Geography, Demographics, and Resources

Libya

"Libya". Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001. © 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

I. INTRODUCTION

Libya, in full, Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, nation of northern Africa, comprising the former Italian colonies of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan. It is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by Egypt, on the southeast by the Republic of Sudan, on the south by Chad and Niger, on the west by Algeria, and on the northwest by Tunisia. The area of Libya, one of the largest countries in Africa, is 1,757,000 sq km (678,400 sq mi). Tripoli is the capital and largest city.

II. LAND AND RESOURCES

About 90 percent of Libya is made up of barren, rock-strewn plains and sand sea, with two small areas of hills rising to about 900 m (about 3,000 ft) in the northwest and northeast. In the south the land rises to the Tibesti massif along the Chad border. There are no permanent rivers or streams in Libya.

A. Climate

Climatic conditions in Libya are characterized by extreme heat and aridity. Desert and subdesert regions have little precipitation. On the coast the annual rainfall rarely exceeds 380 mm (15 in).

B. Natural Resources

The principal resource of Libya is petroleum. Natural gas, gypsum, limestone, marine salt, potash, and natron are also exploited.

C. Plants and Animals

Most of Libya is either devoid of vegetation or supports only sparse growth. Date palms and olive and orange trees grow in the scattered oases, and junipers and mastic trees are found in the higher elevations. Wildlife includes desert rodents, hyena, gazelle, and wildcat. Eagles, hawks, and vultures are common.

D. Environmental Issues

Libya has undertaken a number of major irrigation projects intended to ease the country's water shortage, including the so-called Great Man-Made River (GMMR), a vast water pipeline estimated to cost more than $30 billion. The first of five planned phases in the construction of the GMMR was completed in 1996. The project will eventually tap the aquifers of the Sarir, Sabha, and Al Kufrah oases and transport fresh water to Libyan cities and agricultural areas along the Mediterranean coast. Although the project's planners predict that the GMMR could supply Libya with 5 million cubic meters (177 million cubic feet) of water per day when completed, the pipeline will draw from finite fossil reserves, and it is unclear how long the water supplies can be exploited.

Libya has pursued an extensive reforestation program in recent decades. Since the 1960s, the government has planted more than 200 million seedlings in western Libya in an effort to prevent further soil erosion and desertification.

Libya has ratified the London Dumping Convention and the Mediterranean Action Plan, although untreated sewage and waste from the country's extensive petroleum industries continue to pollute the Mediterranean Sea and coastal areas. Libya has also ratified international agreements that limit marine dumping and nuclear testing, and the country has signed treaties intended to protect biodiversity and the ozone layer. Libya is party to the World Heritage Convention.

III. POPULATION

The indigenous population of Libya is mostly Berber and Arab in origin; about 17 percent of the population consists of foreign workers and their families. Some 88 percent of the people live in urban areas, although some Libyans still live in nomadic or seminomadic groups.

A. Population Characteristics

At the 1984 census, Libya had a population of 3,637,488. The 2002 estimated population was 5,368,585, giving the country an overall population density of 3 persons per sq km (8 per sq mi). The population, however, is unevenly distributed; more than two-thirds live in the more densely settled coastal areas.

B. Principal Cities

The ports of Tripoli (population, 1996 estimate, greater city, 1.8 million) and Banghazi (1995 estimate; 804,000) are the two largest urban areas.

C. Religion and Language

Islam is the state religion, and about 97 percent of all Libyans are Sunni Muslim. A small number are Roman Catholic. Arabic is the official language, although Berber is sometimes spoken and English and Italian are used in trade.

D. Education and Cultural Institutions

Primary education in Libya is free and compulsory. Some 97 percent of the adult population is literate. In the 1998-1999 school year there were 821,775 pupils enrolled in primary schools, taught by 97,334 teachers. Students attending secondary, vocational, and teacher-training schools numbered 311,000. Libya's five universities were attended annually in the early 1990s by almost 73,000 students.

The Government Library and National Archives are located in Tripoli, and the country's largest library, containing more than 300,000 volumes, is affiliated with the University of Garyounis (1955) in Banghazi. Among the leading museums, which contain mainly antiquities excavated from various ruins, are the Lepcis Magna Museum at Al Khums, and the archaeological, natural history, epigraphy, prehistory, and ethnography museums at Tripoli.

IV. ECONOMY

Libya was traditionally an agricultural country, although farming was restricted primarily to the coastal regions. Livestock raising was also important. The discovery of petroleum in the late 1950s effected a profound change in the economy: The gross domestic product increased from $1.5 billion in 1965 to $25.4 billion in 1985, and between 1965 and 1980 the economy grew at an annual average of 4.2 percent. Declining petroleum revenues in the 1980s forced cutbacks in development programs, and per capita income declined by at least 25 percent, although gross domestic income was on the rise again in the 1990s. The estimated annual budget in the early 1990s included current revenues of $6.9 billion and current and capital expenditures of $8.6 billion.

