Introduction to History of Libya

From the earliest antiquity Berbers have inhabited Libya. They conquered Egypt in the 10th century B.C.and ruled it for about a hundred years. Sometime between the 10th and 5th centuries, the Garamantes, the people of Fezzan, established a loose commercial empire, serving as middlemen between the central Sahara region south of Fezzan and the Mediterranean coast.

Phoenicians and Greeks

By about 800 B.C., the Phoenicians had founded on the western coast of Libya the three settlements of Leptis Magna, Sabratha, and Oea (now Tripoli). The colony became known as Tripolitania, or Tripolis (Greek for “three cities"). In the fifth century B.C.these cities were incorporated into the Carthaginian empire. Under the Carthaginians, commerce between Tripolitania and the Garamantes of Fezzan flourished.

On the Libyan coast to the east of Tripolitania, the Greeks founded the city of Cyrene (now Shabat) in the seventh century B.C.Hesperides (now Benghazi), Barca (Al-Marj), and other Greek settlements soon were founded. The Greek-ruled coast became known as Cyrenaica. About 500 B.C., the colony was annexed to the Persian Empire. Cyrenaica became a center of learning and culture.

In 332 B.C., after Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt, Cyrenaica became a part of the Macedonian Empire; in 323 B.C., a part of the Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt. The Romans conquered it in 96 B.C.

The Romans

In 146 B.C.Carthage fell to Rome, which permitted its ally the Berber kingdom of Numidia, centered in what is now Algeria, to take over Tripolitania. Roman control was established in 46 B.C.Under the Romans, Tripolitania grew in wealth through its highly developed agriculture and its trade with the Garamantes. Its society was a blend of Latin and Punic (Phoenician) culture. Greek civilization continued in Cyrenaica. Many Berbers were assimilated into the Roman population. In the vast Libyan interior, however, the Berbers retained their identity and culture.

Beginning in the latter part of the fourth century A.D., as Roman power weakened, Berber tribes overran much of the settled Roman areas and Libya began to fall in ruin. Civilization and prosperity declined. The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire maintained a tenuous hold on Cyrenaica. Tripolitania was conquered by the Vandals, a Germanic people, in the 430's. It was retaken about a century later by the Byzantines. During the fifth and sixth centuries, the Berbers took over control of Fezzan, which continued to prosper.

The Arab Conquest

Byzantine rule on the coast was ended by an Arab invasion during the 640's. Successive waves of Arab con- querors brought all of Libya under Muslim control by the end of the century, despite fierce resistance by the Berbers.

In the 10th century Libya came under the rule of the Fatimid Caliphate, which arose in North Africa and ruled from Egypt. In the 11th century Berber rebellions led the Fatimid rulers to send Bedouin tribes into Libya to subdue the region. Much devastation resulted, and settled agricultural life practically ceased. In Cyrenaica the Bedouins completely replaced the Berber population. This new infusion of Arabs led to a much greater amalgamation of Arab and Berber peoples.

From the 13th to the 15th century, Tripolitania was part of the empire of the Hafsids, a dynasty ruling from Tunisia. By the mid-1500's, the Ottoman Turks had brought all of North Africa within their empire.

Turkish Rule

Tripoli and other cities of what was known to Europeans as the Barbary coast became the stronghold for corsairs (pirates) who preyed on Mediterranean shipping. By the early 1700's, Tripolitania had become semi-independent under a bey, as the local ruler was called. Following the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain's successful campaign suppressing piracy resulted in a decline in the bey's power. In 1835, the Turkish sultan again brought Tripoli under direct rule.

During the mid-1800's, an Islamic order known as the Sanussis initiated a religious reform movement among the Bedouin tribes of Cyrenaica. The order became politically powerful and soon shared rule of the region with the Turks. In 1912, Italy, after it defeated the Turks in a short war, formally annexed Libya. However, the Sanussi Order, led by Emir Sayid Idris of Cyrenaica, successfully resisted Italian rule until 1932. Italian colonization of Tripolitania began during the 1920's.

During World War II, the Italians and their German allies were driven from the country.

Independence

In 1951, after some years of Allied occupation, Libya won independence. It became a constitutional monarchy with the Sanussi leader, Sayid Idris, as king. The new nation faced many handicaps. Libya had few well-educated citizens and had to depend on foreigners to run much of the government. With few resources of its own the nation for years was dependent on foreign aid. The discovery of oil brought wealth to Libya in the 1960's, and Idris was able to expand the school system greatly and to begin development projects.

Idris's young army officers, however, were influenced by revolutionary movements in other Arab nations. While the king was abroad in 1969, they seized the government and abolished the monarchy. A revolutionary Command Council was organized, with Muammar Qaddafi as its head.

Qaddafi enormously increased Libya's armaments and called for war against Israel. Under his leadership, the Italian minority was expelled and some businesses were nationalized. In 1973 Qaddafi launched a “cultural revolution,” a movement to purge Libya of foreign influences in favor of Islamic values and Qaddafi's socialist ideas.

During the 1970's Qaddafi made a number of attempts—all of them unsuccessful—to unite other Arab nations, notably Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia, with Libya. Qaddafi also tried to foment coups in Sudan and Egypt and provided money and arms to terrorists and revolutionary organizations in many parts of the world, including Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Eritrea, and Chad.

Qaddafi's activities were condemned by the United States and in 1981 Libyan diplomats were expelled from the country. Later in the year, two U.S. Navy planes shot down a pair of Libyan fighters that had attacked them over the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claims as part of its territorial waters.

In the late 1980's, military clashes between Libya and the United States continued. The most notable took place in 1986, in response to a terrorist attack on American soldiers in Berlin, which United States leaders attributed to a Libyan-supported group. The United States retaliated with a massive air strike against many Libyan targets.

In 1992, the United Nations imposed sanctions on Libya for failing to turn over to the aggrieved countries—France, the United States, and Great Britain—suspects involved in bombing airliners in 1988 and 1989. After years of isolation, an agreement was reached in 1999 whereby Libya surrendered the suspects to a special Scottish court meeting in the Netherlands. After turning over the suspects, United Nations sanctions were lifted, but the United States maintained unilateral sanctions until 2004.