hello everyone and welcome to
[Music]
this is africa and here's libya now
let's go shall we nine tenths of libya
consists of desert but it wasn't always
so ancient rock art reveals a far
different place brimming with life no
longer to be found in its borders
including giraffes with curly tails as
the millennia lumbered by a change in
climate that even greta couldn't stop
saw the greenery lost beneath the
scorching sands of the sahara now the
people group who would come to dominate
libya were the berbers but when exactly
they arrived isn't known but it was many
thousands of years ago as the centuries
passed the berbers moved their livestock
from place to place and even tried their
hand at conquest libya's berber meshwish
tribe conquering egypt in the 900s bc
libyan pharaohs were still ruling in the
land of the pyramids two centuries later
but back home in the 7th century bc the
first of numerous intruders materialized
the greeks established five colonies in
libya the first and largest cyreni was
enriched through the trade of a
medicinal plant called silphium which
unfortunately is today extinct here's a
temple of zeus the phoenicians meanwhile
founded what would become the future
capital of libya tripoli persian rule
followed after cambyses ii stormed in
and took over in the 500s bc and the
persians remained in charge until they
were expelled by alexander's greeks who
were naturally welcomed by the grecian
cities their reign continued under the
ptolemaic kingdom until the romans took
charge of the region libya subsequently
basked in an age of prosperity
particularly the city of leptus magna
the birthplace of emperor septimius
severus and yes that is a pretty awesome
name meanwhile the town of ptolemaeus
produced the christian theologian arius
whose controversial views concerning
christ's relation to god the father were
rejected by the congregated bishops at
the council of nicaea in 325 as the
roman empire toppled libya was conquered
by the german vandals then the eastern
roman byzantine empire reclaimed the
region and ruled until the 7th century
when the arabs funded in and the caliphs
of islam took control libya thrived
under the agalabid dynasty of the
abbasid caliphate the roman irrigation
systems long neglected were revived and
the land enjoyed a time of plenty the
shia fatimid caliphate followed until
the 10th century when an algerian berber
dynasty arose and reigned and then
another berber dynasty took power both
of which gained noteworthy wealth from
agriculture and trade after quite a
geopolitical jumble the ottoman turks
conquered the land in the 1500s though
the region of libya gained considerable
autonomy or self-rule under this dynasty
during which time however there was
conflict with western powers who were
cracking down harder than ever on north
african piracy in the mediterranean the
americans scoring a major victory
against the libyan forces in 1805 ending
the first barbary war the turks
thereafter began to rule libya more
directly here are some photographs of
tripoli in the late 1800s this is a
bread market and here are some turkish
soldiers drawing water with a very
dignified looking camel seated
majestically before them 1911 signaled
yet another calamity for the country as
the italians invaded and made it one of
their kingdom's colonies this here is
the determined face of
the lion of the desert he led a long
campaign of resistance against the
invaders harassing and raiding italian
forces and outposts until his capture in
1931 when he was hanged aged 73. today
he is honored as a national hero the
libyan people suffered immense pain and
grief and many thousands of lives were
lost due to the italian occupation but
then as it usually does something
happened world war ii libya was a focal
point of the north african campaign in
which italian forces were defeated by
the allies after the war libya was
administered by the british and the
french but in 1951 it declared
independence and idris the first became
king a few years later oil was
discovered lots of it that meant money
lots of it and money typically means
corruption lots of it king idris simply
didn't use the oil revenue to build up
and improve the nation and revolutionary
murmurs accumulated with compound
interest in 1969 the king was overthrown
in a military coup headed by socialist
colonel muhammaru qaddafi a divisive
figure qadhafi nevertheless did a lot of
good for libya infrastructure and human
development were enhanced societal
economic reforms from health care to
housing were introduced and he funded
the world's biggest irrigation project
to supply fresh water to the coastal
cities qadhafi increasingly angered the
united states by his support of the
palestinians against israel which
honestly shouldn't have surprised them
as he had earlier kicked out all jews
from libya gaddafi was accused of
supporting multiple rebel and terrorist
groups he also wanted to take over this
bit of land from chad relations with the
west worsened and after libya organized
a terror attack on americans at a berlin
nightclub president reagan ordered a
series of airstrikes on libya qadhafi
continued to rule until 2011 when in the
thick of the arab spring revolutions
libya was similarly set ablaze by
impassioned masses seeking change the
country collapsed into civil war nato
supporting the rebels in october gaddafi
was captured and gruesomely executed the
war ended and tens of thousands of
libyans were dead now in times of chaos
it isn't unusual for various militia
groups to pop up and one of them here
was ansar al-shariah in 2012 they
attacked an american facility in
benghazi killing the ambassador an act
of violence condemned by the libyan
government in 2014 libya crumbled into
civil war once again until the year 2020
libya today despite its troubles
possesses a high level of human
development the sixth highest in the
african continent its economy almost
completely reliant on oil but as always
the question remains what awaits libya
in the years ahead comment below but for
now bye
[Music]
