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Libya Country Profile

Google Earth Libya Map

___ Satellite View and Map of Libya (formerly: Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)

The mountainous southern part of the Libyan Dessert, more than 90% of the country is desert or semidesert, Libya has only 1% arable land.
Image: Roberto D'Angelo

About Libya

Satellite view is showing Libya a North African country bordering the Mediterranean Sea in north, it is bordered by Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Niger, Sudan, and Tunisia. Much of the country is covered by the Libyan Desert, the northern and eastern part of the Sahara. Spoken language is Arabic (official) and Berber languages (Kabyle).

The North African Mediterranean coastal region was inhabited by non-Arabic Berber tribes (Amazighs) for thousands of years before it became part of the expanding Commercial Network of the Phoenicians, an enterprising maritime trading culture with colonies along the southern Mediterranean coast. With the complete destruction of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage by the Romans in 149 BC, the area became a Roman Colony and later part of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).

The ruins of Cyrene, an ancient Greek and Roman city in north east Libya.
Image: Maher

The name 'Libya' was used by the ancient Greeks to designate North Africa west of Egypt. In later centuries the name was used to describe that part of Africa colonized by the Greeks and divided into Cyrenaica and Marmarica. In Roman times this was part of the colony of Africa.
In the 7th century the 'Muslim conquest of the Maghreb' was in full swing, by 642, the Arabs controlled Mesopotamia (today parts of Iraq, Kuwait), Egypt and Syria, they had invaded Armenia, and they just finished favorably their conquest of the Persian Empire (today Iran).

In modern history the country gained independence in 1951 (after it was occupied by Italy for almost 40 years). For a period of time the country was run by King Idris of Libya, a Senussi Muslim Sufi, who was overthrown by a military coup led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 1969. For the next 42 years Libya was ruled by the 'Leader and Guide of the Revolution'. In 2011 the' Arab Spring' protests spilled over from neighboring Tunisia. Civil uprisings had erupted in many countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East. In Libya the situation escalated into the Libyan Civil War. In October 2011 forces of Gaddafi's main opposition group, the National Transitional Council captured the city of Sirte, the last stronghold of the former dictator of Libya. In the course of this event Muammar Gaddafi has been killed.

After the fall of Sirte the National Transitional Council, formed a provisional government and took power. In August 2012, the NTC handed over power to Libya's newly elected parliament, the General National Congress, the GNC was supposed to form an interim government and to design a new Libyan Constitution, which had be approved in a general referendum. After the demise of two ousted Prime Ministers, and a failed election to pick the members of the Council of Deputies in June 2014, things went worse.

As of now, the country is run by two rival governments, on one side, Tripoli and Misrata are controlled by forces of the islamist Libya Dawn and the new GNC in Tripoli, on the other side, the elected Council of Deputies (Libyan House of Representatives), which is recognized by the 'international community' as the 'true government', acts from Tobruk. In Benghazi there is ongoing fighting between the islamist Shura Council of Benghazi and forces of the Libyan National Army.

The map shows Libya with cities, towns, expressways, main roads and streets.
To find a location use the form below.

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Local Time Libya:

Saturday-October-5 06:37

UTC/GMT +2 hours

φ Latitude, λ Longitude (of Map center; move the map to see coordinates):
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Google Maps: Searchable Map of Libya.

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