Postage stamps and postal history of Cyrenaica entire eastern section of the country. An Italian post office was opened in Benghazi in 1901 and the stamps of Italy were overprinted for use in the post office. The Ottoman Empire ceded Cyrenaica to Italy in 1912. From 1923 to 1934 stamps were issued for Cyrenaica, which were used concurrently with those of Italian Libya. The first stamps of Cyrenaica were Italian stamps overprinted CIRENAICA issued on 24 October 1923 at the same time as those for Tripolitania. Semi-postal stamps inscribed "Cirenaica" were issued in 1926, and regular commemorative and definitive stamp issues continued until 1934 when Tripolitania, Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica salt-collecting and sponge fishing were more important than agriculture. Bomba and Tobruk have good harbors. South of the coastal highlands of Cyrenaica is a large east-west running depression, extending eastward from the Gulf of Sidra into Egypt. This region of the Sahara is known as the Libyan Desert, and includes the Great Sand Sea and the Calanshio Sand Sea. The Libyan Desert is home to a few oases, including Awjila (ancient Augila) and Jaghbub. The Berbers were the earliest recorded inhabitants of Cyrenaica, and most modern Cyrenaicans are considered to be Berber in origin. Remnants of the Berber languages spoken