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BILMA, or KAWAR

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

End of Article: BILMA, or KAWAR
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ALBERT CHRISTIAN THEODOR BILLROTH (1829-1894)
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THOMAS BILNEY (d. 1531)

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