This research develops a country study of Libya. General information about the country, the culture, and the people is presented. Brief synopses of Libya's economic, political, educational, and religious histories also are presented.
The nation that today is known as Libya had no history of political independence prior to 24 December 1951 when the United Kingdom of Libya was proclaimed as the British and French relinquished their joint military administration of the country that had been established following the expulsion of Germany and Italy from the country in the 1942-1943 period (Hunter, 1995, p. 881). Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan, the three principal components of ancient Libya, had come under Turkish domination during the sixteenth century, and remained under Turkish/Ottoman rule until Italy became Libya's colonial occupier in 1912 (Berry, 1991a, pp. 17-24). Prior to the sixteenth century, the three principal components of Libya had, at various times, been controlled by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Garamentes, the Romans, and the Egyptians (Berry, 1991a, pp. 4-16).
In the contemporary period, Libya's official name is Jamahiriya Al-Arabiya Al-Libiya Al-Shabiya Al-Ishtirakiya Al-Uzma, or the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Republic (Hunter, 1995, p. 881). Libya's flag is a solid green banner, which signifies the "Green Revolution" that brought Muammar Qadhafi to power in 1969.
Libya is situated along the central North African coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The average east-west distance across the country is approximately 1,425 kilometers, while the average north-south distance approximates 1,250 kilometers. Libya's total size is approximately 1,760,000 square kilometers, which consists mostly of desert. Fertile lowlands are found along the Mediterranean coast, while arid, rocky plains and sand seas lie inland·to the south. The only mountains in Libya are the Tibesti Massif that rise in the sout...