Benghazi in North Africa is an ancient historical city. The Greeks built the city here as early as the 5th century BC. It was also called Bilinchi at that time.
It was later occupied by the Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines, and was ruled by the Turks for 300 years from the 16th century. It has been a caravan trade town leading to the interior of Africa since ancient times, and a large number of merchants passed through
Trade was carried out across the Sahara Desert with southern Africa.
Currently, Benghazi is the second largest city in the Libyan province (with a smaller population than the capital, Tripoli) and the second largest port in Libya (with a smaller port throughput than Sirte).
Although Benghazi is an ancient city, it will take a few years for Benghazi to really enter the fast lane of development. As Libya discovered and developed oil in Harigai, Qawat and other places, as the nearest port city, Benghazi
Western Canada has also entered the fast lane of development.
Moreover, Benghazi is different from other cities in North Africa. There are very few Arab-style buildings in the city, and they are basically all Italian-style. The reason is also Italy’s previous population relocation plan for the area.
In fact, this is true not only in Benghazi, but also in other cities in the Libyan province, and even in the provinces of Albania and Kosovo. The local indigenous people were forcibly relocated by Italy, and now they are all residents from Italy. So the customs of the place
, the language and culture are also mainly local.
All this is due to the forced relocation plan. Although it will temporarily cause chaos in the local area and increase a huge amount of public security funds, the effect is very good. It has changed the local customs in a short period of time and also increased the number of people.
The centripetal force of the place towards Rome.
This is the current situation in Benghazi. The city is basically filled with Italians, and its folk customs are no different from those of the Apennine Peninsula. As the second largest city in Italy, it has a population of 130,000 people, of which 30,000 are engaged in oil-related industries.
Some of them work directly in oil companies, some are responsible for transportation, and some are responsible for repairing pipelines or working at ports. Together with their families, there are eight floors of Benghazi's population that depend on oil for their lives.
The prosperous scene in Benghazi also makes the newly-appointed Mayor Trish very ambitious. As one of the first officials to follow Governor Jogi to Libya, Trish can be considered a Libyan expert. Over the years, he has gone from being an ordinary government worker to
He worked hard all the way to become the mayor of the second largest city in Benghazi. Looking at his shabby and slightly weathered face, you can tell that the hardships involved are indescribable to outsiders.
Of course, being able to become the mayor of Benghazi from an ordinary government employee is enough to illustrate this person's ability.
And Mayor Trish also knows Benghazi very well.
No, at the expansion terminal of Benghazi Port, Mayor Trish came with government officials to inspect it.
"Mr. Mayor, the area you are seeing now will be Benghazi's main oil transportation terminal in the future. In the future, through oil pipelines, Benghazi can transport oil to up to five transport ships at the same time every day, and the maximum daily transportation volume will reach
Fifty thousand tons.”
The project leader enthusiastically introduced the importance of the terminal to Benghazi to the new mayor.
Trish also listened very seriously and asked questions from time to time.
On one side of the dock, there are more than a dozen tall and giant oil storage tanks, each with a volume of tens of thousands of square meters, and the largest one can reach 100,000 square meters. These oil storage tanks are connected to oil pipelines, and there is a continuous flow of crude oil extracted from the oil fields.
The oil flows through oil pipelines and then through pressurized valves into these giant oil storage tanks. These oil storage facilities are the oil storage bases of Italian oil companies in Benghazi and can store up to 300,000 tons of crude oil.
In addition to this oil storage base, there is also a small refinery in Benghazi, which refines refined oil for use throughout the Libyan province.
Gu Hao
One more thing to say here is that the Libyan province with the highest utilization rate of internal combustion engines currently produces a large amount of crude oil. Libya has the highest per capita car ownership and various internal combustion engines. Even a small amount of cultivated land is used by the Naples Machinery Factory.
Tractor farming for production.
It can be said that it is precisely because of the flood of oil that Libya, a newly established province, is far ahead of other provinces in the use of internal combustion engines.
Of course, in addition to internal combustion engines, in terms of local fiscal revenue, the Libyan province has two major incomes, iron ore and oil, and is also ranked high among Italian provinces. If the environment in Libya were not very good and there was less available arable land,
Then the population must be more than the current 800,000 or so.
Of course, if you count the per capita gross national product, then Libya definitely ranks first. The sparse population and good income also allow many Italians to travel across the ocean to make a living.
In addition, I would like to add that the electrification and public facilities penetration rate in Libya is also very high. Based on sufficient local finance and the large-scale use of fuel-fired generating units, even the more remote desert towns in Libya can have access to electricity.
If electricity is available, then electrified infrastructure such as electric lights and telegraphs will be available.
When Mayor Trish was inspecting the construction work of the pier, there was also a group of people busy on the high slope on one side of the pier. However, compared with the pier, which was basically composed of ordinary construction workers, these people were wearing uniforms.
Engineer soldier in military uniform.
They are building military facilities, coastal defense batteries in Benghazi.
As the current main oil export port in Italy, the importance of Benghazi has been further enhanced. In view of the importance of Benghazi, protecting the Port of Benghazi has become one of the important tasks of the Italian military. For land protection, an infantry regiment of the Army
And the cavalry battalion is stationed on the outskirts of Benghazi.
As for the main threat at sea, in addition to naval warships, coastal defense forts are also necessary, so the coastal defense forts in Benghazi are a must.
In fact, the Benghazi coastal defense fort existed after Italy occupied Libya. However, Benghazi was not important at that time, so only two 152 mm coastal defense guns were installed. As Benghazi became more and more important, coastal defense
More and more guns were installed. In addition to the 152mm, 254mm coastal defense guns were also installed.
As for now, the Naval Engineer Corps is installing the 305mm coastal defense gun, which is the medium-caliber and most powerful of the current naval coastal defense guns. The prototype of this coastal defense gun is the 305mm 45-time caliber naval gun currently equipped on the dreadnought ship.
Improved.
It has a maximum range of 21 kilometers, which is enough to make enemy ships that want to enter the waters of Benghazi Port think twice. After all, unlike naval guns, coastal defense guns have greater stability, accuracy and accuracy in a more relaxed environment.
The range is not comparable to that of naval guns.
This time, the Navy plans to install two 305mm coastal defense guns in Benghazi for coastal defense. Even though there are only two guns, they are enough to suppress a squadron (3-4 ships) of battleships.
Benghazi is also the second city outside the Apennine Peninsula to install this gun (the first is Pontianak), which also shows how much the navy attaches importance to it.
It’s okay not to pay attention to it. As the Italian Navy promotes the coal-to-oil plan, the demand for oil is becoming increasingly serious. Protecting one’s own oil is very important to the navy.
It was also driven by the navy that Benghazi became the second city in North Africa to be equipped with new 305mm coastal defense guns (the first was Alexandria).
