country of North Africa. It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the north, Egypt on the east, The Sudan on the southeast, Niger and Chad on the south, and Tunisia and Algeria on the west. It is largely composed of the Sahara, and the population is concentrated along the coast, where the de facto capital, Tripoli (&Tsubdot;arābulus), and Banghāzī (Benghazi), the de jure capital, are located.
Before the discovery of oil in the 1950s, Libya was poor in natural resources and severely limited by the climatic conditions of the Sahara. The country was almost entirely dependent upon foreign aid and the import of commodities necessary for the maintenance of its economy. Petroleum dramatically changed this situation, and Libya became one of the richest countries of the Middle East and Africa. The government controls the economy and has attempted to develop agriculture and industry with the wealth derived from its huge oil revenues. It has also established a welfare state, which provides medical care and education.
The land
Relief
Libya is underlain by basement rocks of Precambrian age (from 3.8? billion to 543 million years ago) that are mantled with marine and wind-borne deposits. The major physical features are the Nafūsah Plateau and the Al-Jifārah (Gefara) Plain in the northwest, the Akh&dsubdot;ar Mountains in the northeast, and the Saharan plateau, occupying much of the rest of the country.
The Al-Jifārah Plain covers about 10,000 square miles of Libya's northwestern corner. It rises from sea level to about 1,000 feet (300 metres) at the foothills of the Nafūsah Plateau. Composed of sand dunes, salt marshes, and steppe, the plain contains most of Libya's population and its largest city—Tripoli. The Nafūsah Plateau is a limestone massif that stretches for about 212 miles (340 kilometres) from Al-Khums on the coast to the Tunisian border at Nālūt. West of Tarhūnah it rises steeply from the Al-Jifārah Plain, reaching altitudes between 1,500 and 3,200 feet.
In the country's northeastern corner, the Akh&dsubdot;ar Mountains stretch for about 100 miles along the coast between Al-Marj and Darnah. The limestone mountains rise steeply from the coast to about 2,000 feet and then stretch about 20 miles inland, attaining their highest altitudes of about 3,000 feet.
The Saharan plateau covers some 90 percent of Libya and is itself about one-half covered by sand deserts, making it truly a desert land. Al-Harūj al-Aswad is a hilly basaltic plateau in central Libya. Covered with angular stone fragments and boulders, it rises to about 2,600 feet and is crowned by volcanic peaks. The Al-&Hsubdot;amrā&hamzah; Plateau lies south of the Nafūsah Plateau. It contains bare rock outcrops and rises to 2,700 feet. An arm of the Tibesti Mountains stretches northward from the main massif in Chad. In the Fezzan region of the southwest a series of long depressions and basins contain wadis (dry riverbeds) and oasis settlements. Mobile sand dunes that reach heights of 300 feet are found in the Fezzan's Marzūq desert and in the Libyan Desert of the east, which extends across the border into Egypt. The country's highest elevations are at Bīkkū Bīttī peak (Picco Bette), rising to 7,500 feet (2,286 metres) on the Libya-Chad border, and at Mount Al-&hamzah;Uwaynāt, with an elevation of 6,345 feet (1,934 metres) on the Libya-Sudan-Egypt border.
Drainage
There are no perennial rivers in Libya. The numerous wadis that drain the uplands are filled by flash floods during the rains and quickly dry up or are reduced to a trickle. The largest wadi systems are the Wadi Zamzam and Wadi Bayy al-Kabīr, both of which reach the western coast of the Gulf of Sidra. Other large wadis drain the interior basins of Surt, Zal&tsubdot;an, and the Fezzan. There is also, however, extensive underground water. Numerous oases are watered by wells and springs, and artesian wells tap large deep fossil aquifers in the Fezzan and southeastern Libya. Along the coastal strip there are several salt flats, or sebkhas, formed by the ponding and evaporation of water behind coastal dunes. Principal salt flats are those of Tāwurghā&hamzah;, Zuwārah, and the Banghāzī Plain.
Soils
The gray-brown soils of the Al-Jifārah Plain and the Nafūsah Plateau are fertile, although they have become saline from overirrigation. In the east, the soils of the Barce plain—which stretches between the Akh&dsubdot;ar Mountains and the sea—are light and fertile. Rich alluvial soils are found in the coastal deltas and valleys of large wadis. The rest of the country is covered by wind-eroded sand or stony desert. The soils in these areas are poorly developed and contain little organic material. On the margins of the Sahara, the soils are seriously depleted from cultivation and overgrazing.
Climate
The climate over most of the country is that of the hot, arid Sahara, but it is moderated along the coastal littoral by the Mediterranean Sea. The Saharan influence is stronger in summer. From October to March, prevailing westerly winds bring cyclonic storms and rains across northern Libya. A narrow band of semiarid steppe extends inland from the Mediterranean climate of the Al-Jifārah Plain, the Nafūsah Plateau, and the Akh&dsubdot;ar Mountains. The desert climate of the Sahara reaches the coast in the Surt Desert along the southern fringes of the Gulf of Sidra. Periodic droughts, often lasting several years, are common in the steppe and desert climates.
