Biledulgerid

Biledulgerid was a term used in early European maps for the Maghreb south of the Atlas Mountains. The name derives from Bilād al-Jarīd (بلاد الجريد, Land of the dates). The term's name was Latinized by the Berber scholar Leo Africanus, who claimed that Arabs referred to the entire region by this name, due to its richness in date palms). The region has many oases and cultivations.

While the majority of mapmakers in Europe during the 15th to 17th century only detailed the coastal Mediterranean areas ofBarbary Coast, some already named the southern inlands of the Maghreb which were rarely travelled, due to their harsh weather conditions, and had been primarily known from second-hand reports. By the mid-16th century, inspired by the reports of Leo Africanus, geographers began using the name "Biledulgerid" as a collective term for all non-coastal entities – kingdoms, principalities, or regions – throughout the Saharan Maghreb, stretching parallel to the Barbary Coast in the north. Around 1700, these known entities included, from west to east: Tesset (southern Morocco); Darha (around the Draa River); Zegelmesse/Segelomessa (south of Fes, Morocco); Tigorin/Tegorarina, Zeb/Zebum, and Mezzab (south of Algiers, Algeria); Biledulgerid proper (south of Tunis, Tunisia); the subregions of Techort, Guargala,Gademes (southwest, south, and southeast of Biledulgerid proper);Fezzen (south of Tripolitania, Libya); and Teorregu. The two regions south of Tripolitania and Teorregu were sometimes rather counted toward Barcas (Cyrenaica, Libya), the neighboring region to the east. Certain geographers sometimes included Barcas, however contrarily, into the greater Biledulgerid region. The Barbary Coast and the wider Biledulgerid inlands did not include the Nile Valley.