The Duchy of Bengasi, also known as Hapsburg Africa or Hapsburg Cyrene, was a North African state in the 19th century. Founded in 1827 following the Hapsburg expulsion from Egypt, the duchy began as a city-state contained within the port city of Bengasi (spelled Benghazi in modern context) itself, it soon contained most of the territory between Ottoman-backed Egypt and French-controlled Algeria.
The Duchy was ruled by Hapsburg descendants who spoke primarily Italian and engaged in Mediterranean trade. The most significant expansion by the Hapsburgs came in 1849, when they seized Tripoli and incorporated the emirate's territory into their own. The Hapsburgs fell in 1907 with the Cyrenese Revolution, which expelled the Europeans from the Duchy of Bengasi and formed the Emirate of Cyrene.