Benghazi is an old city on the Mediterranean North East
Libya. Benghazi's old name (given to her in the
year 347 BC) was "Barneek" which is
the name of a beautiful and brave princess who
became the queen of her people during the Greek
rule of the North African region. Benghazi saw
good times and bad times during the greek, the
Roman and the Bezantine eras before the Arabs
conquered the city in the the begining of the
7th century.
In 1450 a man named Ghazi or "Seedi Ghazi"
as the locals called him moved to "Barneek"
and died there after contributing good deeds to
the city and to her people, so the people named
the city after him "Bani Ghazi" , "Banghazi"
or "Benghazi". In 1578 the Turks invaded
benghazi and it was ruled by the Karamanlis from
1711 till 1835 when the Ottomans started their
rule of the city till 1911.
The Italians invaded Benghazi and the whole country
of Libya in October 1911 and the city became under
the Italian occupation till 1942 when the Allied
forces defeated the Italians with the help of
the Libyans and the city became under the rule
of the British till 1949 when King Mohammed "Idris"
As-Sanousi made Benghazi the capital of Barka
(Cyrinaica).
When Libya achieved its independance in 24 December
1951 Benghazi became the second capital of Libya
(the first was Tripoli.) During World War II benghazi
was bombed more than 1000 times and saw a lot
of destruction. After Libya's independance the
city was rebuilt and became one the most attractive
cities in North Africa.
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