The State of Libya is one of the largest countries on the African continent. Until recently, it had a leading indicator of economic development in the region, in addition, its history is full of interesting facts. How did the Libyans live before and how do they live now? Description of Libya, its sights and legal system and will serve as the subject of our story.
Geographic location
First, let's find out where the state of Libya is located. This country is located in the very north of the African continent. On the western side, its border runs with Tunisia and the Andra, from the south - with the state of Niger, the Republic of Chad and the Sudanese Republic, and on the eastern side - with the Egyptian state. From the north, the coast of Libya is washed by the gentle waves of the Mediterranean Sea.
The territorial area of Libya is 1.8 million km2. Most of it is occupied by desert lands, inparticularly the Sahara Desert. Only in the north of the country is a narrow strip of land favorable for agriculture with a Mediterranean type of climate.
Among Libya's natural resources, oil must first of all be singled out.
History
To have a better idea of the state of affairs in the present, you need to look into the past. Let's focus on the highlights of Libya's history.
In ancient times, its territory was inhabited by nomadic Berber tribes. The name "Libya" is of Greek origin. So the Hellenes called the entire African continent.
From the 1st millennium BC e. active Phoenician and Greek colonization of the coast of Libya begins. During that period, such large colonies arose as Cyrene, Leptis Magna, Barca, Euhesparides, Tripoli. Many of these cities still exist and are major centers of the state of Libya.
In the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. a significant part of the northern part of the country was captured by Carthage, the western part went to the Egyptian state of the Ptolemies. Nevertheless, by the beginning of our era, all these territories were controlled by the Roman Empire. After the fall of Rome, the east of Libya went to Byzantium, and the west to the barbarian state of the Vandals, centered in Carthage. However, in the 6th century A. D. e., under the emperor Justinian, Byzantium managed to crush the vandals and include all their lands in its composition.
South of Libya throughout this time was not subject to any state entity. Here, as before, free tribes roamed.
The situation has changed radically since the middle of the 7th century, when the Arabs conquered the Byzantine possessions in Africa. They also managed to conquer all of Libya, which was included in the Caliphate. Since then, the national composition of the country has changed significantly. If earlier the majority of the inhabitants were Berbers, now the Arabs have become the dominant nation. After the collapse of the unified Arab Caliphate in the 8th century, Libya was alternately part of the states of the Aghlabids, Fatimids, Ayyubids, Almohads, Hafsids, Ayyubids, Mamluks, until it was annexed to the Ottoman Empire in 1551.
However, during this period, Libya had a relative autonomy. Since 1711, the Karamanli dynasty began to rule here, which recognized the actual dependence on the Ottoman sultan. But in 1835, due to popular discontent, the dynasty fell, and the Ottoman Empire again established a regime of direct control of Libya.
In 1911, Italy captured these lands, winning the war with the Turks. Since that time, the country has become an Italian colony. After the defeat of Italy during the World War in 1942, this territory was occupied by British and French troops.
In 1951, Libya became an independent monarchy led by King Idris I. Thus began the country's recent history.
Gaddafi era
The person who had the greatest impact on the modern history of Libya was Muammar Gaddafi. It was he who was the head of the conspiracy of officers directed against the monarchical government. In 1969, during the revolution, the power of Idris I wasdeposed. The Libyan Arab Republic (LAR) was formed, led by Muammar Gaddafi. In fact, this was the President of Libya, although he never officially held this position.
In 1977, Gaddafi formally resigned from all government posts, leaving behind only the title of Fraternal Leader, but actually continued to rule the state. At the same time, the LAR was transformed into the Jamahiriya. It was a unique form of government that proclaimed democracy, formally built on the management of the country by many communes. The foundation of the Jamahiriya was socialism, Arab nationalism and Islam. It was in this ideological field that Libya was at that time. The head of state, Muammar Gaddafi, issued the Green Book, which actually replaced the constitution.
It was during this period that Libya achieved unprecedented economic development. At the same time, relations between the state and Israel and Western countries have become extremely aggravated, in which the Libyan special services even carried out a number of terrorist attacks. The most famous of these was the explosion of an airplane in 1988, after which economic sanctions were applied against Libya. In addition, Muammar Gaddafi was accused of suppressing the political opposition in his country and of violating human rights, as well as of aggression against some other African states.
Civil War
Naturally, this state of affairs did not suit a significant number of Libyans. In 2011, unrest began against the Gaddafi regime. When the confrontation of the rebels withgovernment forces reached a particular intensity, a coalition of Western countries intervened in the conflict, speaking on the side of the rebels. Aviation of NATO countries carried out bombing of government military facilities. With the support of foreign powers, the rebels managed to capture the capital of Libya - the city of Tripoli. Muammar Gaddafi was killed.
Libya began to manage the Transitional National Council. But even after the parliamentary elections, peace did not come to the country. It continues the war between several opposing forces. In fact, the collapsed state entity today is Libya. The state cannot ensure the unity of the country. In addition, the activities of a number of terrorist organizations have intensified in Libya, including the Islamic State (ISIS), which even managed to seize a number of territories.
Population
The vast majority of the Libyan population are Arabs, among whom there are many Arabized Berbers. The south of the country is also home to nomadic Berber tribes, the Tuareg and the Negroid Tubu people.
Most of the population is concentrated in northern Libya. The southern part of the country is sparsely populated, due to the very dry climate of the Sahara. There is a large number of absolutely uninhabited territories.
