Libyan flag
Official name: Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Capital: Tripoli
Area 1,757,000 sq km 678,400 sq mi
Population 6,173,579 (2008 estimate)
Population growth rate 2.22 percent (2008 estimate)
Population density: 3.5 persons per sq km, 9.1 persons per sq mi (2008 estimate) Urban/rural distribution:
Share urban 87 percent (2005 estimate)
Share rural 13 percent (2005 estimate)
Largest cities: Tripoli, Banghazi, Mişratah
Languages Arabic (official), Berber; Italian and English are widely understood in major cities
Religious affiliations:
Sunni Muslim 96 percent
Orthodox Christian 2 percent
Roman Catholic 1 percent
Other 1 percent
Life expectancy:
Total 77.1 years (2008 estimate)
Female 79.4 years (2008 estimate)
Male 74.8 years (2008 estimate)
Literacy rate:
Total 84.2 percent (2005 estimate)
Female 74.3 percent (2005 estimate)
Male 93.4 percent (2005 estimate)
Form of government: Socialist state with military dictatorship
Total number of military personnel 76,000 (2004)
Introduction:
Libya, country in northern Africa that borders the Mediterranean Sea. Libya is one of the largest countries in Africa. Despite its size Libya is thinly settled. The Sahara, the vast desert of northern Africa, covers much of the country. Nearly all of Libya’s inhabitants live near the coast. Tripoli, located on the Mediterranean coast, is the capital and largest city.
Most of Libya’s people are descended from a mixture of Berbers, the country’s original inhabitants, and Arabs, who arrived in the 7th century ad. Small numbers of Berbers still live in the extreme south of the country. The great majority of the people are Muslims, and Islam is the official state religion. Arabic is the official language.
Libya was a poor country until the discovery of oil in the 1950s. Since then its large reserves of petroleum have made Libya one of the wealthiest countries in Africa. Many of its people, however, still live by farming and grazing livestock, despite the extremely limited amount of good farmland.
The site of ancient Phoenician, Roman, and Arab settlements, Libya was colonized by Italy in the early 20th century. The country became an independent monarchy in 1951, and in 1969 young army officer Muammar al-Qaddafi seized power. Qaddafi proceeded to create a new Libya based on his theories of socialism and Arab nationalism. He renamed the country the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The word Jamahiriya was coined by Qaddafi, who defines it as a state run by all its people. Most outsiders viewed Libya as a military dictatorship, however.
Tripoli, Libya
Tripoli, a city located along the Mediterranean Sea in northwestern Libya, serves as the country’s capital, chief seaport, and economic center. It probably was founded in the 7th century bc, and has both old and new quarters.
Mosque in Tripoli
An arched passageway leads into a mosque in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, a city on the Mediterranean Sea. Most people in Libya are followers of Islam, the country’s official religion. All laws passed by the Libyan legislature, which convenes in Tripoli, must agree with Islamic law.
Libyan Desert
Libya is one of the largest countries in Africa, encompassing 1,757,000 sq km (678,400 sq mi) of territory. The land is barren and receives little precipitation. Camels serve as a valuable means of transportation in the region because of their ability to subsist without water for several days.
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Libyan ruler Muammar al-Qaddafi came to power in 1969 after leading a military coup that ousted the Libyan king. An outspoken critic of the West, he openly supported revolutionaries and terrorist organizations for years. Starting in the late 1990s, however, Qaddafi began to seek closer ties with Western powers and with other African nations.