- published: 14 Aug 2013
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Fezzan ( /fɛˈzɑːn/; Arabic: فزان Fizzān, Berber: Fezzan, Turkish: Fizan, Latin: Phasania) is a south western 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.
Fezzan derives from the region's Latin Roman name Phasania or Phazania, which may mean "the country of the pheasants" or is related to the Biblical name Phut.
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. Large dune seas known as ergs cover much of the remaining land.
From the 5th century BCE to the 5th century CE, Fezzan was home to the Garamantian Empire, a state which operated the Trans-Saharan trade routes successively between Carthage and the Roman Empire in North Africa and Sahelian states of west and central Africa.