Ghadames

Ghadames, also spelled Ghadamis, is an oasis town in the Nalut District of the Tripolitania region of northwestern Libya, roughly 462 kilometres southwest of Tripoli and close to the borders with Algeria and Tunisia. Often called the pearl of the desert, it is one of the oldest pre-Saharan settlements, and archaeological evidence suggests people have lived in the area since the fourth millennium BC. Its traditional houses divide functions by floor, with stores on the ground level, family rooms above, and open roof terraces reserved for women, linked by covered alleys that form an almost underground network of passages. The old town inside its wall is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the oasis has a population of around 10,000, mainly Berbers. The Romans knew the settlement as Cydamus, and it later served as a base for trans-Saharan trade.