Arabic Fazzān ancient Phazania
Historic region, southwestern Libya.
A part of the Sahara , most of its inhabitants dwell in oases in the interior. Southern Fezzan is noted for its date palms, which cover several hundred thousand acres scattered in numerous oases. It was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC and by the Arabs in the 7th century AD. The Ottomans made it part of their empire in 1842. Fezzan was made part of Tripoli by the Italians in 1912, and it became a province of the United Kingdom of Libya (1951–63). Thereafter it was part of Libya.