in full, Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah, republic, N Africa, comprising the former Italian colonies of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan. It is bounded on the N by the Mediterranean Sea, on the E by Egypt, on the SE by the Sudan, on the S by Chad and Niger, on the W by Algeria, and on the NW by Tunisia. The area of Libya, one of the largest countries in Africa, is 1,759,540 sq km (679,360 sq mi).

LAND AND RESOURCES

About 95% of Libya is made up of barren, rock-strewn plains and sand sea, with two small areas of hills rising to about 915 m (about 3000 ft) in the NW and NE. In the S the land rises to the Tibesti Massif along the Chad border.

Climate.

Climatic conditions in Libya are characterized by extreme heat and aridity. Desert and subdesert regions have little precipitation. On the coast the annual rainfall rarely exceeds 380 mm (15 in).

Natural Resources.

The principal resource of Libya is petroleum. Natural gas, gypsum, limestone, marine salt, potash, and natron are also exploited.

Plants and Animals.

Most of Libya is either devoid of vegetation or supports only sparse growth. Date palms and olive and orange trees grow in the scattered oases, and junipers and mastic trees are found in the higher elevations. Wildlife includes desert rodents, hyenas, gazelles, and wildcats. Eagles, hawks, and vultures are common.

POPULATION

The indigenous population of Libya is mostly Berber and Arab in origin; 5–10% of the population consists of foreign workers and their families. More than 80% of the people live in urban areas, although some Libyans still live in nomadic or seminomadic groups.

Population Characteristics.

The population of Libya (1984 census) was 3,637,488. The estimated population in 2006 was about 5,900,000; the overall population density was only about 3 persons per sq km (about 9 per sq mi). The population, however, is unevenly distributed; more than two-thirds of the people live in the more densely settled coastal areas. .

Principal Cities.

The ports of Tripoli (pop., 2003 est., urban agglom., 2,600,000) and Benghazi (829,000) are the two largest urban areas. The capital is Tripoli.

Language and Religion.

Arabic is the official language; Berber is also spoken; and English and Italian are used in trade. Islam is the state religion, and about 97% of all Libyans are Sunnite Muslim. A small number are Roman Catholic. .

Education and Culture.

Nine years of primary education in Libya are free and compulsory for Libyans between the ages of 6 and 15. About 83% of the population age 15 or over are literate, that is, able to read and write. In the early 2000s about 750,000 pupils were enrolled in primary schools, and 800,000 in secondary, vocational, and teacher-training schools. Libya's institutions of higher education had about 375,000 students.

The Government Library (1917) and National Archives (1928) are in Tripoli, and the country's largest library, with more than 300,000 volumes, is affiliated with the University of Garyounis (1955) in Benghazi. Among the leading museums, containing mainly antiquities from various ruins, are the Leptis Magna Museum at al-Khums, and the archaeological, natural history, epigraphy, prehistory, and ethnography museums at Tripoli.

ECONOMY

Libya was traditionally an agricultural country, but farming was restricted primarily to the coastal regions, and climatic conditions and poor soil have always impacted on agricultural output. Today Libya imports about 75 percent of its food. Livestock raising has been important. The discovery of petroleum in the late 1950s effected a profound change in the economy. Gross domestic product (GDP) rose sub tan ti ally; in 2005 it was about $65.8 billion, or $11,400 per capita, although much of the population has failed to benefit substantially. Growth was impeded for a time by U.S.and international sanctions; their removal in recent years has been a major benefit. Libya's socialist government has made beginning steps in seeking to lay the groundwork for a more market-oriented economy. The estimated annual budget in 2005 included revenue of $25.3 billion and current and capital outlays of $15.5 billion.

Agriculture.

