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Libya

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LAND & PEOPLE

GEOGRAPHY

Libya is the fourth-largest country in Africa and the second largest (after Algeria) in North Africa. With an area of 679,400 sq. miles (1.76 million sq. km) it is larger than Alaska and its neighbor Egypt yet its population numbers only some six million. To the north is the Mediterranean Sea, to the west it is bounded by Tunisia and Algeria, to the east Egypt and to the south Niger, Chad, and Sudan.

Most of the country (90 percent) is covered by desert with oases dotted here and there. Ninety-five percent of the population lives close to the coast, especially the Al Jifarah plain in the western part of Libya, which includes the country's capital, Tripoli. There are no permanent rivers, but riverbeds (wadis) can flood after heavy downpours of rain.

The country is fairly flat with the exception of the Nafusa plateau south of Tripoli, the Jebel Akhdar (Green Mountain) region east of Benghazi, and the Tibesti mountain range in the south of the country. The lowest point in Libya is Sabkhat Ghuzayyil, a lake 164 ft (47 m) below sea level, and the highest point Bikku Bitti in the Tibesti mountain range near the border with Chad, which is 7,930 ft (2,267 m) above.

The Libyan Flag

The Libyan flag is just one color — green — symbolizing devotion to Islam. Its adoption in 1977, however, could also have a connection with Qadhafi's Green Book, which details his political aims, including the transforming of Libya into a wealthy, green agricultural nation.

The Regions of Libya

Libya did not become a unified political entity until the twentieth century. Before that it was three distinct regions — Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and the Fezzan — separated from one another by vast tracts of desert. Each retained its separate identity until the 1960s, with the Gulf of Sirt marking the divide between not only the two regions bordering the Mediterranean but also the western Arab world (Maghreb) and the eastern Arab world (Masriq).

Tripolitania forms the northwestern part of the country. The Greeks named its three cities — Sabratha, Oea (present-day Tripoli), and Leptis Magna — Tripolis, which became Regio Tripolitania under the Romans. Tripoli's cultural ties are with the other Maghreb countries, Tunisia in particular, and its importance was derived from its position as a terminal for the trans-Saharan trade routes. As a result of these contacts Tripolitanians are often perceived as more cosmopolitan in outlook than other Libyans.

Cyrenaica is the eastern region and takes its name from Cyrene, the first Greek settlement in the area. Historically this part of Libya has always had close links with Egypt. Because of its relative isolation over the centuries it has been relatively untouched by outside influences. Cyrenaicans tend to be rather more conservative than other Libyans and, while hospitable by nature, are sometimes distrustful of strangers.

The Fezzan, for much of its history, has been populated by nomads plying the trade routes between the oases. Its main connections have been with sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean coast. The Fezzanis are desert people who are resourceful and no strangers to hardship.

CLIMATE AND SEASONS

The populated areas along the Mediterranean coast enjoy a Mediterranean climate, which means mild winters and warm summers. Sometimes the temperature can go as high as 95°F (35°C). Tripolitania suffers, in the spring especially, from a wind called the Ghibli that blows from the Sahara bringing with it a lot of sand, and in the desert dust storms and sandstorms are common. The hilly areas, especially the Jebel Akhdar in Cyrenaica, are generally cooler. Annual rainfall, which tends to be intermittent, is around 15 inches (40 cm) a year near the coast.

There is a greater range of temperature in the desert areas of the interior, where at night the temperature can drop below freezing. In summer temperatures can reach 120°F (50°C),but during the rest of the year daytime temperatures higher than the upper 70s F (25°C) are rare.

THE PEOPLE

It is not clear who were the original inhabitants of the area we now know as Libya. We do know, however, that by the time the Phoenicians arrived in the first millennium BCE the country was already populated by Berbers, whose ancestors are believed to have migrated there from southwestern Asia in the third millennium BCE. Berbers refer to themselves as Imazighen (free men) and their languages, not always mutually intelligible, belong to the Afro-Asiatic language family.

During the time of the Pharaohs many Berbers served in the Egyptian army, and some rose to high positions. After the invasion of the Bedouin Arab tribes in the seventh century CE most became assimilated by their conquerors, though not completely. There are small pockets of Berber speakers in places such as Gharian in the hills south of Tripoli and in some desert oases, while in the desert regions you will come across Tuareg tribes who speak a Berber language called Tamazight.

In addition to the native Libyans, there are large numbers of immigrant workers who have flooded in from neighboring Arab countries as well as from Africa south of the Sahara and give the major cities a cosmopolitan feel. Estimates (which are far from reliable) range from a few hundred thousand to as many as two million. There is additionally a much smaller number of Westerners involved mainly in commerce, education, and the oil business. Even during the period of sanctions Western staff were employed at Libya's oil installations.

