Awjila

Awjila is an oasis in the desert south of Cyrenaica, long renowned for its date palms. Herodotus wrote that the Nasamones travelled inland from the coast to gather its fruit. The old mosque, with its distinctive domes, stands among the buildings of a community whose gardens depend on the oasis water. Awjila's position also made it a meeting place for routes across the Sahara.

Merchants and pilgrims passed through Awjila on journeys between Egypt, the Maghreb and lands farther south. In the late sixteenth century the traveller Marmol described it as a stage on a pilgrimage route leading towards the Hijaz. Caravans also travelled west through the Fezzan and south towards the states around Lake Chad. The palms and wells of the oasis offered a place to gather provisions before continuing across the desert.