Category: Libya

Libya is a country in North Africa, bathed by the Mediterranean Sea. There are 6.5 million residents (2015), but in recent years, there has been great emigration due to conflicts in the region. The capital is Tripoli. For the Greek philosopher Anaximander, in the 6th century BC, Libya was the land south of the Mediterranean Sea. Today’s Libyan lands were colonized, in part, by Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans and Arabs. Libya today is politically the former Italian colony, from the early 20th century, which basically encompassed Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. During World War II, Italians were expelled and Libya became a British protectorate. Independence was achieved in 1951. In 1959, large oil reserves were discovered in the country. In 1969, after a coup, Muammar al-Gaddafi took over the Libyan government as dictator. In the 1980s, Gaddafi sponsored terrorist actions. In retaliation, the country was bombed by the USA. In 2011, Gaddafi succumbed and was killed in a popular uprising with US support. What followed in Libya was chaos.