Libya used to have a Jewish community — one of the oldest in the world. In the late 1940s there were still 38,000 Jews, many of whom emigrated to the newly formed state of Israel. Around 7,000 remained until 1967, when the Six-Day War between Egypt and Israel led to anti-Jewish riots. The last Jewish resident of Libya died in 2002.

There was also a large Italian community, which settled here in the 1930s. But since independence and particularly since the post-Revolution property confiscations the number of Italians has dwindled.

Libya and Libyans Defined

For most of its history the words Libya and Libyan have meant a number of different things. The name Levu (Libyan) was first used by the Ancient Egyptians in the third millennium BCE to designate one of the Berber tribes carrying out raids into Egypt. The Ancient Greeks applied the name Libya to most of North Africa and to the Berbers who lived there. During the reign of Diocletian (284–305 CE) the Romans used the names Upper and Lower Libya (Libya Superior and Libya Inferior) for their two provinces in Cyrenaica. The name Libya was revived when the Italians annexed the territory in the twentieth century.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Phoenicians and Greeks

Our first knowledge of Libya comes from Phoenician traders from what is now Lebanon, who set up trading posts along the North African coast including Oea (now Tripoli), Labdah (Leptis Magna), and Sabratha around the first millennium BCE. They developed commercial ties with the Berber tribes, notably the Garamantes, who controlled many of the trans-Saharan trade routes.

These settlements later came under the control of the Phoenician state of Carthage. Founded near to present-day Tunis in c. 614 BCE, Carthage was to become the dominant sea power in the Western Mediterranean, until displaced by Rome.

The eastern coastline attracted Greek settlers from the island of Thira (present-day Santorini), who established a colony at Cyrene in 635 CE. Its prosperity was derived from the cultivation of silphium, a medicinal plant that cured coughs, chest complaints, and snakebite. Four other Greek cities were established in the area: Barce, Euhesperides (present-day Benghazi), Teuchira, and Apollonia. Together they made up the Pentapolis (Five Cities).

Although the Greeks of these cities were able to resist attack from the Carthaginians and Egyptians, they were no match for the Persians, who overran the region in 525 BCE. Alexander the Great entered Cyrenaica in 331 BCE and on his death it was ruled by the Ptolemy dynasty. During this time Cyrene became one of the leading intellectual and artistic centers of the Greek world.

The Roman Period

Carthage eventually came into conflict with the rising power of Rome, which waged three wars (the Punic Wars) and finally achieved the total destruction of Carthage in 146 BCE. Tripolitania came under the control of the Berber king of Numidia, but under Julius Caesar it became a Roman province (Regio Tripolitania). In 96 BCE Ptolemy had bequeathed Cyrenaica to Rome and it was joined to Crete for a while during the reign of the Emperor Augustus. Rome conquered the Garamantes in the south and named the region Phazania.

Despite coming under Roman control the Punic language and culture lingered on in Tripolitania until the sixth century — Punic was a later form of Phoenician, influenced by Berber languages — and Greek traditions persisted for a while in Cyrenaica. The Roman period was a time of relative prosperity, certainly in Tripolitania, but less so in Cyrenaica. A number of the Jews had been deported from Jerusalem to Cyrenaica after their abortive rebellion against Roman rule in 70 CE and they felt strongly antagonistic to Rome. In 115 CE a Jewish revolt in Cyrenaica spread through Egypt to Palestine, causing tremendous destruction and loss of life, including the sack of Cyrene.

One of the most significant figures of the period was Septimius Severus, who was born in Leptis Magna in 146 and rose to become Roman Emperor in 193 CE. He died in 211 CE during a campaign to subdue those parts of Britain not yet under Roman rule. He arranged for many embellishments to his native city, which became the capital of Diocletian's new province of Tripolitania toward the end of the third century CE. Tripolitania was assigned to Rome's Western Empire, while Cyrenaica, now designated Libya Superior (or Pentapolis) with a capital at Ptolomais, and Libya Inferior (Sicca) with Paraetonium as its capital, both became part of the Eastern Empire.

Christianity spread from Egypt in the third century. One of the most prominent Cyrenaicans of this period was the philosopher Synesius, who was made bishop of Ptolomais in 410 CE.

