History of Libya Essay

History of Libya Essay History of Libya Essay Libya or `The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Jamahiriya` is located in North Africa with a population of 5,871,000 in an area of 1,759,540 sq km. Those 2 pieces of information show just how vast and huge Libya really is as opposed to the number of inhabitants it possesses. The reasons for this along with many other topics such as the history of Libya, its people and its culture, its geographical aspects; including land, agriculture and landscape, as its Economic and structural conditions, Natural resources, the government and political conditions, and significant and recent events, will all be covered in this report. History of Libya Libya is a North African country with an interesting history dating all the way back to the 600’s B.C and possibly even further. Initially, the Berber tribe are thought to be the first inhabitants of the country but Libya has been susceptible to a number of foreign rulers and control, essentially not gaining independence until later years. These groups included the ancient cultures of the Carthaginians, The Romans, the Vandals, the Byzantines, the Greeks, the Phoenicians, and the more recent time rulers, the Italians, The British and The French; all but the main rulers and inhabitants of the country throughout history. Although these groups were in control there are little remains left over, today, from the ancient cultures of the Carthaginians and the Phoenicians to prove that their reign over the country. Moreover, The Romans and the Greeks were the only two groups to do so as they left behind ruins in Leptis Magna and Cyrene to prove their domination over the people of Lib ya. In 600 B.C Greek settlers came into the north-eastern part of the country as that region then became known as Cyrenaica and the North-western region as Tripolitania. The Vandals, a German tribe, captured the region of Tripolitania in 430 A.D. By the 500’s the Byzantine soldiers made their way into the region to gain control over the land and its people. In the 7th century A.D, the religion of Islam was introduced to the country as Arab soldiers gained entry into Libya with help from the weakness of the Berber tribes’ rebellion towards the Byzantine rule. The Arabs were then able to conquer Libya and a more than prevalent amount of Libya’s Native people accepted Islam, The Arab culture and its language. The North-western region of Libya, Tripolitania, and the North-eastern region, Cyrenaica, and the South-western part, Fezzan, became conquered by the Turkish Ottoman in 1551 after they captured the city of Tripoli. Although the Turks gained control over major regions in Libya, the local rulers essentially had entire freedom as Libya became constituent of their empire and an autonomous rule was held over the country by the Turks. Up until 1911, the indigenous people were victorious in resisting colonization as the Italians invaded the country and colonized the state. By 1912, the regions of Fezzan, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were all taken control of by the Italians. In 1934, the title on â€Å"Libya† was given to the colony as its official name. Initially, the word was used by the Greeks to describe all of North Africa, not including Egypt. Italy began to advocate building plans as they built roads, towns, and water systems for the Libyan people. These improvements to t he country, inevitably, began to bring in copious amounts of European immigrants to work in the new settlement as job opportunities opened up. However, the Libyan resistance to colonial rule did not cease operations, King Idris I of Cyrenaica and his Muslim social reform group, called â€Å"the Sanusi Brotherhood†, established a strong unit against the Italian rule. Accompanying King Idris I and his Sanusi Brotherhood during World War II was the British in Egypt who were also disputing with Italy. By February 1943, Italian rule in Libya was diminished and the British took over the Northern regions in Libya of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica and