Africa is one of the largest continents on the planet, in terms of area second only to Eurasia. Its shores from different parts of the world are washed by two oceans and two seas. The Indian Ocean is from the east and south, and the Atlantic is from the west. The northern part of the mainland is washed by two seas: the Mediterranean and the Red. Part of the border of the Mediterranean Sea from the south washes the coastline of the North African state of Libya. This is Sidra Bay.
Geographic feature
The width of the entrance to the bay is up to 500 km. About 100 km from the entrance to Sidra Bay, where the main port of Benghazi is located. A coastline of up to 700 km along the territory of the state of Libya.
The depth of the gulf is about 1800 m. The Sidra Bay in the photo can hardly be distinguished from another vast expanse of the sea. The movement of the sea along the coastline is characterized by diurnal tides up to 0.5 m.
Title hypothesis
The origin of the modern name for Sidra Bay is ambiguous and has several hypotheses. The main version claims that the name was formed from the rearrangement of the sounds "rt" in "dr" in the Arabic word "sert", means "desert". Other versions are inclined to use Greek origin. From the word "syrtos" - a shallow. But the first is more convincing, since the entire coastline of the bay is part of the northern border of Africa’s largest desert. And his depth is large enough to be a shallow for Greek sailors. Although the influence of Greek culture in this territory is great.
Main ports
Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya after the capital Tripoli. On its territory 500 years BC. e. was located the ancient Greek city of Esperis, which was one of the five major cities of ancient Cyrenaica.
It was located on the territory of the modern state of Libya in its northeastern part. Not so long ago, it was abolished as an administrative unit of the Libyan state. The ancient city of the ancient Greeks has always been under the gun of Libyan tribes. Cyrenaica has changed rulers over the centuries. It was part of the empire of Alexander the Great and the Ottoman Empire. In the last century, for a short time it was an Italian colony, which did not suit the British.
Modern Cyrenaica declared autonomy in 2012. The reason for modern geopolitical conflicts associated with its territory is the large reserves of oil and gas in its bowels. The modern port of Benghazi receives and ships all kinds of cargo. Serves tuna fishing in Sidra Bay.
The ports of Mapca el Brega and Es Sider specialize only in the export of black gold and natural gas.
Through them, liquefied gas is delivered to European countries, Western countries, some countries of Africa and Asia.
Legal status
From a legal point of view, the legal status of Sidra Bay is not clear to this day. Libya considers it its territorial waters, based on historical background, and international law tends to the status of neutral waters. Its norms do not have the status of historical waters and historical bays fixed from a legal point of view. Many geopolitical ambitions are built on this gap in international law, and global disputes and conflicts are born.
Political conflicts
Africa has always been under the eye of geopolitical alignment. Sidra Bay is no exception. On October 20, 2011, Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in Libya by a military coup .
He ruled the country for 42 years and was its permanent leader. In the political structure of his country, he chose something between a capitalist monarchy and a socialist republic. He directed the proceeds from oil extracted from the bowels of Libya to the socio-economic development of the country. The price of gas in the country was so ridiculous that the price of water exceeded it several times! Government programs for housing construction, and the improvement of healthcare and education were carried out at a fast pace.
For his rule, the country overcame illiteracy and achieved a fairly high standard of living for the majority of the country's population. He was respected domestically and feared far beyond its borders. Gaddafi built a whole metropolis in the desert with a non-poor population! He knew the value of Libyan wealth and always defended the sovereignty of the country.
After the rebels came to power, the country fell apart. Extremists began to control certain territories. In the short term of the civil war, Libya slid to total poverty. At the end of 2015, the country was ruled by two parliaments. One part of the country with authorities located in Tripoli was ruled by radical Islamists. The other part is in Torbuk, there was a government recognized by the UN, led by Khalif Haftar, who was elected to the Libyan National Parliament. On March 31, 2016, a consent government was formed. But the coastal territory of Sidra Bay to this day is not considered calm.