The Bengasiens were an ethnic subculture living in the Duchy of Bengasi in the 19th century and early 20th century. Mostly Italian immigrants or German-speaking Austrians, the Bengasiens were Europeans and their descendants of various origins living in the Duchy, typically in a defined middle and upper class. The Bengasiens contributed to the flourishing economy of the country up until the 1890's and were seen as the "anti-French rebel state" of the Mediterranean. Culturally, the group was known for quickly adapting to the desert lifestyle of the Maghreb, adopting an architectural and artistic style in their capital of Bengasi that blended Middle Eastern and French styles, and for intermarrying with Arabs, in particular males who (often forcibly) converted Arab women to Catholicism.