Awjila, formerly known as Augila, is an oasis town in the Cyrenaica region of northeastern Libya. During the 5th century BC, the oasis town was inhabited by the Nasamones, who had been driven away from the coast by Greek colonists. The Byzantine emperor Justinian converted Augila's pagan temples into Christian churches in the 6th century AD, and, in 644 AD, the Muslim Rashidun Caliphate conquered Cyrenaica and Islamized the region. By the 11th century, several mosques were founded around the oasis, and it became a trading route town. In 1639, Awjila came under Ottoman Turkish rule. Starting in the 1960s, the oil industry drove Awjila's rebirth and became the main source of employment in the town.
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