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Libya - Wikipedia

Libya

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  • دولة ليبيا (Arabic)
    Dawlat Lībiyā

Libya,1 officially the State of Libya,2 is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It 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. With an area of almost 1.8 million km (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the fourth-largest country in Africa and the Arab world, and the 16th-largest in the world.3 The country claims 32,000 square kilometres of southeastern Algeria, south of the Libyan town of Ghat.[^1]4 The capital and largest city is Tripoli, located in the northwest and containing over a million of Libya’s seven million people.5

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 became 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 Hospitaller 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 in 1911, which resulted in Italy occupying Libya and establishing two colonies: Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica, later unified in the Italian Libya colony from 1934 to 1943.6

During World War II, Libya was an area of warfare in the North African Campaign. The Italian population then went into decline and 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. He ruled for 42 years until being overthrown and killed in the 2011 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.

Since 2011, Libya has been involved in a political and humanitarian crisis, and by 2014, two rival authorities claimed to govern Libya, which led to a second civil war, with parts of Libya split between separate governments, based in Tripoli and Tobruk, 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.7891011121314 In March 2022, the House of Representatives ceased recognising the Government of National Unity and proclaimed an alternative government, the Government of National Stability (GNS). Both governments have been functioning simultaneously since then, which has led to dual power in Libya. The international community continues to recognise the unity government as the legitimate government of the country.

Libya is a developing country ranking 115th by HDI, and has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves in the world. Libya has the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions per person in Africa, but has made little progress toward developing climate commitments. 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 country’s official religion is Islam, with 96.6% of the Libyan population being Sunni Muslims.[^1] The official language of Libya is Arabic, with vernacular Libyan Arabic being spoken most widely. The majority of Libya’s population is Arab.151617

Printed 2026-08-23.

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Footnotes

  1. /ˈlɪbiə/LIB-ee-ə; Arabic: ليبيا, romanised: Lībiyā, pronounced [liː.bi.jaː], Libyan Arabic: [ˈliːb.jæ]. All spoken dialects have only two syllables and it is normally pronounced as such. ↩

  2. Arabic: دولة ليبيا, romanised: Dawlat Lībiyā^{[5]}$$^{[6]}$$^{[1]} ↩

  3. “Demographic Yearbook (3) Pop., Rate of Pop. Increase, Surface Area & Density” (PDF). United Nations Statistics Division. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2013. ↩

  4. “Libya-Algeria”. Sovereign Limits. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2024. ↩

  5. “Libya Demographics Profile 2014”. Indexmundi.com. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2016. ↩

  6. J. Desanges, “The proto-Berbers”, pp. 236–245, especially p. 237, in General History of Africa, vol. II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990). ↩

  7. “Libya — a tale of two governments, again”. Arab News. 11 June 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022. ↩

  8. “Rival second Libyan assembly chooses own PM as chaos spreads”. Reuters. 25 August 2014. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014. ↩

  9. Chris Stephen (9 September 2014). “Libyan parliament takes refuge in Greek car ferry”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 September 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014. ↩

  10. “Peace talks between Libyan factions to take place in Geneva”. Sun Herald. 7 August 2015. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2015. ↩

  11. “1969: Bloodless coup in Libya”. 1 September 1969. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2018. ↩

  12. Kafala, Tarik (20 October 2011). “Gaddafi’s quixotic and brutal rule”. BBC News. Archived from the original on 24 April 2023. ↩

  13. “Libyan government offensive in Benghazi stalls as Islamists dig in”. Reuters. 6 August 2015. Archived from the original on 9 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015. ↩

  14. “Libyan Civil War: Two warring factions sign ‘permanent’ ceasefire”. The Daily Star. 24 October 2020. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021. ↩

  15. Britannica Student Encyclopaedia. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 1 May 2014. ISBN 978-1-62513-172-0. ↩

  16. “Human Development Report 2023/24” (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024. ↩

  17. “World proven crude oil reserves by country, 1980–2004”. OPEC. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2013. ↩

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