Most of the arable land and pastureland of Libya is in the Tripolitania region. Cultivation in the E and S regions is sporadic and dependent on rainfall. Although about 17% of the working population was engaged in agriculture in the early 2000s, production fell far short of domestic needs; the annual output represented about 8% of Libya's yearly GDP. The principal crops include tomatoes, wheat, citrus fruits, barley, olives, potatoes, peanuts and dates; in 2004 livestock included 4.5 million sheep, 1.3 million goats, 130,000 cattle, and 25 million chickens. The Great Man-Made River Project, a massive $25 billion irrigation scheme, was inaugurated in 1996.

Fishing.

Small quantities of tuna and sardines are caught in the coastal waters off Libya, and sponges are collected inshore. In 2003 approximately 34,000 metric tons of fish were caught.

Mining.

Petroleum is the principal product of Libya and its main source of revenue. Annual production of petroleum in 2005 was about 1.64 million barrels per day; the natural gas output amounted to about 7 billion cu m. Other minerals produced in significant quantities include lime, gypsum, and marine salt.

Manufacturing.

Major manufactures include petroleum refinery products, petrochemicals, crude steel, and construction materials; most consumer goods must be imported. Traditional handicrafts are of minor economic importance.

Energy.

Almost all of Libya's electricity is produced in thermal facilities, which are concentrated in the Tripolitania region. In the early 2000s Libyan installations annually generated about 14 billion kwh of electricity..

Currency and Banking.

The unit of currency is the Libyan dinar (1.31 dinar equal U.S.$1; Sept. 2005), consisting of 1000 dirhams. The bank of issue is the Central Bank of Libya (1955), which also supervises the banking system and regulates credit. In 1972 the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank was established to deal with overseas investments.

Foreign Trade.

Petroleum accounts for almost the whole of Libyan export trade; as oil prices declined, exports dropped from $21.9 billion in 1980 to $7.7 billion in 1993. Imports in 1993 totaled $8.3 billion, represented chiefly by manufactured goods and food. Exports subsequently showed gains. In 2005 exports reached more than $30 billion; imports totaled $11 billion. Italy and Germany, followed by Turkey, France, Spain, Tunisia, Great Britain, U.S., South Korea, and China, are principal trading partners.

Transportation.

Good roads along the coast connect Tripoli with Tunis, Tunisia, and, through Benghazi and Tobruk, with Alexandria, Egypt; another road connects Sabha in the deep interior with the coastal roadway. In all, Libya has about 83,000 km (52,000 mi) of roads, of which about 57% are paved. Jamahiriya Libyan Arab Airlines provides both local and international flights. In addition to port facilities at Tripoli, Benghazi, and Tobruk, a new port was opened in Misurata in 1978.

Communications.

The postal and telecommunications systems of Libya are government owned and operated. Radio communications link the interior with the coastal regions. In 2000 an estimated 7.4 million radios and 3.3 million televisions were owned by Libyans. in 2003 there were some 750,000 telephone main lines in use, and 130,000 cellular phones; Internet users (2005) numbered over 200,000. Libya's daily newspaper Al-Fajr al-Jadid and other newspapers had a total circulation of about 800,000 in 2000.

GOVERNMENT

Libya is formally governed under a constitution adopted in 1977 by the General People's Congress (GPC), the unicameral national legislature established in 1976. Some restructuring was instituted in 2000. Local councils theoretically have important power in what is officially a “state of the masses,” but the major power is in effect exercised by the country's military leader.

Judiciary.

The judicial system is based on Italian civil law and Islamic law. Civil, criminal, and commercial justice in Libya follows the Egyptian model. The supreme court consists of a chief justice and several associate judges. Courts of first instance, summary courts, and courts of appeal also function.

Local Government.

Prior to 1992 Libya was divided into governorates; now Libya has 25 municipalities.

Health and Welfare.

The government maintains health services and a national insurance system. In 2006 life expectancy from birth averaged 79.0 years for women and 74.5 for men; the infant mortality rate was 23.7 per 1000 live births. In 1996 the government initiated a program to provide needy Libyans with cash grants of about $5000.

Defense.

In the early 2000s Libya had about 76,000 active-duty military personnel. Military expenditures in fiscal year 1999 came to about $1.3 billion.