Mediterranean climate is characterized by a cool rainy winter season and a hot dry summer. The warmest months are July and August, when Banghāzī and Tripoli, in the Mediterranean zone, experience average monthly temperatures of 72° to 85° F (22° to 29° C) and 62° to 86° F (17° to 30° C), respectively. The coolest months are January and February; Banghāzī has winter monthly temperatures of 50° to 63° F (10° to 17° C), and Tripoli has 47° to 61° F (8° to 16° C). Al-&ayn;Azīzīyah on the Al-Jifārah Plain has recorded the world's highest shade temperature, about 136° F (58° C). Banghāzī receives an annual average rainfall of 10 inches (250 millimetres), and Tripoli receives 15 inches.
The amount of annual precipitation declines, and its variability increases, inland from the coast. Most of the rainfall occurs in only a few days between November and January. Steppe climate has less than four inches of rainfall annually, and Saharan desert climate has less than one inch. In the Sahara, 200 consecutive rainless days in a year have been recorded in many areas, and the world's highest degree of aridity occurs at Sabhā, which averages only 0.4 inch of rainfall annually. The average January temperature at Sabhā is 52° F (11° C), and in July it is 88° F (31° C). Large daily ranges about these averages occur, however. The dry climate is exacerbated by the ghibli, a hot, arid wind that blows from the south several times a year, affecting the entire country. It is preceded by a short lull in the prevailing winds, which is followed by the full force of the ghibli. The wind carries large quantities of sand dust, which turns the sky red and reduces visibility to less than 60 feet. The heat of the wind is increased by a rapid drop of relative humidity, which can fall from 80 to 10 percent within hours.
Plant and animal life
In years of good rainfall the coastal plains are covered with herbaceous vegetation and annual grasses; the most noticeable plants are the asphodel (an herb of the lily family) and jubule. The northern area of the Akh&dsubdot;ar Mountains—where the influence of the Mediterranean is most apparent—supports low and relatively dense forest (or maquis) of juniper and lentisc. Annual plants are abundant and include species such as brome grass, canary grass, bluegrass, and rye grass. The forest becomes more scattered and stunted south of the mountain crest, and annual plants are less frequent. The Nafūsah Plateau has less plant life, and the natural vegetation of grassland lies between barren hills.
In the semiarid steppes vegetation is sparse; isolated drought-resistant plants grow in generally barren pockets. The species most commonly found are saltwort (a plant used in making soda ash) and spurge flax (a shrubby plant), while goosefoot, wormwood, and asphodel also are widespread. Annual grasses grow in the rainy season, and leguminous plants appear in years of good rainfall. Although rainfall is extremely low in the true desert zone and the vegetation cover is scant, some of the plants of the semiarid region penetrate into the occasional wadi valley, and date palms are grown in the southern oases.
Wild animals include desert rodents, such as the desert hare and the jerboa; hyenas; foxes, such as the fennec and the red fox; jackals; skunks; gazelles; and wildcats. The poisonous adder and krait are among the reptiles that inhabit the scattered oases and water holes. Native birds include the wild ringdove, the partridge, the lark, and the prairie hen. Eagles, hawks, and vultures are common.
Settlement patterns
Libya is divided into three regions—the western region (formerly Tripolitania province), the eastern region (formerly Cyrenaica province), and the southern region (formerly Fezzan province). Two-thirds of the population lives in the western region, the majority in Tripoli and other cities along the coast and on the Nafūsah Plateau. About 20 percent of the people live in the eastern region, primarily in Banghāzī and other coastal cities. The remainder of the population is concentrated in oasis towns in the southern region.
The vast majority of the rural population lives in coastal oases and is engaged in farming based on irrigation; plots of land are generally held in individual ownership and are often small. On the Nafūsah Plateau, where water is less readily available, a sophisticated agrarian system based on olive- and fruit-tree cultivation and associated livestock raising has evolved. In the eastern region, however, the traditional economy was based on nomadic and seminomadic pastoralism. Arable farming has largely been an adjunct of the pastoral system, with shifting dry-land cultivation rarely entailing sedentary farming. Land ownership is no longer exclusively tribal, but the system of tenancy contrasts sharply with that of ownership in the west. In southern Libya, isolated irrigated farming at the oases represents a third traditional economic system.
The most common mode of life in rural Libya is sedentary cultivation. In the traditional oases most farmers rely on irrigation, and water is raised from shallow wells either by the animal-powered dalū (a goatskin bag drawn by rope over a pulley) or, increasingly, by electric or diesel pumps. Landholdings in the oases are small and fragmented; the average five to seven acres (two to three hectares) per farm are generally divided into three or four separate units. On the coastal lowlands farmers normally live on their land and often have rights to graze stock and undertake shifting grain cultivation on communally held land. In both the east and the west, Arab farmers occupy large, formerly European estates, in which individual units range from 12 to 600 acres (5 to 250 hectares).
