Part 1: Geography and History

• Geography
• History

Geography

The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is located on the Northern coast of Africa along the Mediterranean.  Bordered by Egypt on the east, Algeria and Tunisia on the west, and Niger, Chad, and Sudan to the south, Libya occupies a space slightly larger than the state of Alaska. The nation is sectioned off into three provinces: Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan which originally due to the severe terrain inbetween felt independent of each other. While the coastal lowlands, where the majority of the population resides, enjoy a Mediterranean climate, the other 90% of the country is classified as arid desert. Amongst the southern desert rise the country's only significant mountains known as the Tibesti.  With no sizeable bodies of water present that aren't saline, projects have begun to access aquifers found beneath the Sahara.

For most of their history, the peoples of Libya have been subjected to varying degrees of foreign control. A long ancient history under some of the greatest empires such as the Romans and Byzantines led up to the Arabs in the seventh century A.D. As a result Islam and the Arabic language and culture permeated most of the indigenous people. Eventually the Ottoman Turks assumed the country in the mid-16th century and until Italy invaded in 1911.  Italy in fact officially designated their colony Libya in 1934.  Finally, Italy surrendered Libya as a condition of the 1947 peace treaty with the Allies.  Following a resolution by the UN General Assembly in 1949 Libya declared its independence on December 24, 1951. Libya became the first country to achieve independence through the United Nations.  Libya was proclaimed a constitutional and a hereditary monarchy under King Idris.

In 1959 significant oil reserves were discovered that brought about dramatic social change. Despite drastically improving Libya's finances, oil revenues created increasing wealth disparity. On September 1, 1969 discontent came to a climax with a military coup led by Mu'ammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi. The Revolutionary Command Council formed the new regime called the Libyan Arab Republic. Qadhafi ascended to unofficial chief of state under the banner of "freedom, socialism, and unity”.

Tensions with the West escalated with Qadhafi's blatant revolutionary ideology and support of terrorism. A discotheque in West Berlin with American military personnel as regulars was bombed in 1986 leading to U.S. retaliation and economic sanctions.  The UN similarly imposed broad sanctions in 1992 after Libya was implicated in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Qadhafi initially refused to comply with the requirements UN Security Council.  However, following years of economic and political isolation in the 90’s Qadhafi began trying to restore relations with Western nations. In 1999, Libya acquiesced and turned over Libyan suspects associated with the bombing.  Upon the completion of further requirements UN sanctions were lifted in 2003 followed by US sanctions in 2004.

On December 19, 2003, Libya publicly announced its intention to abandon weapons of mass destruction. Since that time, Libya has cooperated with the U.S., the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Libya has also signed the IAEA Additional Protocol and has become a State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Full diplomatic relations resumed between U.S. and Libya in 2006 shortly followed by the drop of Libya's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

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