Sudanese States, especiall~ with Kanem-Bornu. Finally, in discussing the external relations of Fazzan, the chapter discusses the ~ or Pilgrimage as a tool in conducting foreign policy. The Appendices include a chronicle and more than 200 documents related to the topics of the thesis. These documents are in their original language and form but some of them are translated and annotated.

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of the Italian colonialization on the Libyan province of Cyrenaica by studying the colonial legacy in its largest city. This study provides a description of the social and economic conditions prevailing in the Libyan city of Benghazi from 1911 until 1942. There is a lack of historical political studies about the city of Benghazi and the available historical studies about the city are mainly concerned with following certain historical events during a specific period. Therefore, the researcher turned to archives of Mahkamit Shamal Benghazi, Sijil al- Mahkama al-Shar ͑aia (MSBSM) Benghazi’s shariʽa court records, Dar al-Mahfuzat al- Tarikhiyya (DMT) Tripoli’s Libyan archives, and Markaz Dirasat al-Jihad al-Libi (MDJL) Tripoli’s Centre for Libyan Studies. The researcher used those records and documents as a primary source for this study and they offered a comprehensive insight into the social and economic life of the people of Cyrenaica and Benghazi. The researcher also relied on primary and secondary Libyan history sources written by both Italian and Libyan scholars. Additionally, the researcher consulted biographies and memoirs of colonial Italian officials. Economically, colonial Italy failed to achieve its agricultural settlements program which was operating at a deficit throughout the colonial period. The colonial educational policy was oriented to educate students to secondary school level only and by the end of the colonial rule illiteracy rate was at 90%. The Italian colonial policies in Libya affected the social institutional structure through a lengthy armed conflict that produced the Cyrenaican resistance’s alliance between the religious Sanusi Movement and the tribal leaders such events helped to reinforce the role of religion in political life as the religious Sanusi movement was being transformed into a political movement. In Libya, religion and tribal kinship still have a major role in politics.

Libya has an economy over dependent on hydrocarbon and the petroleum industry. In a bid to diversify, the Libyan government is looking at Free Economic Zones (FEZ) as a viable option versus other avenues, like Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This thesis explores FEZ as a tool to fetch investment for the development of Libya's economy. Some of the factors in favour of FEZ are believed to be employment opportunities for local labour, enhancing their skills and knowledge, as well as bringing new technology along with management styles, thereby boosting not only the national economy, but overall growth of society. This thesis examines these arguments by comparing existing FEZ in various parts of the world, particularly Al-Ameria FEZ in Alexandria, Egypt. The case study revolves around this FEZ, as it has geographical and cultural similarity to that of Libya. In stimulating a potential decision making process, cost-benefit analysis is carried out to evaluate financial return against benefits envisaged. Finally, the study recommends the perceived best way forward in establishing successful FEZ to achieve desired sustainable economic growth in Libya. This is the first study of its kind in the Arab world that covers cost-benefit analysis of different industries within FEZ, and could prove to be a guideline for academics and business communities working in this field.

This thesis investigates the social and economic history of slavery in Libya in the period between 1800 and 1950. Focusing on Tripoli and the trading centres of Ghadames and Fezzan, it uses a combination of sources including legal records, travel accounts, commercial correspondence, memoirs and oral interviews to examine the impact of the slave trade, the economic and social lives of the enslaved, and their experiences of emancipation. Examining the trading of slaves in Ghadames, the thesis reveals how merchants considered slaves one commodity among others. It analyses how the slave trade continued until the Italian occupation of Libya in 1911, long after the formal prohibition of the trans-Saharan slave trade in 1856. Despite a long-term decline, caravan trading networks remained somewhat resilient and continued with alternative commodities such as ivory and ostrich feathers. This thesis then moves to analyse the social and economic lives of the enslaved, and the legal status of slavery in Libya. It explores the dynamics of employment, resistance by slaves and master-slave relations by analysing two major categories of slaves, who were treated considerably differently; those who worked in the caravan trade in Ghadames, and those slaves who worked as domestic servants in Tripoli. Many existing sources showed the differences in social relationship between slaves and masters. Different occupational categories, such as caravan workers and domestic servants, had different access to patronage, or experiences of abuse and violence. Oral interviews reveal that slaves in Tripoli experienced less violence compared to those in Ghadames and Fezzan in the nineteenth century. However, mistreated slaves had the right to a court hearing. The court provided a platform for slaves to challenge abuse, with some slaves seeking to push these boundaries further by going to court to assert their rights to better treatment by their owners. The third chapter explores the patterns of religious and economic manumission that existed in Libya before the abolition of slavery, It also traces changes of policies of emancipation that pursued by Ottoman and Italian governments. Finally, the thesis explores the social history of emancipation through examining the economic and social lives of communities of freed slaves. Through surveying a large number of legal cases, the thesis argues that slavery in Libya was marked more by continuities than change across the period of study. The legacy of slavery has persisted over time as relations of clientship between ex-slaves and ex-masters replaced direct relations of ownership. This thesis shows the difficulties faced by slaves in negotiating for clientship (al-wala’) from their former masters. Some ex-slaves unquestionably improved their status with a substantial minority experiencing social mobility as caravan workers and agents, while others remained ill-treated, with irregular work and subsistence wage labour; living on the margins of Libyan society.