Pastoral nomadism is practiced in the arid and semiarid regions, particularly in the Akh&dsubdot;ar Mountains and surrounding steppe lands in the eastern region. Nomadic groups subsist primarily on their herds of sheep, goats, and camels, but also participate in the shifting cultivation of cereals. The Bedouins move south as soon as pasture appears in the fall and remain there until the ephemeral grasslands die and necessitate the return to the northern hill lands.
The village was originally an institution alien to Libya's tribal organization. Since the first Turkish occupation in the 16th century, towns and villages were developed by occupying powers mainly as military posts or administrative centres. Many village sites have been occupied for centuries; smaller settlements often began as collecting centres for the nomadic tribes during their summer residence in the oases or hill pastures. Berbers in the west, however, are thought to have retained a more or less continuous thread of settlement in their fortified nucleated villages in the western Nafūsah Plateau. In the southern oases, the villages served both as defense posts for the scattered communities and as watering and provisioning points on the trans-Saharan caravan routes. Modern development has led to the expansion of villages into towns and has fostered internal migration of the rural population from the land to the centres of settlement.
The two main cities are Tripoli and Banghāzī. They contain more than one-third of the country's entire urban population and about one-fourth of the total population. Tripoli, with a metropolitan population of more than one million people, is the de facto political capital and the most important economic centre. Banghāzī, with half a million people, is the primary city in the eastern region. The modern cities have developed around the old city centres (medinas) with satellite towns and villages in surrounding oases. Shantytowns housing recent rural-to-urban migrants are also found near the two cities, and, although low-income housing is under construction, these areas present problems of sanitation and water supply.
Besides Tripoli and Banghāzī, there are 12 large towns. In the west Gharyān, Al-Khums, Mi&ssubdot;rātah, Tājūrā&ayn;, Sūq al-Jum&hamzah;ah, Janzūr, and Az-Zāwiyah are the major centres. In the east Ajdābiyā, Al-Marj, Al-Bay&dsubdot;ā&ayn;, Darnah, and Tobruk (&Tsubdot;ubruq) are of the same rank. These cities are primarily regional administrative and commercial centres with some light industry. Several have petroleum refineries and petrochemical industries.
The people
Ethnic composition
Almost all Libyans speak Arabic, the country's official language, and adhere to the Sunnite branch of Islām. They claim descent from the Bedouin Arab tribes of the Banū Hilāl and the Banū Sulaym, who invaded the Maghrib in the 11th century. In the eastern region the influence of the Sanūsīyah, a 19th-century militant Islāmic brotherhood, remains strong. Most of the Jewish and Italian minorities, long established in Tripolitania (the western region), left the country after the government seized their properties in 1970. Small numbers of Roman Catholic and Coptic Christians remain. The government's embrace of Arab nationalism has reduced Western influences, although English is still widely used as a second language in international business and politics. Nearly one-fifth of Libya's total population in the late 20th century was composed of foreign workers temporarily residing in the country. The tribe (qabīlah) was for long the basis of the social order in Libya, and eight out of every nine persons once resided in tribal domains.
The Berbers were the major original inhabitants of Libya. The main groups were the Luata, the Nefusa, and the Adassa. The Berbers lived in coastal oases and practiced sedentary agriculture. Most of them have been assimilated into Arab society except in the Nafūsah Plateau region, Awjilah, Hūn, Socra, and Zuwārah. The Berbers speak their own Hamitic language but have adopted the Arabic alphabet. Many are bilingual in Berber and Arabic; most are Muslims.
The Arab invasions began in the 7th century. The initial Arab incursions were essentially military and had little effect upon the composition of the population. The Banū Hilāl invasion of 1049 and succeeding attacks of the Banū Sulaym later in the 11th century, however, brought migrations of large pastoral nomadic tribes from the eastern Arabian peninsula.
The Banū Sulaym were composed of four main groups—the Banū Hebib, the &hamzah;Awf, the Debbab, and the Zegb. The Hebib settled in Cyrenaica, while the others went into Tripolitania. After the establishment of tribal groups, Libya underwent a period of disorder and tribal feuding, which was augmented by the incursion of other Arab adventurers from Egypt. Toward the close of the period of anarchy, the Debbab group took control of much of Tripolitania. By the 20th century about 97 percent of Libya's inhabitants were Arabic-speaking Muslims of mixed Arab and Berber descent.
Several other social groups exist alongside the tribal unit. They are the sharifs (holy tribes), who came originally from the Fezzan; the marabouts (dervishes who are credited with supernatural powers), who infiltrated from Saguia el Hamra in what is now Western Sahara; and the Koulouglis, who are descended from the Janissaries (elite Turkish soldiers) and the Berber and Christian slave women with whom they interbred.
