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The Ancient period is the first known history of Libya when Libya was ruled in whole or parts by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, the armies of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies, the Romans, Vandals, and local representatives of the Byzantine Empire. Until Roman times, the history of the territory of modern Libya is distinct and separate for Tripoli and Cyrenaica. Originally, Tripoli was a group of Phoenician colonies and an important seaport dependent on Carthage. After the Third Punic War, it fell to Rome. On the other hand, Cyrenaica known as the Pentapolis or the five cities was in the hands of Greek before being taken by the Romans.
A huge army of Arabs led by Abdu’llah ibn Sa‘ad, invaded western Libya in 647 AD. The Arabs seized Tripoli from the Byzantines. In the city of Sufetula, the Exarch Gregory was killed. However, the successor of Gregory named Gennadius promised a huge annual tribute to the Arabs in return to the power to administer the land. Eventually when Gennadius refused to pay the surplus income from his land demanded from Constantinople, his own men overthrew him. However with the help of Muawiyah, the Caliph of Damascus, he marched towards Africa. Though Gennadius died on the way, the Arabs attacked the Byzantines. As a consequence, the indigenous people were converted to Islam during the following centuries. The Abbasid dynasty overthrew the Ummayad caliph in 750 AD also shifting the capital to Baghdad. In 800 AD, the Aghlabids dynasty became independent of the Baghdad caliphs. The Aghlabid emirs improved the condition of this region by repairing Roman irrigation systems and bringing prosperity to the region.
During the beginning of the 15th century, the Libyan coast remained a haven for pirates. Following the Spaniards, Ferdinand V and the Knights of St John of Malta, Tripoli was conquered by a pirate king called Khair ad-Din in 1538. Since then, the coast became renowned as the Barbary Coast. Following the Ottomans, in 1711, Ahmed Karamanli, founded the Karamanli dynasty, which lasted for 124 years. Following this, the decentralization of Ottoman power gave way to the independence of Egypt and Tripoli. However, Libya remained a part of Ottoman Empire with autonomous status till the invasion by Italy in 1911.
Claiming to liberate Libya from the Ottoman rule, the Italy attacked Tripoli. Despite revolts by the majority of Libyans, the Ottoman sultan ceded Libya to Italy through the Treaty of Lausanne in 1912. Due to the rebellions led by the Senussis in Cyrenaica and the Fezzan, 150,000 Italians settled in Libya.
In 1920 the Italian government announced Sheikh Sidi Idris, the hereditary head of the nomadic Senussi as Emir of Cyrenaica, who eventually become king of the free Libyan state. In 1944, Idris returned from his exile. Thereon, he demanded the removal of foreign control from the soil. Under the peace treaty of 1947, Italy relinquished all its claims over Libya. In fact, the Italian government offered a sum of USD $ 260 Million in apology and compensation for occupying Libya.
As a result of the moves taken by the UN, Libya could declare its independence in 1951. Libya was the first of the former European possessions to get independence. Libya opted for a constitutional and hereditary monarchy proclaiming Idris as the King.
Significant quantities of oil reserves were discovered in Libya in 1959 that gave way to economic prosperity of the country. However, a major section of the population remained dissatisfied on account of the wealth accumulating in the hands of the elite circles alone. In 1969, a group of military officers led by a young officer named Mu'ammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi staged a coup against King Idris and exiled him to Egypt. The Revolutionary Command Council abolished the monarchy and proclaimed Libya as a new Arab Republic. With the slogans of freedom, socialism, and unity, RCC is venturing to bring about social justice, non-exploitation, and an equitable distribution of wealth among the public leading the nation towards a new era of modernism.
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