A History of Libya

History is a resource to see the life of people for many centuries. Many foreigners don’t know Libya’s history, except some information on the internet and in books. We want to give you a brief idea about Libya’s history with some pictures.

Ancient History of Libya

The Phoenicians were early Semitic peoples who arrived in parts of the coast of Africa, and established settlements on the coast of Cyrenaica (Shahhat), in the East of Libya, and at Tripoli, in the West. There were cultural and commercial contacts between Libya's population and the population of Egypt during the reign of the Pharaohs.

Greeks settled in the region, and they constituted a significant proportion of the population of Ancient Cyrenaica. Also the Carthaginians and Romans settled in the area and formed a large proportion of its population.

The Romans managed to combine the areas of Cyrenaica and Tripoli into the Empire that formed the Roman state. It had a system of absolute rule, and has a distinctive cultural character, which we still witness today. Those settlements have formed important commercial centres on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. They collected goods coming from within Africa, including the country's exports to Europe

The Tripoli area was subject to the rule of the Vandal of the Goths who settled in Spain, after the demise of Roman rule. In the later stages Cyrenaica and Tripoli were together under Byzantine rule. This was resisted by the local population after the Muslim Arab conquest of North Africa, until the Byzantines were forced to leave

Leptis Magna (Lebda)

Lebda is a major ancient city, located on the Mediterranean coast at the mouth of the valley Libdeh. It is a natural harbor and lies 120 km east of Tripoli, the Libyan capital. The city was one of the leading cities of North Africa in the Age of the Roman Empire. In 1982 it was classified by UNESCO in the list of World Heritage sites.

Cyrena (Shahhat)

The city of Hammamet and the Greek Temple of Zeus, was founded in the fifth century. In the Roman period some modifications were introduced to the Greek buildings and many new buildings built including baths, a Roman theatre, a gallery of Hercules, a lot of temples and monuments, and the outer wall, which was built in the first and second centuries AD. There are also several churches from the Byzantine era.

Written by: Suhil, Siraj, Mohamed and Ala Eddin

(Above) The Libyan desert

Libyan Elections

Elections are the democratic competition between political parties. People have to choose the best parties to serve their country. Party politicians need to be well-qualified, honest and not corrupt, to be able to help this country during this important phase.

Why are these elections the most important in the history of Libya?

These elections are the most important elections in the history of Libya because they will produce the National General Congress, that will choose the new constitution for the new Libya. It will also choose a new government and prepare for the presidential elections. All this is happening in Libya for the first time.

Unfortunately it seems like the National Transitional Council are dealing with this new situation like it has happened before, and as if Libyan people know about elections and the consequences of this serious phase. The NTC and government should be more supportive of these elections to make them successful.

Written by: Ahmed, Ayman and Walid

Libya is changing

In the past Libya lived under the Gaddafi regime, which had full control. Gaddafi was a dictator for forty two years. He made everybody in Libya sad and poor, even though Libya has oil, gas, long coast, tourist sites, and metals.

On the 17th of February 2011 most Libyans decided to remove Al-Gaddafi. We took our freedom but at a great cost. Libya is changing now. We have got freedom of opinion and our future vision is changing. It is a rosy future, with new hopes and ambitions. In the future we hope to improve our economy. This will lead to a decrease in unemployment and poverty.

Libya needs all Libyans to stand with each other and gather their ideas to make proper plans to rebuild and develop it in all sectors. The first most important thing Libyans have to change is the Gaddafi regime culture. We have to overcome the issues which still exist from Al-Gaddafi governing times by caring about Libya's human resources. This will help to rebuild Libya properly.

We will have elections at June, which are the first elections of our lives. We hope that every Libyan will elect a good and suitable candidate.

God save Libya and we wish the best for all Libyans.

Written by: Rania, Ruida and Ashref

(Above) The second day of Eid in Martyrs' Square, Tripoli

Ten things you need to know about Libya

Welcome to our blog!

We are writing this article to talk about the most important things that you need to know about our lovely Libya:

1. Location: Libya is located in North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria. Its southern border is with Chad, Niger, and Sudan.

2. Area: Libya is a large country. It’s almost 1.4 million sq.km.

3. The capital: Tripoli. There are a lot of traffic-jams, and a lot of hotels, restaurants, and most people are friendly.

4. Climate: in the summer it’s hot and sometimes it’s cloudy. In the winter it’s mild and it rains. In the autumn it’s windy and in the spring the temperature is moderate.

5. Population: the population of Libya is about 6.461.000.

6. Ethnic groups: There are four ethnicities in Libya. Most people are Arab, about 95 %. The Amazigh live in the mountains and others (Toubu, and Tuareges) live in the desert.

7. Religion: Sunni Muslim 99%, other 1%.

8. Economy: depends on oil petroleum.

9. Languages: everybody speaks Arabic, but some people also speak English and Italian.

10. Government: As a result of the Libyan revolution, that removed the dictator Gadaffi, now the NTC is governing. Soon we have elections to create a new government.


Written by: Farah, Samer, Huda and Nihad

(Above) Tripoli harbour