The sharifs claim direct descent from the Prophet Mu&hsubdot;ammad. Their alleged blood relationship with the Prophet gives them a powerful standing in Muslim society, where they are looked upon as holy men with divine powers of foresight. Extensive tracts of land are found under sharif control in all the oases of western Libya. Marabout tribes are descended from holy men who also claimed relation to Mu&hsubdot;ammad. They founded their religious devotions upon an ascetic life manifested in their existence as hermits. In areas where their teachings and way of life made them acceptable to the local inhabitants, they settled and founded tribes pledged to the pure way of life.
The Koulouglis have served since Turkish times as a secretarial class in several areas and are often concentrated in and around villages and towns. They speak Arabic and practice Islām.
The trans-Saharan slave trade, which continued during Turkish times, introduced black Africans and their cultures into many of the tribes, especially in the Fezzan and in Tripolitania. Their languages are those of the central Sahara and the eastern Sudan; most also speak Arabic and have adopted Islām.
Small groups of Tuareg tribespeople are found in the southwest, especially at the Ghadāmis and Ghāt oases. Traditionally nomadic, they are gradually assuming a sedentary life-style. Isolated Teda (Tubu) communities of the southeast are slowly gravitating toward the north and the Al-Kufrah oasis in search of employment.
Demographic trends
Libya has one of the highest rates of population growth in Africa, averaging more than 3 percent annually for much of the second half of the 20th century. The huge influx of foreign workers into the country since the 1960s accounts for part of this rapid growth, but Libya's annual rate of natural increase (birth rate minus death rate) has also been one of the highest averages in Africa for much of the late 20th century. Death rates have declined to near the world average, but birth rates remain high. Almost one-half of the population is 15 years of age or less despite high rates of infant mortality—the highest in North Africa—portending continued high birth rates and rapid growth well into the 21st century.
The economy
Oil revenues are Libya's main source of income. During the 1980s, oil accounted for two-thirds of the national income and nearly 99 percent of export earnings, although it employed less than 10 percent of the labour force. The government exerts strong control over the economy. The petroleum industry was nationalized in the 1970s; state trade unions and industrial organizations run most other industries and utilities. To reduce the country's heavy dependence on oil, economic policy has emphasized agricultural and industrial development. Declining oil revenues during the 1980s, however, led to frequent revisions and delays in planned developments. In 1988, domestic reforms liberalized economic policy and encouraged private enterprise.
Libya's per capita income is the highest in Africa, but its population is relatively small. A shortage of labour has led to a large number of foreign workers—mostly from other North African countries, western Africa, and the Middle East—in agriculture and industry. Since the mid-1980s, however, Libya has attempted to reduce the number of foreign workers because of the huge drain that their remittances to their respective countries has caused on Libya's reserves of foreign exchange.
Resources
Petroleum is Libya's most important mineral resource. First discovered in 1956 near the Algerian border, it has since been located mainly in the Surt Basin. The major oil fields are Zal&tsubdot;an, Āmāl, and Inti&ssubdot;ār A in the vicinity of Banghāzī; the Dahra field is located near Mi&ssubdot;rātah, and the Sarir field is near Darnah. Deposits have been located near Ghadāmis on the western border, Murzuq in the southwest, and the Al-Kufrah oasis in the southeast. Exploration for new deposits has concentrated on the western region and offshore, where a large field was discovered northwest of Tripoli in 1988. Libya's proven oil reserves represent almost half of Africa's, or about 2 percent of the world's. Libyan crude oil is low in sulfur content and therefore causes less corrosion and less pollution than most crude oils. The deposits are associated with natural gas.
The first pipeline was constructed from the Zal&tsubdot;an field to Marsā al-Burayqah in 1961. Since then additional lines have been built from Dahra to As-Sidrah and to Ra&hamzah;s al-Unūf, and other pipelines connect the Tobruk field to Marsā al-&Hsubdot;arīqah and the Inti&ssubdot;ār A field to Az-Zuwaytīnah. Refineries are located at Az-Zāwiyah, Mi&ssubdot;rātah, Ra&hamzah;s al-Unūf, and Tobruk. A natural-gas pipeline runs parallel to the oil pipeline from Zal&tsubdot;an. The gas liquefaction plant at Marsā al-Burayqah is the world's largest.
Libya is usually among the world's dozen largest producers of oil. Sales to Europe were enhanced by the closure of the Suez Canal between 1967 and 1975. During the 1980s, however, production and revenues declined because of an increased supply of oil on the world market. Libya has concluded barter agreements with some European and African countries to exchange petroleum for goods and services. Only a small percentage of the Libyan labour force is employed by the oil industry, along with a few thousand foreign workers.
Other mineral resources are limited. There are important deposits of natron (hydrated sodium carbonate) in the Fezzan and of potash in the Surt Desert near Marādah. The iron ore deposits at Shā&tsubdot;i&ayn;, although low in iron content, supply the iron-steel complex at Mi&ssubdot;rātah. Marine salt is produced in Tripolitania, where there are also small deposits of gypsum, manganese, and lignite coal. Sulfur has been found in the Surt Desert, and there are scattered deposits of chalk, limestone, and marble that are quarried for the growing construction trade.
The arid climate supports few biological resources except for the grasslands of the Akh&dsubdot;ar Mountains and the Nafūsah Plateau, which are valuable for grazing. There are no hydroelectric resources, and oil represents the only domestic means of producing electricity thermally.
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
Agriculture is limited by the environment and by shortages of labour. Only about 1 percent of the total land area is cultivated, mostly on the Al-Jifārah and Barce plains, and about one-tenth of that is irrigated. An additional 8 percent of the land is in pasture. Agricultural development by land reclamation and irrigation is a government priority. The largest projects are at the Al-Kufrah oasis, Tāwurghā&ayn;, and Sarīr, on the Al-Jifārah Plain, and in the Akh&dsubdot;ar Mountains. The Great Man Made River project, under construction during the late 20th century, is the most ambitious. Pipelines will carry water from wells in the southern Sahara to Tripoli, Surt, Banghāzī, Tobruk, and the Al-Kufrah oasis.
Cereals are the major crops throughout the country. Barley is the chief cereal grown because it adapts well to different climates and soils. Wheat is grown primarily on the eastern and western plateaus, and sorghum is raised in the Fezzan. Olive plantations were introduced by the Italians on the Al-Jifārah Plain and on the Nafūsah Plateau, and there are smaller olive groves in the east. Orchards of almonds, citrus fruit, apricots, and figs occur on small and large farms and on small, crowded plots in the oases. Dates are the principal crop of the southern oases. Grapes, broad beans, and peanuts also are grown. Tobacco is raised in Tripolitania.
Animal husbandry is important in Cyrenaica, where the herds are raised on communal grazing lands. Livestock includes sheep, goats, cattle, camels, horses, mules, and donkeys. Animals are raised for their milk, meat, and hides or for their services as a means of transportation. Cattle often serve as draft animals. A small amount of milk is produced commercially, and commercial poultry farms are developing around the larger cities.
Less than 1 percent of the land is in forests. Before the 1950s the only wooded area in Libya was the region of scrub brush in the Akh&dsubdot;ar Mountains. Since then, the government has launched a massive afforestation program. Between 1957 and 1964, 27 million acacia, eucalyptus, cypress, cedar, and pine trees were planted in Tripolitania.
There is little demand in Libya for fish, and most fishing is carried out off the Tripolitanian coast by Libyan, Tunisian, Greek, and Maltese fishermen. The catch includes tuna, sardines, and red mullet. Sponge beds are also important. The sponges are harvested mainly by Greeks who are licensed by the Libyan government.
Industry
Industrial development is limited. Most factories are located in Tripoli and Banghāzī and are managed by Arabs. The industrial work force is small: many of the factories employ fewer than 100 persons. A majority of the factories are engaged in the manufacture of processed food, beverages, cement, leather goods, and textiles. The government has monopolies for the processing of tobacco, salt, and esparto grass. There are also oil-related industries, which produce steel drums, tanks, and pipe fittings; and petrochemical plants are located near refineries.
The production of electricity for public consumption is a government monopoly. There are also private plants, such as the 25,000-kilowatt facility built by an oil company at Marsā al-Burayqah. The total installed capacity, all thermal plants powered by oil, grew more than sevenfold during the 1970s.
Finance and trade
Financial services are headed by the Central Bank of Libya, which supervises the banking system, regulates credit and interest policies, and promotes the transformation of foreign banks into Libyan institutions. The Libyan Arab Foreign Bank has made some investments, primarily in Italy.
Since 1963 Libya has usually enjoyed a favourable balance of trade. Almost all its exports are represented by crude petroleum, but agricultural products and hides and skins also are exported. Imports consist of equipment for the oil and construction industries, farm machinery, consumer goods, and agricultural products. Most of the country's imports are purchased from Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. Exports, almost all petroleum, usually go to Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Greece, and Turkey.
Transportation
The main road is the 1,100-mile national coastal highway between the borders of Tunisia and Egypt. The Sabhā road runs from the coastal highway at Al-Qaddā&hsubdot;īyah south and southwest to Ghāt near the Algerian border. Other national roads run from Tripoli to Ghāt and Sabhā and from Ajdābiyā to Al-Kufrah. About half the roads are paved. The two railroads that served Tripoli and Banghāzī were closed in the late 1960s.
Tripoli is the main port, and Tripoli and Banghāzī together handle most of the country's maritime trade. Tripoli handles the bulk of the imports, particularly those associated with the oil industry and the booming trade in consumer goods. Tobruk is the third most important port.
Petroleum is shipped from As-Sidrah, Marsā al-Burayqah, Tobruk, and Az-Zuwaytīnah. Mi&ssubdot;İātah, Zuwārah, and Al-Khums have been developed as fishing ports. Libya's merchant fleet is modest, and most oil is shipped in foreign vessels.