International Organizations.

Libya is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Arab League, the African Union, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Council of Arab Economic Unity, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.

HISTORY

The Phoenicians founded colonies on the coast of Tripolitania, which were conquered by Carthage in the 6th century bc. Greeks subsequently established settlements in Cyrenaica. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century bc, described the Garamantes people of the Fezzan region, who were sedentary farmers and used horse-drawn chariots in warfare. His account has been verified in the 20th century by ancient cave art, discovered in the Jabal Akakus (jabal means “mountains”) of the western Fezzan region and the Jabal al-Uwaynat near the Egyptian border. Libya later became a Roman possession, until it was conquered by the Vandals in ad 455. After a reconquest by Byzantium in the following century, the region was won by the Arabs under Amr ibn al-As (c. 594-663) in 643.

Ruled successively by the Umayyads, Fatimids, and a Berber dynasty, the country was partly conquered by the Normans in 1146 but soon abandoned to Almohad control. During the following centuries Libya, or parts thereof, frequently changed hands until it was finally conquered, in the 16th century, by the Ottoman Turks.

In the 19th century the puritanical Sanusi sect arose in the interior. The Sanusi led the resistance to the Italians, who began their conquest of Libya in 1911. Turkey renounced its rights over Libya in 1912, but the Sanusi resisted until 1931.

During World War II Libya was the scene of intense desert fighting between Italo-German and Allied forces. Following the expulsion of Axis troops in 1943, France and Great Britain shared control of the country. On Nov. 21, 1949, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution calling for the granting of independence to Libya by Jan. 1, 1952.

Kingdom Established.

A national assembly, composed of an equal number of delegates from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan, convened at Tripoli in 1950 and designated Emir Sayid Idris el-Sanusi (1890–1983), head of the Cyrenaican government and leader of the Sanusi sect, king-designate. The assembly promulgated the Libyan constitution on Oct. 7, 1951. On December 24 the emir, as King Idris I, proclaimed the independence of the federal United Kingdom of Libya. Elections were held in February 1952, and parliament met for the first time in March. Libya joined the Arab League in 1953 and the UN in 1955. In 1963 the constitution was amended to give women the right to vote, and the federal system was replaced by a unitary system.

Great Britain and France agreed to extend financial aid to the government in exchange for the right to maintain their military installations in Libya. The U.S., wishing to retain the vast Wheelus Field air base near Tripoli, promised economic and technical assistance. Libya established diplomatic relations with the USSR in 1956 but rejected Soviet offers of economic aid. In 1964 negotiations were begun between Libya and the U.S. and Great Britain for the withdrawal of troops and the closing of air bases. The last contingents of British and U.S. troops left in 1970.

Libya was not a participant in the 1967 Arab war with Israel, but it strongly supported its Arab League neighbors in opposition to Israel after the war and gave financial aid to Jordan and the United Arab Republic, as Egypt was then called, to rebuild their economies.

Beginning in the mid-1950s, development of the oil industry made rapid progress and turned Libya into a boom country. In 1956 the Libyan government granted two American oil companies a concession of some 5,668,000 ha (14 million acres). In 1961 King Idris opened a 167-km (104-mi) pipeline linking important oil fields in the interior to the Mediterranean Sea. The new facility made possible the export of Libyan oil for the first time. In the same year a royal decree provided that in future agreements with oil companies the government share of the profits would be increased from 50 percent to 70 percent. In the late 1960s numerous oil companies of various nations had been granted concessions, and oil production in the region reached more than 85 million barrels per month.

Overthrow of the Monarchy.

A new era in the history of Libya began on Sept. 1, 1969, when a group of young army officers overthrew the royal government and established a republic under the name Libyan Arab Republic.

