Bayda, or Elbeida ( or ; ) (also spelt az-Zāwiyat al-Bayḍāʾ, Zāwiyat al-Bayḑā’, Beida and El Beida; known as Beda Littoria under Italian colonial rule), is a commercial and industrial city in eastern Libya. It is located in northern Cyrenaica. With a population of 250,000 people, Bayda is the 4th-largest city in Libya (after Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata). It is the capital city of the Jabal al Akhdar district.
History
Bayda's history stretches back to classical antiquity, when it was known as Balagrae. The 2000-year-old ruins of the ancient Greek colony of Cyrene are located nearby in Shahat.
One of the greatest attractions in the city is the tomb of a famous companion (sahabah) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Ruwaifi bin Thabit al-Ansari. For that reason, the city was known as Sidi Rafaa after him. After the arrival of Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi in the area in the 19th century, and the construction of a zāwiyah, the city was renamed az-Zāwiyat al-Bayḍāʾ.
The modern city was built in the 1950s. It was originally intended to be the new capital of Libya and most of the necessary government buildings were constructed there. Eventually, the plan to move the capital from Tripoli to Bayḍāʾ was dropped.
During the First Libyan Civil War, the city was the first to fall to Anti-Gaddafi forces after the Battle of Bayda.
Name
Bayḍāʾ means "white" in Arabic. The naming of the city is connected with the Senussi movement, which had dedicated zāwiyahs in the town to educate local people in fiqh, Quranic memorisation to the young, as well as local and tribal conflict resolution, as was customary at the time. The town became known as az-Zāwiyat al-Bayḍāʾ ("the White Monastery") because of the white painted zāwiyah, which lies on top of a high hill and was clearly visible from a distance. Within time, the word zāwiyah was dropped and the city became known simply as al-Bayḍāʾ.
When the settlement was first founded by the Greeks, it was known as Balagrae. During Fascist Italian rule, the city was known as Beda Littoria. During monarchy, the zāwiyah at Bayḍāʾ was considered a focal point for the Senussi movement, and in addition to the zāwiyah, the city was also the political capital and seat of government of the Kingdom of Libya until the 1969 Libyan coup d'état. The zāwiyah still exists, but it is in a neglected state and sits near Omar Al-Mukhtar University at the western entrance to the city.
Geography and natural history
The city is famous for the valleys and forests nearby, which are not found in the other cities of the 'Green Mountains'—Akhdar Mountains. It is named the "Green Mountains" because they are covered by dense forests and woodlands, of which the best known are the Hamri, Alpellnj, and Belaid forests. The highest point in the Akhdar Mountains is around , located in the Hamri area.
Native habitat
The Akhdar mountain range lies within the Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe ecoregion. The region has many native plants closely related to those found in similar Greek, Italian, and Spanish coastal mountains and forests. There are about 1,800 species of Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub trees, plants, and flowers. The forests are characterized by many species of oak, juniper, pine, carob, cypress, hawthorn, Luffa aegyptiaca, and olives. There is a network of natural springs in most parts of the mountains, which makes them one of the most fertile areas of coastal Maghreb. The forested areas and springs provide habitat supportive of a diversity of birds and wildlife.
The Akhdar Mountains are part of the larger Jabal al Akhdar Plateau, an area of , with a length of from the Albakur in the west to the Valley of Bef to the east of Derna, and a width of . Beaches stretch along the chain for about , in a diverse terrain with many coastal bays and inlets. Bayda is famous for the neighboring locale of Susa, a seaside resort on the Mediterranean Sea.