International airports include those at Tripoli and at Banīnah, outside of Banghāzī. Domestic airfields include those at Sabhā, Al-Bay&dsubdot;ā&hamzah;, Ghadāmis, and Ghāt. The Libyan Arab Airlines and foreign airlines operate domestic flights and services to countries in the Middle East and North Africa and to several nations in Europe. There are also domestic flights operated by the oil companies.
Administration and social conditions
Government
In September 1969 the monarchy of Idris I was overthrown and the constitution suspended in a military coup d'état. In 1977 the 12-member Revolutionary Command Council formed after the coup was replaced by the General Secretariat of the General People's Congress (GPC) with Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi as secretary-general. He resigned the post in 1979 but remained in effect ruler of the country and head of the revolution. A General People's Committee has replaced the original revolutionary cabinet, the Council of Ministers; each of the committee's members is the secretary of a department. In 1988 all but 2 of the 19 secretariats were moved from Tripoli, most of them to Surt. The General People's Congress serves as a parliament.
The country is divided into 25 baladīyāt (municipalities), which in turn are subdivided into zones. The citizens of each zone are members of the Basic Popular Congress (BPC), each headed by an appointed revolutionary or leadership committee. Citizens are also members of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU), the mass political organization and only legal political party. In the late 1980s, sweeping domestic reforms replaced the army and police forces with the Jamahiri Guards.
Justice
The judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, located in Tripoli, with five chambers of five justices each; it is the final court of appeal. The regional courts of appeal, located in Tripoli, Banghāzī, and Sabhā, each with three justices, hear appeals from the courts of first instance and the summary courts, the basic judicial unit, each with one justice per court. Separate religious courts were abolished in 1973, and all judicial courts base their rulings on Libyan law, founded on the basis of the Sharī&ayn;ah (Islāmic law). In 1989 the People's Courts, which try political detainees, and the People's Prosecution Bureau replaced the revolutionary courts.
Education
Public education is free and primary education is compulsory for both boys and girls. Arabic is the language of instruction at all levels. The school system is composed of a six-year primary level, a three-year intermediate and vocational level, and a three-year secondary and advanced vocational level. There are also Qur&hamzah;ānic schools, which are financed by the government. About three-fourths of the adult population is literate. In order to increase the literacy rate the government has also sponsored an adult educational program.
Higher education is offered by the state institutions of the University of Libya, subdivided in 1973 into Al-Fateh University (Tripoli) and Garyounis University (Banghāzī). Advanced religious training is obtained at a branch of the university at Al-Bay&dsubdot;ā&hamzah;. Libyan students also study abroad in Egypt, Europe, and the United States.
Health and welfare
The chief health problems are typhoid, leishmaniasis, rabies, meningitis, and schistosomiasis (a parasitic infestation of the liver or intestines). The incidence of malaria has declined, but gastroenteritis and tetanus remain major diseases.
Medical and hospital care and medicines are free. Most care is available in hospitals and at outpatient or specialized-care facilities or clinics.
Schools for medicine and dentistry opened in the 1970s, but the rapid expansion of facilities necessitated the continued hiring of expatriate staff. The number of medical personnel has been increased sharply. Some graduate medical students study abroad.
The National Social Insurance Institute operates social security programs. Workers covered by government insurance programs receive medical examinations and treatment, maternity benefits, and dental care. There are also old-age pensions and payments for incapacity or death as a result of work-related accidents.
Cultural life
Cultural differences between the provinces are important. The population of the west is far more cosmopolitan than that of the east and includes a higher proportion of people with Berber, Sudanese African, and Turkish origins. Cyrenaica was profoundly affected by the teachings of the 19th-century Sanūsīyah, an Islāmic brotherhood, which had little influence in the west and south.
Since the 1969 coup, life-styles have been strongly influenced by the revolutionary government's restructuring of national and local government and its efforts to reduce the influence of traditional tribes. The government has also brought women out of traditional seclusion and into the mainstream of the revolutionary socialist society.
Libyan culture centres on folk art and traditions, which are highly influenced by Islām. The traditional arts of weaving, embroidery, metal engraving, and leatherwork rarely depict people or animals because of the Islāmic prohibition against such representation. The dominant geometric and arabesque designs are best presented in the stucco and tiles of the Karamanli and Gurgi mosques of Tripoli. Surviving traditions are represented by festivals, horse races, and folk dances.
Nonreligious literature has developed largely since the 1960s; it is nationalistic in character but reveals Egyptian influences. The arts are supported by the government through the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Education and National Guidance, and the Al-Fikr Society, a group of intellectuals and professionals.
Libraries include the Government Library and the Archives in Tripoli, the Public Library in Banghāzī, and the university libraries. The Department of Antiquities is responsible for the Archaeological Museum, the Leptis Magna Museum of Antiquities, the Natural History Museum, and the Sabratha Museum of Antiquities, all in the western region, and the archaeological sites of Ptolemais and Appolonia in the eastern region. The Sabhā Museum contains exhibits of ancient remains of the former Fezzan region.
