Northern Africa · LBY

Libya

The story · 13 chapters

How it was drawn

Land of the ancient Libyans, Greek Cyrene and Punic Tripoli, ruled from Rome, Cairo, Tunis and Istanbul, joined by the Ottomans and Italy into one country, and split again by rival governments since 2014.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Libya fought or stood against, from the first to today.

New Kingdom of Egypt1210 BC to 1170 BC
Libu and Meshwesh tribes, pushed by drought, tried to settle in the western Nile delta. The pharaohs Merneptah, around 1208 BC, and Ramesses III defeated them in great battles recorded on temple walls.
Carthage515 BC to 250 BC
Carthage drove a Spartan colony away from the Cinyps river, near Leptis, around 515 BC, and competed with Greek Cyrene for the Gulf of Sirte. Legend says their border was fixed at the Altars of the Philaeni.
Roman Empire20 BC to 70
Rome fought the Garamantes of the Fezzan. Cornelius Balbus marched on their capital, Garama, and celebrated a triumph in 19 BC, and in AD 69 Roman troops drove them back after they joined a quarrel between Oea and Leptis.
Rashidun Caliphate642 to 647
Amr ibn al As led Arab armies west from newly conquered Egypt, taking Barqa in Cyrenaica in 642 and Tripoli soon after, opening the way to the conquest of North Africa and ending Byzantine rule on this coast.
Kingdom of Sicily1146 to 1158
Roger II of Sicily seized Tripoli in 1146 and held a string of North African ports. A revolt and the advance of the Almohads ended Norman rule on the coast by 1160.
Spanish Empire1510 to 1551
A Spanish fleet stormed Tripoli in 1510. Charles V gave it to the Knights of St John in 1530, and an Ottoman fleet under Sinan Pasha, with the corsair Turgut Reis, forced them out in 1551.
United States of America1801 to 1805
In the First Barbary War, Tripoli's pasha Yusuf Karamanli fought the United States over tribute. The Americans lost the frigate Philadelphia in 1803, burned it in 1804 and took Derna in 1805 before peace was made.
Kingdom of Italy1911 to 1943
Italy invaded in 1911 and fought a long colonial war, above all against the Sanusi in Cyrenaica. It hanged the resistance leader Omar al Mukhtar in 1931 and lost the colony to British forces in 1943.
Republic of Chad1973 to 1994
Libya occupied the Aouzou Strip and intervened in Chad's civil wars. In the Toyota War of 1987, Chadian forces in pickup trucks routed the Libyan army, and the International Court of Justice gave Aouzou to Chad in 1994.
United States of America1981 to 2011
Gaddafi's Libya clashed with the United States over the Gulf of Sirte in 1981, was bombed in 1986 and was blamed for the Lockerbie bombing of 1988. Relations thawed after 2003, until US and NATO aircraft backed the 2011 uprising.
Rival eastern governmentSince 2014Still open
Since 2014 Libya has been split between a government in Tripoli and rival authorities in the east backed by Khalifa Haftar's forces. Their 2019 attack on Tripoli failed, and the country remains divided.

Today

Libya now

Berbers have inhabited central north Africa since ancient times, but Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Persians, Egyptians, Romans, and Vandals have all settled and ruled the region. In the 7th century, Islam spread through the area. In the mid-16th century, Ottoman rule began; the Italians supplanted the Ottoman Turks in the area around Tripoli in 1911 and held it until 1943, when they were defeated in World War II. Libya then came under UN administration and achieved independence in 1951. Col.

Capital: Tripoli
Government: in transition
Head of government: Abd al-Hamid Dbeibeh
Head of state: Mohamed al-Menfi
Languages: Arabic
Area: 1,759,540 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population7.3 million2023 · 1.1 million in 1950
Life expectancy69.3 years2023 · 33.1 years in 1950
GDP per person$12,7552022 · $620 in 1950
Living in cities88%2025 · 22% in 1950
Literacy60%1984 · 8% in 1950
Political regimeClosed autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending3.6% of GDP2023
War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

Egypt, Arab Rep.
Saudi Arabia
Italy

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Libya fought or stood against, from the first to today.

New Kingdom of Egypt1210 BC to 1170 BC

Libu and Meshwesh tribes, pushed by drought, tried to settle in the western Nile delta. The pharaohs Merneptah, around 1208 BC, and Ramesses III defeated them in great battles recorded on temple walls.

Carthage515 BC to 250 BC

Carthage drove a Spartan colony away from the Cinyps river, near Leptis, around 515 BC, and competed with Greek Cyrene for the Gulf of Sirte. Legend says their border was fixed at the Altars of the Philaeni.

Roman Empire20 BC to 70

Rome fought the Garamantes of the Fezzan. Cornelius Balbus marched on their capital, Garama, and celebrated a triumph in 19 BC, and in AD 69 Roman troops drove them back after they joined a quarrel between Oea and Leptis.

Rashidun Caliphate642 to 647

Amr ibn al As led Arab armies west from newly conquered Egypt, taking Barqa in Cyrenaica in 642 and Tripoli soon after, opening the way to the conquest of North Africa and ending Byzantine rule on this coast.

Kingdom of Sicily1146 to 1158

Roger II of Sicily seized Tripoli in 1146 and held a string of North African ports. A revolt and the advance of the Almohads ended Norman rule on the coast by 1160.

Spanish Empire1510 to 1551

A Spanish fleet stormed Tripoli in 1510. Charles V gave it to the Knights of St John in 1530, and an Ottoman fleet under Sinan Pasha, with the corsair Turgut Reis, forced them out in 1551.

United States of America1801 to 1805

In the First Barbary War, Tripoli's pasha Yusuf Karamanli fought the United States over tribute. The Americans lost the frigate Philadelphia in 1803, burned it in 1804 and took Derna in 1805 before peace was made.

Kingdom of Italy1911 to 1943

Italy invaded in 1911 and fought a long colonial war, above all against the Sanusi in Cyrenaica. It hanged the resistance leader Omar al Mukhtar in 1931 and lost the colony to British forces in 1943.

Republic of Chad1973 to 1994

Libya occupied the Aouzou Strip and intervened in Chad's civil wars. In the Toyota War of 1987, Chadian forces in pickup trucks routed the Libyan army, and the International Court of Justice gave Aouzou to Chad in 1994.

United States of America1981 to 2011

Gaddafi's Libya clashed with the United States over the Gulf of Sirte in 1981, was bombed in 1986 and was blamed for the Lockerbie bombing of 1988. Relations thawed after 2003, until US and NATO aircraft backed the 2011 uprising.

Rival eastern governmentSince 2014Still open

Since 2014 Libya has been split between a government in Tripoli and rival authorities in the east backed by Khalifa Haftar's forces. Their 2019 attack on Tripoli failed, and the country remains divided.

Libya now

Capital

Tripoli

Government

in transition

Head of government

Abd al-Hamid Dbeibeh

Head of state

Mohamed al-Menfi

Languages

Arabic

Area

1,759,540 km²

Then and now

Population7.3 million2023 · 1.1 million in 1950

Life expectancy69.3 years2023 · 33.1 years in 1950

GDP per person$12,7552022 · $620 in 1950

Living in cities88%2025 · 22% in 1950

Literacy60%1984 · 8% in 1950

Political regimeClosed autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending3.6% of GDP2023

War deathsNone2025