TheProvinces of Libya were prescribed in 1934, during the last period of colonialItalian Libya, and continued through post-independenceLibya until 1963 when theGovernorates system was instituted.
The three main provinces of the country follow the original colonial divisions of Italian Libya:Tripolitania province,Cyrenaica province andFezzan province.
AfterItaly took the area from theOttoman Empire in 1912, it was administered as a single administrative unit, calledItalian North Africa. Then, from 1927 to 1934, the territory was split into two separate colonies, each of which run by its own Italian governor:Italian Cyrenaica andItalian Tripolitania. In 1934, Italy adopted the name "Libya" (Italian Libya) as the official name of the reunified area and administratively divided it up into the three provinces ofCyrenaica,Tripolitania andFezzan. In 1937, the Cyrenaica and Tripolitania provinces split, with northern Cyrenaica becomingBenghazi Province andDarnah Province and northern Tripolitania splitting intoTripoli Province andMisurata Province.[1]
Fezzan was not split in 1937, but the whole southernSahara Desert area was militarily administered as theSouthern Military Territory (Territorio del Sahara Libico orIl Territorio Militare del Sud Libico).[2]
The Libyan Sahara Territory was divided into four military districts administered from the desertoases towns ofGhat,Brak,Murzuk andHun. TheSenussi orderKufra oasis area in the southeasternLibyan Desert was not separately administered by the Italians, but in 1932, they built a fort at the holy place ofEl Tag above it. This territory was administered only by the Italian military and in 1936 was increased with the inclusion ofAouzou Strip fromFrance'sChad.[3]
The French and British occupied Libya in 1943 after theWestern Desert Campaign victories, when it was again split into three provinces:Tripolitania in the northwest,Cyrenaica in the east andFezzan-Ghadames in the southwest.[4]
After independence in 1951, the three provinces continued as the subdivision system in theKingdom of Libya, with boundaries slightly shifting, until 1963. The provinces were then replaced by theMuhafazah governorates system (muhafazah) system in the kingdom and subsequentLibyan Arab Republic until they were superseded by the 1983Baladiyat districts system.[5]