The government controls broadcasting and the press. Newspapers and periodicals are published by the Jamahiriya News Agency (JANA), government secretariats, the Press Service, and trade unions. JANA publishes a daily newspaper, Al-Fajr al-Jadīd (“New Dawn”), in Tripoli. Radio broadcasts from Tripoli and Banghāzī are in Arabic and English; the national television service broadcasts in Arabic, with limited hours in English, Italian, and French. Three publishers of general and academic books are located in Tripoli.
Mukhtar Mustafa Buru
Gary L. Fowler
History
This discussion focuses on Libya since the 18th century. For a treatment of earlier periods and of the country in its regional context, &see; North Africa, history of.
The present borders of Libya contain a huge territory—the size of the U.S. states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi combined. Largely desert with some limited potential for urban and sedentary life in its northwestern and northeastern corners, Libya has never been populous nor a power centre. Like that of its neighbour Algeria, Libya's very name is a neologism; it was created by the conquering Italians early in the 20th century. Also like that of Algeria, much of Libya's earlier history—not only in the Islamic period but even before—reveals that both the western and eastern provinces were more closely linked with neighbouring territory, with Tunisia and Egypt, respectively. Even during most of the time it was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, the country was divided into two parts, one linked to Tripoli in the west and the other to Banghāzī in the east.
Libya thus owes its present unity as a state less to earlier history or geographic constants than to several recent factors: the unifying effect of the Sanūsiyyah movement (a reformist Sufi order) since the 19th century; Italian colonialism from 1911 until after World War II (1939–45); an early independence by default, since the great powers could agree on no other solution; and the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in the late 1950s. Yet the Sanūsiyyah is based largely in the eastern region of Cyrenaica and has never really penetrated the more populous western region of Tripolitania. Italian colonization was brief and brutal. Moreover, most of the hard-earned gains in infrastructure implanted in the colonial period were destroyed by contending armies during World War II. Sudden oil wealth has been both a boon and a curse as changes to the political and social fabric, as well as to the economy, have accelerated. This difficult legacy of disparate elements and forces helps to explain the unique character of modern Libya.
L. Carl Brown
Ed.
Ottoman rule
Part of the Ottoman Empire from the early 16th century, Libya experienced autonomous rule (similar to that in Ottoman Algeria and Tunisia) under the Karamanli dynasty from 1711 to 1835. In the latter year the Ottomans took advantage of a dispute over the succession and local disorder to reestablish direct administration. For the next 77 years the area was administered by officials from the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) and shared in the limited modernization common to the rest of the empire. In Libya the most significant event of the period was the creation (1837) of the Sanūsiyyah, which preached a puritanical form of Islam, giving the people instruction and material assistance and so creating in them an added sense of unity. The first Sanūsī zāwiyah (monastery) in Libya was established in 1843 near the ruins of the ancient Greek colony of Cyrene in eastern Cyrenaica. The order spread principally in that province but also found adherents in the south. The Grand al-Sanūsī, as the founder came to be called, moved his headquarters to the oasis of Al-Jaghbūb near the Egyptian frontier, and in 1895 his son and successor, Sīdī Mu&hsubdot;ammad Idrīs al-Mahdī, transferred it farther south into the Sahara to the oasis group of Al-Kufrah. Though the Ottomans welcomed the order's opposition to the spread of French influence northward from Chad and Tibesti, they regarded with suspicion the political influence it exerted within Cyrenaica. In 1908 the Young Turk revolution gave a new impulse to reform; in 1911, however, the Italians, with banking and other interests in the country, launched an invasion of Libya.
The Ottomans sued for peace in 1912, but Italy found it more difficult to subdue the local population. Resistance to the Italian occupation continued throughout World War I (1914–18). After the war Italy considered coming to terms with nationalist forces in Tripolitania and with the Sanūsiyyah, who were strong in Cyrenaica. These negotiations foundered, however, and the arrival of a strong governor, Giuseppe Volpi, in Libya and a Fascist government in Italy (1922) inaugurated an Italian policy of thorough colonization. The coastal areas of Tripolitania were subdued by 1923, but in Cyrenaica Sanūsī resistance, led by &ayn;Umar al-Mukhtār, was maintained until his capture and execution in 1931.
Italian colonization
In the 1920s and '30s the Italian government expended large sums on developing towns, roads, and agricultural colonies for Italian settlers. The most ambitious effort was the program of Italian immigration called “demographic colonization,” launched by the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini in 1935. As a result of these efforts, some 150,000 Italian settlers were established in Libya (about 18 percent of that country's total population) by the outbreak of World War II (1939–45).
