Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya, with Benghazi serving as its capital. The Berbers have always inhabited Cyrenaica, and, during the 12th century BC, the Libyan tribes of Cyrenaica raided into New Kingdom Egypt. In 631 BC, Greek colonists from Thera established the colony of Cyrene, and the Libya Pentapolis was formed by Cyrene, Taucheira, Euesperides, Balagrae, and Barce. In 525 BC, the Persian shah Cambyses II seized the Pentapolis after conquering Egypt, and the Persians were followed by Alexander the Great in 332 BC.
The Pentapolis was annexed by Alexander's general Ptolemy I Soter, and it briefly held independence under Magas of Cyrene from 276 to 250 BC; upon Magas' death, it was reabsorbed into the Ptolemaic Kingdom. It was separated by the main kingdom by Ptolemy VIII, who gave it to his son Ptolemy Apion. Upon Apion's death in 96 BC, he bequeathed Cyrenaica to the Roman Republic, and it became a part of Creta et Cyrenaica, a Roman province.
During the Roman era, Cyrene was Christianized, with the faith spreading from Aegyptus. It was briefly part of the Vandalic Kingdom until its reconquest by the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I in 533. From 643 to 644, the Muslim Rashidun Caliphate conquered Cyrenaica, and it was essentially annexed to Egypt until 1911, when it was conquered by Italy. It became a part of Italian Libya and later a part of an independent Libya, and it became an autonomous region in 2012. In 2006, the region had a population of 1,613,749 people.
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