In the early fifth century the Vandals captured much of North Africa, including Tripolitania, and made Carthage their capital. They launched raids on Italy, sacking Rome in 455, but their success was short-lived. The Byzantine general Belisarius took back North Africa for Rome but control did not extend much beyond the coast, and the area drifted into decline and decay. The same was true of Cyrenaica, which remained an outpost of Rome's Eastern Empire.

The Arab Conquest

The conquest by the Arabs was one of the most significant events in Libyan history. In 642 CE, ten years after the death of the Prophet Mohammed, Arab armies commanded by Amr ibn al-As moved first into Egypt and then Cyrenaica. They sacked Leptis and Sabratha, and took Tripoli in 643. They later moved into the province of Africa (Ifriqiya) and founded the city of Kairouan in what is now Tunisia.

However, resistance by the Byzantine garrisons along the coast of Tripolitania as well as by the Berber inhabitants meant that it was not until well into the eighth century that the Arabs consolidated their hold on the region.

The Arab conquerors became an urban elite, but many intermarried with Berber women. The Berber tribes in the hinterland may have remained hostile to the Arabs, but they readily embraced the Islamic faith, adapting it to their own tastes. The Kharijite doctrine, with its democratic but puritanical outlook and emphasis on the literal interpretation of the Qur'an, proved particularly attractive to them.

In the following centuries Tripolitania came under the control of various Arab and Berber dynasties, notably the Aghlabids, Fatimids, and Hafsids, but for most of the time it languished as a backwater.

In Cyrenaica, after the demise of the Fatimids, the Mamluk dynasties of Egypt exercised nominal control over the territory in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. However, de facto control was in the hands of Bedouin tribal leaders, who demanded protection money from pilgrims and caravans traveling between the Maghreb and Egypt.

In the Fezzan, Bani Khattab chieftains held sway, like the Garamantes of old, until displaced in the sixteenth century by a Moroccan adventurer named Mohammed al Fazi, whose successors remained undisputed rulers of the region under Ottoman suzerainty.

The Ottoman Period

In 1510 the forces of King Ferdinand of Spain captured Tripoli, destroyed it, and constructed a fortified naval base there. In 1524 it was placed under the protection of the Knights of St. John in Malta.

Spain's great rivals in the Mediterranean were the Ottoman Turks, who were beginning to establish colonies along the North African coast. In 1551 the Turkish admiral Sinan Pasha wrested control of Tripoli from the Knights of Malta and a Turkish pirate captain, Draghut Pasha, was installed as governor. Although Draghut was successful in establishing control of the coastal areas, he was far less so with the nomads of the interior, and his influence did not extend to Cyrenaica and the Fezzan. Tripolitania had very few resources of its own at this time and one of the main sources of income came from piracy along what became known as the Barbary Coast.

The Karamanli Dynasty

Following a period of military anarchy in Tripolitania, a popular cavalry officer, Ahmad Bey Karamanli, seized control of Tripoli, assassinated the governor, and bought the title Pasha-Regent from the Sultan with property confiscated from Turkish officials he had assassinated.

He asserted Tripoli's autonomy from Istanbul, turning Tripolitania into an independent kingdom, established diplomatic relations with European countries, increased revenues from piracy, won allegiance from the Bedouin and Berber tribes, and by the time of his death in 1745 had extended his authority to Cyrenaica and the Fezzan.

He and his descendants presided over prosperous times and developed trade with other countries, especially Malta and Italy. Shipowners paid protection money for the free passage of their ships in that part of the Mediterranean. However, the American government refused to pay such forms of tribute and this led to a conflict between the USA and Tripoli that lasted from 1801 to 1805. President Jefferson despatched warships to the Mediterranean and there was a particularly ugly international incident when the American frigate, the Philadelphia, was captured off Tripoli and sunk in Tripoli harbor.

Rule by the Karamanlis lasted until 1835, when dispute over the succession and appeals for assistance to put down a rebellion enabled the Ottomans to regain power and eject the Karamanli dynasty.

The Second Ottoman Period

Under the Ottomans Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan became the Turkish province (or vilayet) of Tripolitania under a governor-general (wali) appointed by the Sultan. In 1879 Cyrenaica was separated from the rest of the province and its lieutenant-governor reported directly to Istanbul.

The most significant development of the nineteenth century took place in Cyrenaica with the establishment of an Islamic order or brotherhood near to the city of Cyrene. Founded by Sayyid Mohammed Ali al-Sanusi, the movement spread through the province and into the Fezzan. Supporters of the Sanusiya offered support to the Ottoman regime and thereby helped to counter the spread of French influence from the south.

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Excerpted from Libya by Roger Jones. Copyright © 2008 Kuperard. Excerpted by permission of Bravo Ltd.
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