Libya State of Libya , is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa . Libya borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east , Sudan to the southeast , Chad to the south , Niger to the southwest , Algeria to the west , and Tunisia to the northwest , as well as maritime borders with Greece , Italy and Malta to the north. Libya comprises three historical regions: Tripolitania , Fezzan , and Cyrenaica . With an area of almost 1.8 million km2 (700,000 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest country in Africa and the Arab world , and the 16th-largest in the world . Libya claims 32,000 square kilometers of southeastern Algeria, south of the Libyan town of Ghat . The country's official religion is Islam , with 96.6% of the Libyan population being Sunni Muslims . The official language of Libya is Arabic , with vernacular Libyan Arabic being spoken most widely. The majority of Libya's population is Arab . The largest city and capital, Tripoli , is located in northwestern Libya and contains over a million of Libya's seven million people.
Libya has been inhabited by Berbers since the late Bronze Age as descendants from Iberomaurusian and Capsian cultures. In classical antiquity, the Phoenicians established city-states and trading posts in western Libya, while several Greek cities were established in the East. Parts of Libya were variously ruled by Carthaginians , Numidians , Persians , and Greeks before the entire region becoming a part of the Roman Empire . Libya was an early center of Christianity . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the area of Libya was mostly occupied by the Vandals until the 7th century when invasions brought Islam to the region. From then on, centuries of Arab migration to the Maghreb shifted the demographic scope of Libya in favor of Arabs . In the 16th century, the Spanish Empire and the Knights of St John occupied Tripoli until Ottoman rule began in 1551 . Libya was involved in the Barbary Wars of the 18th and 19th centuries. Ottoman rule continued until the Italo-Turkish War , which resulted in the Italian occupation of Libya and the establishment of two colonies, Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica (1911–1934), later unified in the Italian Libya colony from 1934 to 1943.
During the Second World War , Libya was an area of warfare in the North African Campaign . The Italian population then went into decline. Libya became independent as a kingdom in 1951. A bloodless military coup in 1969 , initiated by a coalition led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi , overthrew King Idris I and created a republic . Gaddafi was often described by critics as a dictator , and was one of the world's longest serving non-royal leaders, ruling for 42 years. He ruled until being overthrown and killed during the 2011 Libyan Civil War , which was part of the wider Arab Spring , with authority transferred to the National Transitional Council then to the elected General National Congress . By 2014 two rival authorities claimed to govern Libya, which led to a second civil war , with parts of Libya split between the Tobruk and Tripoli-based governments as well as various tribal and Islamist militias. The two main warring sides signed a permanent ceasefire in 2020, and a unity government took authority to plan for democratic elections, though political rivalries continue to delay this. Libya is a developing country ranking 104th by HDI and has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves in the world. Libya is a member of the United Nations , the Non-Aligned Movement , the African Union , the Arab League , the OIC and OPEC .
Australian troops enter Bardia, 4 January 1941
The Battle of Bardia Operation Compass , the first British military operation of the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War . It was the first battle of the war in which an Australian Army formation took part, the first to be commanded by an Australian general and the first to be planned by an Australian staff. The 6th Australian Division (Major General Iven Mackay ) assaulted the strongly held Italian fortress of Bardia , Libya, assisted by air support and naval gunfire and under the cover of an artillery barrage . The 16th Australian Infantry Brigade attacked at dawn from the west, where the defences were known to be weak. Sappers blew gaps in the barbed wire with Bangalore torpedoes and filled in and broke down the sides of the anti-tank ditch with picks and shovels . This allowed the infantry and 23 Matilda II tanks of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment to enter the fortress and capture all their objectives, along with 8,000 prisoners.
