Libya

From Roach Busters

جمهورية ليبيا الشعبية Al-Jamāhīriyyah al-Lībiyyah aš-Ša`biyyah People's Republic of Libya
Flag	Coat of arms
Motto "al-Watan, at-Thawra, al-Wehda" (Arabic) "Nation, Revolution, Unity"
Anthem The Internationale
Capital (and largest city)	Tripoli 32°54′N, 13°11′E
Official languages	Arabic
Demonym	Libyan
Government  - General-Secretary  - Premier  - Politburo President	Socialist state Muammar al-Gaddafi Baghdadi Mahmudi Miftah Muhammed K'eba
Establishment  - Relinquished by Italy  - Independence  - Coup d'état	February 10, 1947 December 24, 1951 September 1, 1969
Area  - Total  - Water (%)	1,759,540 km² 679,359 sq mi negligible
Population  - July 2007 estimate  - 2006 census  - Density	6,036,914 5,670,688 3.2 /km² 8.4 /sq mi
GDP (PPP)  - Total  - Per capita	2007 estimate $59.31 billion $9,825
GDP (nominal)  - Total  - Per capita	2007 estimate $55.83 billion $9,248
Gini (2000)	25 (low)
HDI (2005)	0.840 (high)
Currency	Dinar (LYD)
Time zone - Summer (DST)	EET (UTC +2) not observed (UTC +2)
Internet TLD	.ly
Calling code	+218

Libya (Arabic: ليبيا ‎ Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya), officially the People's Republic of Libya (Arabic: جمهورية ليبيا الشعبية Al-Jamāhīriyyah al-Lībiyyah aš-Ša`biyyah), is a country in North Africa. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Libya lies between 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), 90% of which is desert, Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa by area. The capital, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 6 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, the Fezzan and Cyrenaica.

The name "Libya" is a indigenous (i.e. Berber) one, which is attested in ancient Egyptian texts as , R'bw (= Libu), which refers to one the tribes of Berber peoples living west of the Nile. In Greek the tribesmen was called Libyes and their country became "Libya", although in ancient Greece the term had a broader meaning, encompassing all of North Africa west of Egypt. Later on, at the time of Ibn Khaldun, the same big tribe was known as Lawata.

Libya's GDP (PPP) is one of the continent's highest; this is largely due to its large petroleum reserves and low population.

Libya has been ruled as a Marxist-Leninist state since 1969, when Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi deposed the pro-Western King Idris I in a bloodless coup. Libya has since become one of the Soviet Union's most consistent and loyal allies, while being viewed by much of the Western world with deep suspicion, due in part to Gaddafi's open support of "national liberation movements" around the world.