Libya , officially the 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 kilometres 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 centre 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 favour 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 World War II , 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 92nd by HDI, the highest score in mainland Africa, 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 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , and OPEC .
The LSE–Gaddafi affair was a scandal in the United Kingdom that occurred as a result of relationship that existed between the London School of Economics (LSE) and the Libyan government and its leader Muammar Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi .
The NGO Gaddafi Foundation pledged to donate £1.5 million over five years to a research centre, LSE Global Governance, of which £300k were paid. In addition, LSE Enterprise established a contract worth £2.2 million to train Libyan officials. In 2008, the LSE granted a PhD degree to
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi , the son of the Libyan leader, for a dissertation. Currently, allegations circulate that Gaddafi's thesis was ghost-written and/or plagiarised. (
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The following are images from various Libya-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 King Roger II of Sicily was the first Norman King to rule Tripoli when he captured it in 1146. (from
History of Libya )
Image 2 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 3 Libya has emerged as a major transit point for
people trying to reach Europe . (from
Libya )
Image 4 Temple of Zeus in
Cyrene (from
Libya )
Image 5 An effigy of Muammar Gaddafi hangs from a scaffold in
Tripoli's Martyrs' Square , 29 August 2011 (from
History of Libya )
Image 6 The
Atiq Mosque in
Awjila is the oldest mosque in the
Sahara . (from
Libya )
Image 7 The
Siege of Tripoli in 1551 allowed the Ottomans to capture the city from the Knights of St. John. (from
History of Libya )
Image 8 Gaddafi was the leader of Libya until
2011 Civil War . (from
Libya )
Image 9 Libya is a predominantly desert country. Over 95% of the land area is covered in desert. (from
Libya )
Image 10 UK Foreign Secretary
William Hague with Libyan Prime Minister
Ali Zeidan and US Secretary of State
John Kerry , November 2013 (from
Libya )
Image 11 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 12 A proportional representation of Libya exports, 2019 (from
Libya )
Image 13 King Idris of Libya (from
Libya )
Image 14 Oil is the major natural resource of Libya, with
estimated reserves of 43.6 billion barrels . (from
Libya )
Image 15 Prehistoric Libyan rock paintings in Tadrart Acacus reveal a Sahara once lush in vegetation and wildlife. (from
History of Libya )
Image 16 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 17 Khalifa Haftar , the head of the
Libyan National Army , one of the main factions in the
2014 civil war (from
Libya )
Image 18 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 19 Omar Mukhtar was a prominent leader of Libyan resistance in Cyrenaica against Italian colonization. (from
Libya )
Image 20 USS
Enterprise of the
Mediterranean Squadron capturing Tripolitan Corsair during the First Barbary War, 1801 (from
History of Libya )
Image 21 Libyan soldier of the
Achaemenid army ,
c. 480 BCE .
Xerxes I tomb relief. (from
History of Libya )
Image 22 A protest against the anti-Gaddafi supporters in Tripoli (from
Libya )
Image 23 Omar Mukhtar was the leader of Libyan resistance in Cyrenaica against the Italian colonization. (from
History of Libya )
Image 24 An
oil platform off the Libyan coast (from
Libya )
Image 25 Ethnic composition of the Libyan population in 1974 (CIA map)
Uninhabited
(from
Libya )
Image 26 Map of Tripoli and its suburbs at the beginning of the sixteenth century AD, by
Piri Reis (from
Libya )
Image 27 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 28 Muammar Gaddafi , former leader of Libya, in 2009. (from
History of Libya )
Image 29 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 30 Mosque in
Ghadames , close to the Tunisian and Algerian border (from
Libya )
Image 31 Archaeological site of
Sabratha , Libya (from
Libya )
Image 33 Ambassador Cretz Stands by Fist Crushing a US Fighter Plane Sculpture which was captured after the
fall of Tripoli (from
Libya )
Image 34 A view of the Business District in
Tripoli (from
Libya )
Image 35 The
Atiq Mosque in
Awjila is the oldest mosque in the
Sahara . (from
History of Libya )
Image 36 An elevation of the city of Ottoman Tripoli in 1675 (from
History of Libya )
Image 37 A map of Libya (from
Libya )
Image 38 Al-Fatah Revolution day decorations in
Tripoli 2008 (from
Libya )
Image 39 Bazeen , a communal bread dish (from
Libya )
Image 40 F-4J of VF-74 with Libyan MiG-23 over Gulf of Sidra in 1981 (from
Libya )
Image 41 Districts of Libya since 2007 (from
Libya )
Image 42 Ancient Roman mosaic in
Sabratha (from
Libya )
Image 43 Libyan National Security Advisor
Mutassim Gaddafi and US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton , April 2009 (from
Libya )
Image 44 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 45 The
siege of Tripoli in 1551 allowed the
Ottomans to capture the city from the
Knights of St. John . (from
Libya )
Image 46 Libya is the fourth-most water-stressed country in the world. (from
Libya )
Image 47 Change in per capita GDP of Libya, 1950–2018. Figures are inflation-adjusted to 2011 International dollars. (from
Libya )
Image 48 Libya map of Köppen climate classification (from
Libya )
Image 49 A US Navy expedition under Commodore
Edward Preble engaging gunboats and fortifications in
Tripoli , 1804 (from
Libya )
Image 50 Italian propaganda postcard depicting the
Italian invasion of Libya in 1911 (from
Libya )
Image 51 Pivot irrigation in
Kufra , southeast Libya, 2008 (from
Libya )
Image 52 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 53 Muammar al-Gaddafi , leader of Libya (1969–2011) (from
Libya )
Image 54 Demonstrations in
Bayda , on 22 July 2011 (from
History of Libya )
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