In the second phase of the operation, the
17th Australian Infantry Brigade exploited the breach made in the perimeter and pressed south as far as a secondary line of defences known as the Switch Line. On the second day, the 16th Australian Infantry Brigade captured the township of Bardia, cutting the fortress in two. Thousands more prisoners were taken and the Italian garrison now held out only in the northern and southernmost parts of the fortress. On the third day, the
19th Australian Infantry Brigade advanced south from Bardia, supported by artillery and the six operational Matilda tanks. Its advance allowed the 17th Australian Infantry Brigade to make progress as well and the two brigades reduced the southern sector of the fortress. The Italian garrisons in the north surrendered to the 16th Australia Infantry Brigade and the Support Group of the
7th Armoured Division outside the fortress. In all, some 36,000 Italian prisoners were taken. (
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The following are images from various Libya-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Flag of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (lasting from 1977 to 2011), the national anthem of which was
"الله أكبر" (English: Allahu Akbar=god (is) great) (from
History of Libya )
Image 2 Omar Mukhtar was the leader of Libyan resistance in Cyrenaica against the Italian colonization. (from
History of Libya )
Image 4 The USS
Enterprise of the
Mediterranean Squadron capturing a Tripolitan Corsair during the
First Barbary War , 1801 (from
Libya )
Image 5 Archaeological site of
Sabratha , Libya (from
Libya )
Image 6 A US Navy expedition under Commodore
Edward Preble engaging gunboats and fortifications in
Tripoli , 1804 (from
Libya )
Image 7 The
siege of Tripoli in 1551 allowed the
Ottomans to capture the city from the
Knights of St. John . (from
Libya )
Image 8 The
Siege of Tripoli in 1551 allowed the Ottomans to capture the city from the Knights of St. John. (from
History of Libya )
Image 9 Libyan soldier of the
Achaemenid army ,
c. 480 BCE .
Xerxes I tomb relief. (from
History of Libya )
Image 10 The
Atiq Mosque in
Awjila is the oldest mosque in the
Sahara . (from
Libya )
Image 11 Bazeen , a communal bread dish (from
Libya )
Image 12 The
Atiq Mosque in
Awjila is the oldest mosque in the
Sahara . (from
History of Libya )
Image 13 Ethnic composition of the Libyan population in 1974 (CIA map)
Uninhabited
(from
Libya )
Image 14 Pivot irrigation in
Kufra , southeast Libya, 2008 (from
Libya )
Image 15 USS
Enterprise of the
Mediterranean Squadron capturing Tripolitan Corsair during the First Barbary War, 1801 (from
History of Libya )
Image 16 Australian infantry at
Tobruk during World War II. Beginning on 10 April 1941, the
Siege of Tobruk lasted for 240 days. (from
History of Libya )
Image 17 A protest against the anti-Gaddafi supporters in Tripoli (from
Libya )
Image 18 Oil is the major natural resource of Libya, with
estimated reserves of 43.6 billion barrels . (from
Libya )
Image 19 Omar Mukhtar was a prominent leader of Libyan resistance in Cyrenaica against Italian colonization. (from
Libya )
Image 20 Areas of control in the
Civil War , updated 11 June 2020:
Tobruk-led Government Government of National Accord Petroleum Facilities Guard
Tuareg tribes
Local forces (from
Libya )
Image 21 An
oil platform off the Libyan coast (from
Libya )
Image 22 An effigy of Muammar Gaddafi hangs from a scaffold in
Tripoli's Martyrs' Square , 29 August 2011 (from
History of Libya )
Image 23 A map of Libya (from
Libya )
Image 24 Al Manar Royal Palace in central Benghazi – the location of the
University of Libya 's first campus, founded by royal decree in 1955 (from
Libya )
Image 25 Libya has emerged as a major transit point for
people trying to reach Europe . (from
Libya )
Image 26 Change in per capita GDP of Libya, 1950–2018. Figures are inflation-adjusted to 2011 International dollars. (from
Libya )
Image 27 Al-Fatah Revolution day decorations in
Tripoli 2008 (from
Libya )
Image 28 Libya is a predominantly desert country. Over 95% of the land area is covered in desert. (from
Libya )
Image 29 F-4J of VF-74 with Libyan MiG-23 over Gulf of Sidra in 1981 (from
Libya )
Image 30 Italian propaganda postcard depicting the
Italian invasion of Libya in 1911 (from
Libya )
Image 31 King Idris I announced Libya's independence on 24 December 1951, and was King until the 1969 coup that overthrew his government. (from