The total population in the country is about 5.6 million people. It should be noted that most of this number live in cities. For example, the total number of inhabitants in the agglomerations of the largestsettlements of the country of Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata exceeds 56% of the total population of the country.
Tripoli is the capital of Libya
The capital of Libya is the city of Tripoli. It is located in the western part of the country on the Mediterranean coast. This is the largest of the cities for which the state of Libya is famous. The capital has a population of almost 1.8 million inhabitants. For comparison, the second largest city of the Libyan state - Benghazi is inhabited by about 630 thousand people.
The city of Tripoli is known for a very ancient history. It was founded in the 7th century BC. e. Phoenician colonists and was originally called Ea. The modern name of the city was given a little later by the Greeks. Translated from Greek, it means "Three cities". For a long time it was the central city of the province of Tripolitania, and in 1951, after the country's independence, it became the capital of Libya.
Now Tripoli is a large modern city with high-rise buildings and azure beaches, which the state of Libya can be proud of. Photos of sand dunes and dunes, which abound in information resources dedicated to the sights of the corners of the globe, fascinate, and it's hard to even imagine that high-rise buildings rise somewhere in the neighborhood of wild desert nature and … there is a war.
At the same time, despite the status of the capital, in Tripoli, of the large state organizations, there is only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All other organs of the central state apparatus are concentrated in provincial towns. EvenParliament is located in the city of Sirte. This was done as part of a program that began in 1988 on the decentralization of government in the country.
Political structure
At the moment, Libya is a unitary state. Its form of government is a parliamentary republic. There is no such position as the President of Libya. The head of state is the President of the House of Representatives, who is elected by Parliament. Since August 2014, this post has been occupied by Aguila Sallah Isa. In addition, the House of Representatives (parliament) also elects the prime minister of the country, that is, the head of the government. At the moment, the head of the executive branch is Abdullah Abdurrahman at-Thani. The government is in Tobruk. Abdullah at-Thani resigned several times, but to this day he remains. about. prime minister.
At the moment, the State of Libya controls the eastern part of the country.
At the same time, it should be pointed out that in Tripoli there is a parallel General National Congress, which opposes the House of Representatives and controls the territories around the capital.
At the moment, Libya is a secular state, in which state authorities are separated from religion and religious organizations. At the same time, Islamist sentiments are quite strong in society.
Administrative divisions
The State of Libya is administratively divided into 22 municipalities. True, this division is rather conditional, because a significant part of the country's territorythe central authorities simply do not control, and they actually have their own administrative divisions.
In addition, there are three historical provinces in Libya, from the combination of which, in fact, a single state was formed at one time: Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan. The centers of these unofficial components are, respectively, Tripoli, Benghazi and Sabha.
State symbols
The national flag of Libya since 2011 is a flag with red, black and green stripes from top to bottom. In the center of the banner is an Islamic crescent with a star. This flag was used as the state flag during the Kingdom of Libya (1951-1969), but after the revolution was replaced by Gaddafi with a red-white-black tricolor, and then, since 1977, with an absolutely green flag.
At the moment, there is no official coat of arms in the state of Libya, but there is a state emblem in the form of a yellow crescent and a star.
The anthem of the country since 2011 has been the composition "Libya, Libya, Libya", which performed the same function during the period of the monarchy. During the reign of Gaddafi, the musical work "Allah is great" was used as an anthem.
Legal system
Currently, the legal system of the state of Libya is based on French as well as Italian legal norms. At the same time, since the time of Gaddafi, the influence of Islamic law, in particular Sharia, has remained quite strong.
The country has a Constitutional Court, although the new Constitution is not yetaccepted. At the same time, the state of Libya has not yet recognized the jurisdiction of international courts.
At the same time, it must be taken into account that at the moment several groups control different parts of Libya, so, in fact, there is no single rule of law in the country that would apply to the entire territory of the state. Many parts of the country have de facto rigid Islamic law (Sharia).
Attractions
Ancient history has given us many cultural monuments that delight the eyes of tourists. Indeed, there are many historical places that the state of Libya can be proud of. Attractions are available in many regions of the country.
One of the most famous monuments of world culture, located in Libya, are the ruins of an ancient Roman amphitheater, which can be seen in the photo above. They are located in Sabratha, which is west of Tripoli. This amphitheater was built during Roman rule and was intended for spectacles that were supposed to entertain the public, including gladiator fights.
On the territory of the country there are other ruins of ancient buildings of the Phoenicians and Romans. Especially famous among tourists are the ruins of the ancient city of Leptis Magna, founded by Phoenician colonists, but then adopted the Roman way of life.
Among the buildings of the Islamic period, one can especially distinguish the Ahmad Pasha Karamanli Mosque located in Tripoli, built by this ruler of Tripolitania in 1711. Alsothe Gurgi and Al-Jami mosques are quite interesting.
In addition, the 14,000-year-old rock carvings in the Tadrart-Acacus area are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
During Gaddafi's time, the Jamahiriya Museum was especially popular among locals and tourists.
Truly, there is much to be proud of the people of Libya.
With faith in the future
From the very moment of her birth, Libya has experienced difficult periods. After the fall of the Gaddafi regime, many people were sure that bright times of real democracy and the triumph of law would come. But their hopes were not destined to come true, as the country is mired in the abyss of a civil war, in which foreign powers are intervening to some extent.
At present, Libya is actually split into several parts, which either require broad autonomy from the central government, or do not recognize it at all. At the same time, no one denies the right of the Libyan people to build a peaceful democratic society in which the rule of law will be at the forefront. Of course, the Libyans will achieve this goal sooner or later. But when it will be is the big question.
