Barce

Categories: North Africa geography stubs

Barce or Barca was a Greek colony, founded in the 6th century BC from Cyrene and formed one of the Pentapolis of Cyrenaica, now in north-eastern Libya.

Under the Ptolemies, Barce was surpassed in importance by its port, Ptolemais (Tolmeita), and Barce declined to the status of a village. However, Ptolemais also declined in importance after the Roman period, due to Berber raids and the Vandal conquest.

During the Arab conquest of Cyrenaica in 642, Barce served as the Arab headquarters for two years. The present town grew up around a 19th century Turkish fort. It was redeveloped by the Italians after they conquered Libya, and was captured by Australian troops in February 1941.

The town is now known as Al-Marj.