These colonizing efforts and the resulting economic development of Libya were largely destroyed during the North Africa campaigns of 1940–43. Cyrenaica changed hands three times, and by the end of 1942 all of the Italian settlers had been withdrawn. Cyrenaica largely reverted to pastoralism. Somewhat more of the economic and administrative development achieved by Italy survived in Tripolitania; however, Libya by 1945 was impoverished, underpopulated, and also divided into regions—Tripolitania and Cyrenaica—of differing political, economic, and religious traditions.
Independence
The future of Libya gave rise to long discussions after the war. In view of the contribution to the fighting made by a volunteer Sanūsī force, the British foreign minister pledged in 1942 that the Sanūsīs would not again be subjected to Italian rule. During the discussions, which lasted four years, suggestions included an Italian trusteeship, a United Nations trusteeship, a Soviet mandate for Tripolitania, and various compromises. Finally, in November 1949, the UN General Assembly voted that Libya should become a united and independent kingdom no later than January 1, 1952.
A constitution creating a federal state with a separate parliament for each province was drawn up, and the pro-British head of the Sanūsiyyah, Sīdī Mu&hsubdot;ammad Idrīs al-Mahdī al-Sanūsī, was chosen king by a national assembly in 1950. On December 24, 1951, King Idrīs I declared the country independent. Political parties were prohibited, and the king's authority was fundamental. Though not themselves Sanūsīs, the Tripolitanians accepted the monarchy largely in order to profit from the British promise that the Sanūsīs would not again be subjected to Italian rule. King Idrīs showed a marked preference for living in Cyrenaica, where he built a new capital on the site of the Sanūsī zāwiyah at Al-Bay&dsubdot;ā&hamzah;. Though Libya joined the Arab League in 1953 and in 1956 refused British troops permission to land during the Suez Crisis, at that time the government in general adopted a pro-Western point of view in international affairs.
The discovery of oil
In 1959 Libya changed abruptly from a pauper state, dependent on international aid and the rent from U.S. and British air bases, to an oil-rich monarchy. The discovery of major petroleum deposits in both Tripolitania and Cyrenaica assured the country of income on a vast scale. Soon after the discovery there was an enormous expansion of all government services and also of construction projects, and a corresponding rise in the economic standard and the cost of living.
On September 1, 1969, a group of young army officers led by Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi deposed the king and made Libya a republic. The new regime, passionately Pan-Arab, broke the monarchy's close ties to Britain and the United States and also began an assertive policy that led to higher oil prices and to 51 percent Libyan participation in oil company activities and in some cases to outright nationalization.
Qaddafi's regime
Equally assertive in plans for Arab unity, Libya obtained at least the formal beginnings of unity with Egypt, The Sudan, and Tunisia, but these and other such plans failed as differences arose among the governments concerned. Qaddafi's Libya maintained a strong interventionist orientation on the Palestine issue and in support of other guerrilla and revolutionary organizations in Africa and the Middle East, all of which provoked considerable antipathy from the established governments that were threatened by such groups. In July–August 1977 hostilities broke out between Libya and Egypt, and, as a result, many Egyptians working in Libya were obliged to return home. Indeed, in spite of expressed concern for Arab unity, the regime's relations with most Arab countries were poor. Qaddafi signed a treaty of union with Morocco's King Hassan II in August 1984, but Hassan abrogated the treaty in August 1986.
The regime, under Qaddafi's ideological guidance, continued to introduce innovations. On March 2, 1977, the General People's Congress declared that Libya was to be known as the People's Socialist Libyan Arab Jamāhīriyyah (the latter term is a neologism meaning “government through the masses”). By 1981, however, a drop in the demand and price for oil on the world market was beginning to hamper Qaddafi's efforts to play a strong regional role. Ambitious efforts to radically change Libya's economy and society slowed, and there were signs of domestic discontent. Libyan opposition movements launched sporadic attacks against Qaddafi and his military supporters but met with arrest and execution.
Nevill Barbour
L. Carl Brown
Ed.
Throughout the 1970s and '80s Libya engaged in intermittent warfare with Chad, largely over control of the mineral-rich Aozou strip situated near the border of the two states. Libya was eventually bested by Chad's military, and diplomatic ties with Chad were restored in October 1988. In 1994 Libya withdrew its troops from the Aozou strip. Relations with the United States deteriorated in the 1980s as the U.S. government protested Qaddafi's support for international terrorist groups and claimed Libya was producing chemical weapons. A series of retaliatory trade restrictions and military skirmishes in the Gulf of Sidra culminated in a U.S. bombing raid on Tripoli and Banghāzī in April 1986. In 1996 the United States and the United Nations implemented a series of economic sanctions against Libya for its purported involvement in destroying a civilian airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The willingness of Libya officials—after long denying culpability—to surrender suspects in the Scotland bombing and to compensate the families of the victims led to a lifting of UN sanctions in 2003. Later that year, Libya announced that it would stop producing chemical weapons; the United States responded by dropping most of its sanctions.
L. Carl Brown
Ed.
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