A. Agriculture

Most of the arable land and pastureland of Libya is in Tripolitania. Cultivation in the eastern and southern regions is sporadic and dependent on rainfall. Some 11 percent of the working population was engaged in agriculture in 1990, but the output amounted to only about 7 percent of Libya's yearly domestic product. Principal crops include tomatoes, wheat, potatoes, barley, citrus fruits, dates, and olives; in 2001 livestock included 5.1 million sheep, 2 million goats, 220,000 cattle, 72,000 camels, and 25 million poultry. The Great Man-Made River project, a massive 25-year irrigation scheme expected to cost $25 billion, was begun in 1984. When completed, it will transport water from wells in southern Libya to the coast and irrigate about 75,000 hectares (about 185,000 acres) of land.

B. Fishing

Small quantities of tuna and sardines are caught in the coastal waters off Libya, and sponges are collected inshore. In 1997 the catch of marine fish totaled 32,849 metric tons.

C. Mining

Petroleum is the principal product of Libya and its main source of revenue. Production of crude petroleum in 1999 was 504 million barrels; the natural gas output amounted to 6.2 billion cu m (220 billion cu ft). Other minerals produced in significant quantities in Libya include marine salt and potash.

D. Manufacturing

Major manufactures of Libya include petroleum refinery products, petrochemicals, and construction materials; most consumer goods must be imported. Traditional handicrafts are of minor economic importance.

E. Energy

Libya produces 100 percent of its electricity in thermal facilities, which are concentrated in the Tripolitania region. In 1999 Libyan installations generated 19 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.

F. Currency and Banking

The unit of currency is the Libyan dinar (0.51 dinar equals U.S.$1; 2000 average), consisting of 1,000 dirhams. The bank of issue is the Central Bank of Libya (1955), which also supervises the banking system and regulates credit. In 1972 the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank was established to deal with overseas investments.

G. Foreign Trade

Petroleum accounts for 95 percent of Libyan export trade; as oil prices declined, exports dropped from $21.9 billion in 1980 to $8.5 billion in 1993. Manufactured goods and food are chief imports. In 2000 exports totaled $13 billion, and imports, $4.7 billion. Principal trading partners for exports are Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Turkey, Greece, and Egypt; chief partners for imports are Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Turkey, and Tunisia.

H. Transportation

Good roads along the coast connect Tripoli with Tunis, Tunisia, and, through Banghazi and Tobruk, with Alexandria, Egypt; another road connects Sabha in the deep interior with the coastal roadway. In all, Libya has 83,200 km (51,698 mi) of roads. Libyan Arab Airlines provides both local and international flights. Several international airlines serve Tripoli and Banghazi. In addition to port facilities at Tripoli, Banghazi, and Tobruk, a new port was opened in Misratah (Misurata) in 1978.

I. Communications

The postal and telecommunications systems of Libya are government owned and operated. Radio communications link the interior with the coastal regions. In 1997 there were an estimated 259 radio receivers and 140 television sets for every 1,000 Libyans. Libya's 4 daily newspapers, including Al-Fajr al-Jadid which is published in Tripoli, had a circulation of 71,000 in 1996.

V. GOVERNMENT

Libya is governed under a constitution adopted in 1977 by the General People's Congress (GPC), the national legislature established in 1976. Power is delegated to the head of state, or revolutionary leader; the five members of the General Secretariat of the GPC; and the six members of the General People's Committee.

A. Local Government

Libya is divided into 25 municipalities and 186 basic people's congress administrative units.

B. Judiciary

Civil, criminal, and commercial justice in Libya follows the Egyptian model. In 1979 judicial power in Libya came under the authority of the People's Committee for Justice. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and several associate judges. Courts of first instance, summary courts, and courts of appeal also function.

C. Defense

In 2001 Libya maintained an army of 45,000 members, a navy of 8,000, and an air force of 23,000.

VI. HISTORY

The Phoenicians founded colonies on the coast of Tripolitania, which were conquered by Carthage in the 6th century BC. Greeks subsequently established settlements in Cyrenaica. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, described the Garamantes people of the Fezzan, who were sedentary farmers and used horse-drawn chariots in warfare. His account has been verified in the 20th century by ancient cave art, discovered in the Jabal Akakus (jabal means "mountains") of the western Fezzan and the Jabal al 'Uwaynat near the Egyptian border. Libya later became a Roman possession, until it was conquered by the Vandals in AD 455. After a reconquest by Byzantium in the following century, the region was won by the Arabs under Amr ibn al-As in 643.

Ruled successively by the Umayyads, Fatimids, and a Berber dynasty, the country was partly conquered by the Normans in 1146 but soon abandoned to Almohad control. During the following centuries Libya, or parts thereof, frequently changed hands until it was finally conquered, in the 16th century, by the Ottoman Empire.

In the 19th century the puritanical Sanusi sect arose in the interior. The Sanusi led the resistance to the Italians, who began their conquest of Libya in 1911. The Ottomans renounced their rights over Libya in 1912, but the Sanusi resisted until 1931.

During World War II (1939-1945), Libya was the scene of intense desert fighting between Italo-German and Allied forces. Following the expulsion of Axis troops in 1943, France and Britain shared control of the country. On November 21, 1949, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution calling for the granting of independence to Libya by January 1, 1952.

