Ajdabiya

Ajdabiya (/ˌɑːdʒdəˈbiːə/ AHJ-də-BEE-ə; Arabic: أجدابيا, romanized: Aǧdābiyā) is a town in and capital of the Al Wahat District in northeastern Libya. It is some 150 kilometres (93 mi) south of Benghazi. From 2001 to 2007 it was part of and capital of the Ajdabiya District. The town is divided into three Basic People's Congresses: North Ajdabiya, West Ajdabiya and East Ajdabiya.

During the Libyan Civil War, the city changed hands several times between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces, with the anti-Gaddafi forces finally securing the town in April 2011. As many civilians had fled the fighting, one March 2011 report described the city as a "ghost town."

Later, during the Second Libyan Civil War, the city was seized by the Ajdabiya Revolutionaries Shura Council until it was taken over by the Libyan National Army on 21 February 2016.

Ajdabiya is situated in central northern Libya near the Mediterranean Sea coast at the eastern end of the Gulf of Sidra. It is located on an arid plain about 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) from the sea, 850 kilometres (530 mi) from the Libyan capital of Tripoli and 150 kilometres (93 mi) from Libya's second largest city, Benghazi. The city is the site of an important crossroads between the coastal road from Tripoli to Benghazi and inland routes south to the oasis at Jalu and east to Tobruk and the border with Egypt. Ajdabiya lies close to the Sabkhat Ghuzayyil, a large dry region below sea level.

Ajdabiya has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). For a location very close to the Mediterranean Sea it is very prone to strong heat waves and has reached above 47 °C (117 °F) as early as in April in spite of the sea having mild surface temperatures that time of the year. This is due to hot winds from the Sahara Desert bringing extreme temperatures north. In summer Ajdabiya is similar to interior climates in Southern Europe, except drier. Winters are mild, with occasional rainfall.

Ajdabiya has been identified as the site of the Roman city of Corniclanum, which is shown on the Peutinger Table of the Roman road network in the fourth or fifth centuries AD. It gained its importance for two reasons: it possessed drinkable water, which made it a useful staging post in an arid region, and it stood on the intersection of two important trade routes, the coastal route along the North African littoral and the desert caravan route from the oases of Jalu and al-Ujlah. The town passed to the Byzantine Empire following the fall of Rome but gained new importance under the rule of the Fatimid Caliphate. After sacking the town in 912, the Fatimids redeveloped Ajdabiya and built a new mosque and palace complex, the ruins of which can still be seen. Around 1051–52 it was sacked again, this time by the Beni Hilal and Banu Sulaym, Arab tribes that migrated to North Africa at the instigation of the Fatimids. It subsequently fell into a prolonged period of decline.

In the mid 12th century, the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi described Ajdabiya as "a town situated on a flat, stony plateau". He wrote in his treatise Nuzhat al-Mushtaq (published in Europe as De geographia universali):

IIn Al-Istibsar fi 'agaib al-Amsar, written in the late 12th century, the anonymous author wrote: