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