A. Kingdom Established

A national assembly, composed of an equal number of delegates from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan, convened at Tripoli in 1950 and designated Emir Sayid Idris al-Sanusi, head of the Cyrenaican government and leader of the Sanusi sect, king-designate. The assembly promulgated the Libyan constitution on October 7, 1951. On December 24 the emir, as King Idris I, proclaimed the independence of the federal United Kingdom of Libya. Elections were held in February 1952, and parliament met for the first time in March. Libya joined the Arab League in 1953 and the United Nations (UN) in 1955. In 1963 the constitution was amended to give women the right to vote, and the federal system was replaced by a unitary system.

Britain and France agreed to extend financial aid to the government in exchange for the right to maintain their military installations in Libya. The United States, wishing to retain the vast Wheelus Field air base near Tripoli, promised economic and technical assistance. Libya established diplomatic relations with the USSR in 1956 but rejected Soviet offers of economic aid. In 1964 negotiations were begun between Libya and the United States and Britain for the withdrawal of troops and the closing of air bases. The last contingents of British and U.S. troops left in 1970.

Libya was not a participant in the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and neighboring Arab countries, but it strongly supported its Arab League neighbors in opposition to Israel after the war. Libya also gave financial aid to Jordan and the United Arab Republic, as Egypt was then called, to rebuild their economies.

Beginning in the mid-1950s, development of the oil industry made rapid progress and turned Libya into a boom country. In 1956 the Libyan government granted two American oil companies a concession of some 5,668,000 hectares (14 million acres). In 1961 King Idris opened a 167-km (104-mi) pipeline linking important oil fields in the interior to the Mediterranean Sea. The new facility made possible the export of Libyan oil for the first time. In the same year a royal decree provided that in future agreements with oil companies the government share of the profits would be increased from 50 percent to 70 percent. In the late 1960s numerous oil companies of various nations had been granted concessions, and oil production reached more than 85 million barrels per month.

B. Overthrow of the Monarchy

A new era in the history of Libya began on September 1, 1969, when a group of young army officers overthrew the royal government and established a republic under the name Libyan Arab Republic.

The revolutionary government, dominated by Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, a devout Muslim aspiring to leadership of the Arab world, showed a determination thereafter to play a larger role in the affairs of the Middle East and North Africa. Representatives of Libya engaged in discussions with Egypt and the Sudan on plans for the coordination of economic, military, and political policies of the three countries. In September 1971, Egypt, Libya, and Syria agreed to form a federation designed for mutual military advantage against Israel. This and a later agreement to form a union with Tunisia were abandoned in 1974.

In internal affairs the Qaddafi regime decreed that all businesses must in the future be wholly owned by Libyans; all banks were nationalized. Agreement was reached with foreign-owned oil companies that increased Libya's annual oil revenues by $770 million at that time. In the early 1970s, however, Libya also nationalized the oil resources of the country. Even before the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, Qaddafi urged his fellow Arabs to refuse to trade in oil, so vital to the industrialized countries of the West, with any nation supporting Israel. After the war Libya joined in an embargo of oil sales to the West and urged higher prices to the oil-consuming countries.

C. Qaddafi's Regime

Under Qaddafi's leadership Libya took a much more active role not only in Arab affairs but also in international politics. Opposing the peace initiative toward Israel of Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat, Libya took a leading part, along with Syria, in the so-called rejectionist front in 1978. Its support for the Palestine Liberation Organization later expanded to barely concealed subsidies for terrorists in other nations, and in the early 1980s the regime was believed to be linked to a campaign of assassinations directed against Libyan dissidents residing abroad. During this same period, Libyan forces intervened in a civil war in neighboring Chad. A peace treaty with Chad was signed in 1989.

Libyan relations with the United States deteriorated in the early 1980s. In 1981 two Libyan fighter planes were shot down by U.S. Navy jets over the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claimed as territorial waters. In 1982 the United States imposed an embargo on Libyan oil imports. Another encounter in the Gulf of Sidra in March 1986 resulted in the destruction of two Libyan ships by U.S. Navy ships. In April, responding to heightened terrorism in Europe apparently directed by Libya against Americans, the United States bombed sites in Libya declared by President Ronald Reagan to be "terrorist centers." Qaddafi's home at one of the barracks was damaged and his infant daughter was killed, but the major damage was to other military sites.

During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Libya urged moderation, opposing both Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent use of force against Iraq. Ties with Egypt were strengthened during 1991, but those with the United States worsened, especially in 1992 when it was charged that Libya was manufacturing chemical weapons. In April 1992, United Nations sanctions were imposed against Libya for its refusal to extradite the two men suspected of the 1988 bombing of Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

In 1994 the International Court of Justice ruled that Chad had sovereignty over the Aozou Strip, a territory that had been occupied by Libyan military forces for more than 20 years. In 1999 Libya agreed to hand over the two suspects in the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie to stand trial in The Netherlands under Scottish law. Upon delivery of the suspects for transport to The Netherlands, the United Nations suspended sanctions against Libya.

"Libya". Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2002

http://encarta.msn.com (2 Aug. 2002)

© 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.