Online Encyclopedia

BILMA, or KAWAR

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 945 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BILMA, or KAWAR  , an oasis in the heart of the
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Sahara
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desert, some 6o m. long by 10 broad . The inhabitants are Tibbu and Kanuri . The name Bilma is properly confined to the
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southern
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part of this region, where is the chief settlement, called Bilma or Garu . This place is Soo m. due S. of the
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town of Tripoli and about 350 N. of the N.W. corner of Lake Chad . In the vicinity are a number of lakes, the waters of which on evaporation yield large quantities of very pure and
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fine salt, which is the
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object of an extensive trade with the countries of Central Africa . North of Bilma is the town of Dirki, said to date from the 11th century . Near Bilma is a small circular oasis, kept green by a fine spring, but immediately to the south begins the most dreary part of the Saharan desert, over which the caravans travel for fifteen days without discovering the slightest trace of
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vegetable
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life . Gustav Nachtigal, who visited Bilma in 187o, records that the temperature during the day rarely sank below 113° Fahr . By the Anglo-French Declaration of the 21st of March 1899 Bilma was included in the French sphere of influence in West Africa .
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Turkey claimed the oasis as part of the hinter-
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land of Tripoli and garrisoned Bilma in 1902 . In 1906, however, a French force from
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Zinder occupied the town, no opposition being offered by the
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Ottoman authorities . In 1907 the oasis and surrounding
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district was created a circle of the Military Territory of the Niger (see SAHARA) .

End of Article: BILMA, or KAWAR
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ALBERT CHRISTIAN THEODOR BILLROTH (1829-1894)
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