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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Brega

city in Libya

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ36219
Source-derived summary

Brega , also known as Mersa Brega or Marsa al-Brega (Arabic: مرسى البريقة Marsā al Burayqah, i.e. "Brega Seaport"), is a complex of several smaller towns, industry installations and education establishments situated in Libya on the Gulf of Sidra, the most southerly point of the Mediterranean Sea. It is located in the former Ajdabiya District, which in 2007 was merged into the Al Wahat District. The town is the center of Libya's second-largest hydro-carbon complex.

During the First Libyan Civil War, the town quickly fell to the Libyan opposition. Government forces attempted to capture the town on 2 March but were repelled; their attack on 13 March was successful, though rebels later recaptured it on 26 March. In April the rebels were again driven out of Brega, and a several-month long stalemate ensued. On 11 August 2011, the rebels claimed they had retaken the eastern part of Brega.

Geography

The assigned settlement near the refinery and oil terminal is known as Brega. The town was built in pre-fabricated concrete parts and designed by Greek architect and urban planner Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis.

Editorial summary

“Brega” enters the record as city in Libya. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Brega, city and Libya can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2007, 2011—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Brega, city and Libya.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Brega” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Brega, city and Libya provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q36219. Authority coordinates are 30.406, 19.574. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2007 and 2011.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Brega”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Brega primary sources, Brega archive and Brega research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Brega”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Brega” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.