Garama was the capital of the Garamantes in the Sahara. Its archaeological remains are located near modern Germa in Libya’s Fezzan region, where the settlement became a centre of oasis life and long-distance exchange.
The city developed in an environment with little dependable surface water. Garamantean engineers used foggara tunnels to draw groundwater toward fields and settlements. This irrigation supported crops and helped sustain a sizeable population in the desert.
Garama also occupied a strategic position in trans-Saharan networks. Goods, animals and people moved between the Mediterranean coast and lands to the south. Archaeological evidence includes buildings, burial sites, ceramics, inscriptions and traces of irrigation systems.
Garama is sometimes confused with Ghadames, a much later and still-inhabited oasis city in western Libya. Garama specifically refers to the ancient Garamantean capital, while the name Germa is used for the modern archaeological site and nearby locality.