Libya

 

Quick Facts

• Continental region – North Africa
• Currency symbol of Libya –Libyan dinar (LD)
• Capital City –Tripoli
• Official languages – Arabic
• Population – 6,679,000 (2018)
• Country dialling code  –  (+218 )
• Official website – Libya
• Top 3 biggest industries  –Petroleum, mining and agriculture
• Google Maps link –Libya
• Where is it? –Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa, bordered by 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.

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Libya In Pictures

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Libya History

• How did the country get its first name? – The Latin name Libya is based on the name of the region west of the Nile used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans for all of North Africa, and was again adopted during the period of Italian colonization beginning in 1911.
• When and by whom the country was first discovered? – The land of Libya has been inhabited since at least the Bronze Age by the Berbers. Trading posts were built in western Libya by the Phoenicians, while in the east Greek colonists settled in Cyrenaica (eastern Libya). Later both areas of Libya became part of the Roman Empire. A Roman Emperor called Septimius Severus (193-211) was a native of the great city of Leptis Magna in Roman Libya.
• Who were the first Inhabitants? – Herodotus described the inhabitants of Libya as two peoples: The Libyans in northern Africa and the Ethiopians in the south. According to Herodotus, Libya began where Ancient Egypt ended, and extended to Cape Spartel, south of Tangier on the Atlantic coast.
• When it was first recognized as a country? – December 24, 1951
• Who was the first leader of the country? –Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Five Significant Events 

1. 1911 Event The Italian Era: Italy seizes Libya from the Ottomans. Omar al-Mukhtar begins 20-year insurgency against Italian rule. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13755445)

2. 1951 Event Independence: Libya becomes independent under King Idris al-Sanusi.(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13755445)

3. 1969 Event Gaddafi era: King Idris deposed in military coup led by Col Muammar Gaddafi, who pursues a pan-Arab agenda by attempting to form mergers with several Arab countries, and introduces state socialism by nationalising most economic activity, including the oil industry. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13755445)

4. 1981 Event Confrontation with US: US shoots down two Libyan aircraft which challenged its warplanes over the Gulf of Sirte, claimed by Libya as its territorial water. UK breaks off diplomatic relations with Libya after a British policewoman is shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in London while anti-Gaddafi protests were taking place. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13755445)

5. 2009 Event Al-Megrahi released: Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is freed from gaol in Scotland on compassionate grounds and returned to Libya. His release and return to a hero’s welcome causes a storm of controversy. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13755445)

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Five Places to Visit in Libya

1. Tripoli: Before the tumult of the civil war and the rising of the Arab spring, Tripoli was a poster boy for North African heritage. Its winding labyrinth of backstreets melded the warmth and colours of the Med with the dusty and historic character of the Sahel. Street vendors touted spice-covered, ghee-doused basins from the roadside stalls; teahouses throbbed with the mellifluous tones of Arabic chatter and the twisting fumes of shisha pipes. (https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-libya/5/)

2. Leptis Magna: Founded by the Phoenician Greeks sometime in the first millennium BC, and then raised to greatness by the Romans, who flocked to this coastal spot in western Syria to secure their strongholds in North Africa after the Carthage Wars, Leptis Magna is quite possibly the single most impressive ancient site in the country .While some sections of the old temples and peristyles here have been transferred to museums and parks in England, the majestic likes of the grand theatre, arches dedicated to Septimius Severus, the fortification walls, some early Roman basilicas, and the crumbling marketplace all still remain. (https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-libya/5/)

3. Benghazi: Much-ravaged Benghazi has had its fair share of troubles in Libya’s wars. And while the city continues to rattle in the throes of factional trouble, it is trying to shake of the memory of those hard-fought battles during the campaigns of 2011 and 2012, and re-establish itself again as one of the principle port towns in North Africa. (https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-libya/5/) 

4. Cyrene: A legendary patchwork of temples and ancient townhouses that sits perched atop the Mediterranean cliffs in eastern Libya, Cyrene is one of the greatest relics the Greeks left in North Africa. Once a booming mercantile colony built by the seafarers of Santorini, the city played host to Hellenic merchants, the heirs of Alexander the Great, and, later, Roman generals and armies.(https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-libya/5/)

5. Ghadames: Whitewashed homes scramble over one another in the heart of desert-shrouded Ghadames. Meanwhile, winding alleyways hemmed in with adobe walls weave back and forth through the medina that forms the middle of the city – a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right. (https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-libya/5/)

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References: 

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13755445
• https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-libya/5/
• https://www.aljazeera.com/where/libya/
• https://www.britannica.com/place/Libya
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobrayner/3268072648/