The revolutionary government, dominated by Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi, a devout Muslim aspiring to leadership of the Arab world, showed a determination thereafter to play a larger role in the affairs of the Middle East and North Africa. Representatives of Libya engaged in discussions with Egypt and the Sudan on plans for the coordination of economic, military, and political policies of the three countries. In September 1971, Egypt, Libya, and Syria agreed to form a federation designed for mutual military advantage against Israel. This and a later agreement to form a union with Tunisia, however, were abandoned in 1974.

Qaddafi's Regime.

In internal affairs the Qaddafi regime decreed that all businesses must in the future be wholly owned by Libyans; all banks were nationalized. Agreement was reached with foreign-owned oil companies that increased Libya's annual oil revenues by $770 million. In the early 1970s, however, Libya also nationalized the oil resources of the country. Even before the Yom Kippur War between the Arabs and Israelis in 1973, Qaddafi urged his fellow Arabs to refuse to trade in oil, so vital to the industrialized countries of the West, with any nation supporting Israel. After the war Libya joined in an embargo of oil sales to the West and urged higher prices to the oil-consuming countries.

Under Qaddafi's leadership Libya took a much more active role not only in Arab affairs but also in international politics. Opposing the peace initiative toward Israel of Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat, Libya took a leading part, along with Syria, in the so-called rejectionist front in 1978. Its support for the Palestine Liberation Organization later expanded to barely concealed subsidies for terrorists in other nations, and in the early 1980s the regime was believed to be linked to a campaign of assassinations directed against Libyan dissidents residing abroad. During this same period, Libyan forces intervened in a civil war in neighboring Chad. A peace treaty with Chad was signed in 1989.

Libyan relations with the U.S. deteriorated in the early 1980s. In 1981 two Libyan fighter planes were shot down by U.S. Navy jets over the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claimed as territorial waters. In 1982 the U.S. imposed an embargo on Libyan oil imports. Another encounter in the Gulf of Sidra in March 1986 resulted in the destruction of two Libyan ships by U.S. Navy ships. In April, responding to heightened terrorism in Europe apparently directed by Libya against Americans, the U.S. bombed sites declared by President Ronald Reagan to be “terrorist centers.” Qaddafi's home at one of the barracks was damaged and his infant daughter killed, but the major damage was to other military sites.

In 1992 the UN Security Council pressured Qaddafi to turn over Libyans implicated in the bombings of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people in 1988, and UTA flight 772 over Niger, which killed 170 people in 1989. When Qaddafi refused, the UN imposed economic sanctions on Libya. The U.S. Congress passed legislation in 1996 mandating penalties for foreign companies that invest heavily in Libya.

Renunciation of Terrorism.

The UN sanctions were suspended in April 1999 when Qaddafi authorized the extradition of two Lockerbie bombing suspects to the Netherlands for trial under Scottish law; by that time, the international sanctions had cost the nation an estimated $30 billion. In December, Qaddafi signaled a further effort at rapprochement with the West by endorsing a denunciation of terrorism, after meeting in Libya with Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema (1949–    ). Also in 1999, Great Britain reopened its embassy in Tripoli after Libya paid compensation for the death of a British policewoman, as well as damages to the families of those killed in the Niger bombing.

The Libyan government was restructured in early 2000. Following a meeting of the General People's Congress, most cabinet ministries were abolished, and their responsibilities were transferred to regional and local bodies. Qaddafi and his allies continued to control key ministries with authority over security, foreign policy, and the oil sector. After one of the two Lockerbie defendants was convicted of murder in January 2001 (see Terrorism), the U.S. government continued to press Libya to accept responsibility for the bombing and announced that U.S. sanctions would remain in force.

Libya agreed in 2003 to renounce terrorism and negotiate a final settlement in compensation cases involving the families of the Lockerbie and UTA bombing victims; the UN lifted sanctions in September. Secret talks with the U.S. and Great Britain led to Libya's announcement in December that it would stop developing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and long-range missiles. The U.S. ended most economic sanctions in April 2004, and the European Union lifted its sanctions in October. A period of gradual normalization of relations with the U.S. culminated in the full restoration of diplomatic ties in May 2006.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, section 1014. Libya.