Portal:Libya

Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Location of Germany within Europe  Libya (Arabic: ‏ليبيا‎‎ Lībyā) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa by area, and the 17th largest in the world. The largest city, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 6.4 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. In 2009 Libya had the highest HDI in Africa and the fourth highest GDP (PPP) per capita in Africa, behind Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world and the 17th-highest petroleum production. Since the 2011 civil war and the collapse of the Gaddafi regime which had been in power for more than 40 years, Libya has experienced instability and political violence which has severely affected both commerce and oil production. The Chadian–Libyan conflict was a state of sporadic warfare events in Chad between 1978 and 1987 between Libyan and Chadian forces. Libya had been involved in Chad's internal affairs prior to 1978 and before Muammar al-Gaddafi's rise to power in Libya in 1969, beginning with the extension of the Chadian Civil War to northern Chad in 1968. The conflict was marked by a series of four separate Libyan interventions in Chad, taking place in 1978, 1979, 1980–1981 and 1983–1987. In all of these occasions Gaddafi had the support of a number of factions participating in the civil war, while Libya's opponents found the support of the French government, which intervened militarily to save the Chadian government in 1978, 1983 and 1986. The military pattern of the war delineated itself in 1978, with the Libyans providing armour, artillery and air support and their Chadian allies the infantry, that assumed the bulk of the scouting and fighting. This pattern was radically to change in 1986, towards the end of the war, when all Chadian forces united in opposing the Libyan occupation of northern Chad with a degree of unity that had never been seen before in Chad. This deprived the Libyan forces of their habitual infantry, exactly when they found themselves confronting a mobile army, well provided now with anti-tank and anti-air missiles, thus cancelling the Libyan superiority in fire-power. What followed was the Toyota War, in which the Libyan forces were routed and expelled from Chad, putting an end to the conflict. (Read more...) Credit: Robert Bamler The ancient marketplace of Leptis Magna, Libya. You are invited to participate in WikiProject Libya, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Libya. WikiProject Libya WikiProject Africa Edit Libya-geo-stub pages. Add Libya-related portal pages and articles to your watchlist. Template:/box-header ... that the US first attacked Libya in 1815, then again in 1981, 1986, 1989 and now in 2011? ... that in 1963 the women of Libya were given the right to vote? ... that Libya became a member of the League of Arab States in 1953? ... that Tripoli is Libya's largest city? Template:/box-footer What are portals? List of portals Featured portals