Head of State: Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi (1969)

Secretary of the General People's Committee: Mubarak Abdallah al-Shamikh (2000)

Area: 679,358 sq mi (1,759,540 sq km)

Population (2001 est.): 5,240,599 (average annual rate of natural increase: 2.4%); birth rate: 27.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 29.0/1000; density per sq mi: 8

Capital: Tripoli

Largest cities (est. 1988): Tripoli, 591,062; Benghazi, 446,250

Monetary unit: Libyan dinar

Languages: Arabic, Italian and English widely understood in major cities

Ethnicity/race: Berber and Arab 97%, Greeks, Maltese, Italians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Turks, Indians, Tunisians

Religion: Islam

Literacy rate: 64% (1990)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (1999 est.): $39.3 billion; per capita $7,900. Real growth rate: 2%. Inflation: 18%. Unemployment: 30% (1998 est.). Arable land: 1%. Agriculture: wheat, barley, olives, dates, citrus, vegetables, peanuts; beef, eggs. Labor force (1997 est.): 1.2 million; services and government, 54%; industry, 29%; agriculture, 17%. Industries: petroleum, food processing, textiles, handicrafts, cement. Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, gypsum. Exports: $6.6 billion (f.o.b., 1998 est.): crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas. Imports: $7 billion (f.o.b., 1998 est.): machinery, transport equipment, food, manufactured goods. Major trading partners: Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Sudan, UK, Tunisia, Belgium.

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 318,000 (1995); mobile cellular: n.a. Radio broadcast stations: AM 17, FM 4, shortwave 3 (1998). Radios: 1.35 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 12 (plus one low-power repeater) (1997). Televisions: 730,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): n.a.

Transportation: Railways: note: Libya has had no railroad in operation since 1965, all previous systems having been dismantled. Highways: total: 83,200 km; paved: 47,590 km; unpaved: 35,610 km (1996 est.). Waterways: none. Ports and harbors: Al Khums, Banghazi, Darnah, Marsa al Burayqah, Misratah, Ra's Lanuf, Tobruk, Tripoli, Zuwarah. Airports: 142 (1999 est.).

International disputes: maritime boundary dispute with Tunisia; Libya claims about 19,400 sq km in northern Niger and part of southeastern Algeria.

Geography

Libya stretches along the northeastern coast of Africa between Tunisia and Algeria on the west and Egypt on the east; to the south are the Sudan, Chad, and Niger. It is one-sixth larger than Alaska. A greater part of the country lies within the Sahara. Along the Mediterranean coast and farther inland is arable plateau land.

Government

Military dictatorship.

History

The first inhabitants of Libya were Berber tribes. In the 7th century B.C., Phoenicians colonized the eastern section of Libya, called Cyrenaica, and Greeks colonized the western portion, called Tripolitania. Tripolitania was for a time under Carthaginian control. It became part of the Roman Empire from 46 B.C. to A.D. 436, after which it was sacked by the Vandals. Cyrenaica belonged to the Roman Empire from the 1st century B.C. until its decline, after which it was invaded by Arab forces in A.D. 642. Beginning in the 16th century, both Tripolitania and Cyrenaica nominally became part of the Ottoman Empire.

Tripolitania was one of the outposts for the Barbary pirates who raided Mediterranean merchant ships or required them to pay tribute. In 1801 the pasha of Tripoli raised the price of tribute, which led to the Tripolitan war with the United States. When the peace treaty was signed on June 4, 1805, U.S. ships no longer had to pay tribute to Tripoli.

Following the outbreak of hostilities between Italy and Turkey in 1911, Italian troops occupied Tripoli. Italian sovereignty was recognized in 1912. Libyans continued to fight the Italians until 1914, by which time Italy controlled most of the land. Italy formally united Tripolitania and Cyrenaica in 1934 as the colony of Libya.

Libya was the scene of much desert fighting during World War II. After the fall of Tripoli on Jan. 23, 1943, it came under Allied administration. In 1949, the UN voted that Libya should become independent, and in 1951 it became the United Kingdom of Libya. Oil was discovered in the impoverished country in 1958, and eventually transformed its economy.

On Sept. 1, 1969, 27-year-old Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi deposed the king and revolutionized the country, making it a pro-Arabic, anti-Western, Islamic republic with socialist leanings. It was also rabidly anti-Israeli. A notorious firebrand, Qaddafi aligned himself with dictators, such as Uganda's Idi Amin, and fostered anti-Western terrorism.

On Aug. 19, 1981, two U.S. Navy F-14s shot down two Soviet-made SU-22s of the Libyan air force that had attacked them in air space above the Gulf of Sidra. On March 24, 1986, U.S. and Libyan forces skirmished in the Gulf of Sidra, and two Libyan patrol boats were sunk. Qaddafi's troops also supported rebels in Chad but suffered major military reverses in 1987. A two-year-old U.S. covert policy to destabilize the Libyan government ended in failure in Dec. 1990.

On Dec. 21, 1988, a Boeing 747 exploded in flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, the result of a terrorist bomb, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground. Two Libyan intelligence agents were indicted, but Qaddafi refused to hand them over, leading to UN-approved trade and air traffic embargoes in 1992. On April 5, 1999, after years of negotiations, Libya surrendered the two men. The suspects, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, will be tried in the Netherlands, though it will be considered Scottish soil for the duration of the trial. As a result of Libya's cooperation, the United Nations lifted sanctions against the nation, which had severely affected the Libyan economy. European companies almost immediately began to court the oil-rich nation once again.

Qaddafi has also sought to play a leading role in African affairs, promoting a united Africa. The policy suffered a severe setback, however, in Sept. 2000 when Libyan resentment over the one million black Africans living in the country of six million people erupted into violence. Rampaging mobs killed hundreds of blacks, prompting several African nations to launch airlifts to repatriate thousands of citizens. Guest workers from other Arab countries were not generally attacked, prompting charges of racism. Qaddafi blamed the violence on opponents of his African initiative.

See Also: Ibrahim Ighneiwa's Libya Page: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dr_ibrahim_ighneiwa/

(Source: www.infoplease.com )

(this website was designed using Microsoft Notepad, and is best viewed using a computer of some kind.) - Alex Martindale, for Kerry McGregor, 7/11/2001