History of Libya )
Image 32 Temple of Zeus in
Cyrene (from
Libya )
Image 33 Ancient Roman mosaic in
Sabratha (from
Libya )
Image 34 Muammar Gaddafi , former leader of Libya, in 2009. (from
History of Libya )
Image 35 Territorial growth of Italian Libya: Territory ceded by Ottoman Empire 1912 (dark-green) but effectively Italy controlled only five ports (black), territories ceded by France and Britain 1919 and 1926 (light-green), territories ceded by France and Britain 1934/35 (red) (from
History of Libya )
Image 36 Muammar al-Gaddafi , leader of Libya (1969–2011) (from
Libya )
Image 37 Libya map of Köppen climate classification (from
Libya )
Image 38 A view of the Business District in
Tripoli (from
Libya )
Image 39 Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar , the head of the
Libyan National Army , one of the main factions in the
2014 civil war (from
Libya )
Image 40 Libya is the fourth-most water-stressed country in the world. (from
Libya )
Image 41 Mosque in
Ghadames , close to the Tunisian and Algerian border (from
Libya )
Image 42 Districts of Libya since 2007 (from
Libya )
Image 43 Libyan National Security Advisor
Mutassim Gaddafi and U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton , April 2009 (from
Libya )
Image 44 UK Foreign Secretary
William Hague with Libyan Prime Minister
Ali Zeidan and U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry , November 2013 (from
Libya )
Image 45 Demonstrations in
Bayda , on 22 July 2011 (from
History of Libya )
Image 46 Gaddafi was the leader of Libya until
2011 Civil War . (from
Libya )
Image 47 King
Idris I of the
Senussi order became the first head of state of Libya in 1951. (from
Libya )
Image 48 The temple of
Zeus in the ancient Greek city of
Cyrene . Libya has a number of World Heritage Sites from the ancient Greek era. (from
History of Libya )
Image 49 The Arch of
Septimius Severus at Leptis Magna. The patronage of Roman emperor Septimus Severus allowed the city to become one of the most prominent in Roman Africa. (from
History of Libya )
Image 50 King Roger II of Sicily was the first Norman King to rule Tripoli when he captured it in 1146. (from
History of Libya )
Image 51 A proportional representation of Libya exports, 2019 (from
Libya )
Image 52 Prehistoric Libyan rock paintings in Tadrart Acacus reveal a Sahara once lush in vegetation and wildlife. (from
History of Libya )
Image 53 An elevation of the city of Ottoman Tripoli in 1675 (from
History of Libya )
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This is a Good article , an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards. Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi c. 1942 – 20 October 2011) was a Libyan revolutionary , politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until his assassination by rebel forces in 2011. He first served as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011. Initially ideologically committed to Arab nationalism and Arab socialism , Gaddafi later ruled according to his own Third International Theory .
Born near
Sirte ,
Italian Libya , to a poor
Bedouin Arab family, Gaddafi became an
Arab nationalist while at school in
Sabha , later enrolling in the
Royal Military Academy, Benghazi . Within the military, he founded a revolutionary group which deposed the Western-backed
Senussi monarchy of
Idris in a
1969 coup . Having taken power, Gaddafi converted Libya into a republic governed by his
Revolutionary Command Council .
Ruling by decree , he
deported Libya's Italian population and ejected its Western military bases. Strengthening ties to Arab nationalist governments—particularly
Gamal Abdel Nasser 's Egypt—he unsuccessfully advocated
pan-Arab political union . An
Islamic modernist , he introduced
sharia as the basis for the legal system and promoted
Islamic socialism . He nationalized the oil industry and used the increasing state revenues to bolster the military,
fund foreign revolutionaries , and implement social programs emphasizing housebuilding, healthcare and education projects. In 1973, he initiated a "
Popular Revolution " with the formation of
Basic People's Congresses , presented as a system of
direct democracy , but retained personal control over major decisions. He outlined his Third International Theory that year in
The Green Book . (
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