Cyrenaica Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ; , , after the city of Cyrene; ) is the eastern coastal region of Libya. Also known as "Pentapolis" ("Five Cities") in antiquity, it formed part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, later divided into "Libya Pentapolis" and "Libya Sicca". During the Islamic period, the area came to be known as "Barqa", after the city of Barca. Cyrenaica was the name of an administrative division of Italian Libya from 1927 until 1943, then under British military and civil administration from 1943 until 1951, and finally in the Kingdom of Libya from 1951 until 1963.
Cyrenaica by their ancestors are still found in the Awjila language of the oasis of Awjila. The ancient Berbers founded a number of cities and settlements, both on the coast and in the inland oases. Egyptian records mention that, during the New Kingdom of Egypt (thirteenth century BC), the Libu and Meshwesh tribes of Cyrenaica made frequent incursions into Egypt. Cyrenaica was colonized by the Greeks beginning in the 7th century BC, when it was known as Kyrenaika. The first and most important colony was that of Cyrene, established in about 631 BC by colonists from the Greek island of Thera,