Muammar Gaddafi wrote “The Green Book” in which he presented his political philosophy.
The book was inspired by The Little Red Book of Mao Tse-tung.
I was in Libya in 2004, and that time, you could buy Green Book everywhere; moreover, it was very likely to find the book translated into your own language! People were buying it as souvenir.
At the end of this month, I want to share with you a few historical facts from the recent history of Libya.
Muammar Gaddafi (Moammar Gadhafi) was a leader of Libya from the Libyan Cultural Revolution in 1973 until 2011, when he was killed in the War. Gaddafi changed Libya a lot, transformed Libya into a socialist state; a “green” country where green flags and portraits of Gaddafi were everywhere in Libya.
Gaddafi was seen as a dictator who violated human rights.
You can read more about Muammar Gaddafi on BBC.
After being the kingdom, the name of Libya changed to the Libyan Arab Republic (1969), then Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and later Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
Currently, the official name of the country is the State of Libya.
Libya used to be a kingdom.
In 1951, Libya became independent as a kingdom.
The country was called as the United Libyan Kingdom, and later changed into the Kingdom of Libya.
Libya has many natural resources (i.e., oil or gas), however, they’re not going to last forever…
Traveling by train in Libya? No, not yet; apparently there plans to build a train network in Libia.
Maybe in some years?
Ghadamis (Ghadames) is another interesting place in Libya.
It’s an oasis town. It’s old part is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
p.s. This picture was taken in Tripoli.
Cyrene was an ancient Greek city (later Roman), currently located nearby city Shahhat.
Cyrene is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
p.s. The pictures shows other ancient site – Sabratha.
Sabratha is a wonderful ancient archeological site, also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It’s located about 70 km from Tripoli.
Leptis Magna was considered as one of the most beautiful cities of the Roman Empire.
I’m not surprised by it! 🙂
Leptis Magna is the name of the largest Roman Ruins in Libya.
Leptis Magna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
From Tripoli, is relatively nearby to some great Libyan tourist attractions, e.g., Leptis Magna (130 km) or Sabratha.
When you’re visiting Libya, Tripoli is definitely a place you also want to go. Explore the medina, visit museums and mosques.
Tripoli is the capital and the largest city in Libya.
Libya is one of the Mediterranean Countries, with nice coast.
About 90% of the total area of Libya is covered by a desert (Sahara Desert).
When I was in Libya, I was impressed by the way all ancient places looked like, they were in a quite good shape. Moreover, you could just walk on all mosaics!
I felt a bit like “oh, but I don’t want to step on it, I don’t want to destroy it”.
Libya has a very, very long history, and some archaeological findings date back to 8000 BC!
If you love ruins (I do! 🙂 ) then Libya is for you!
You can find amazing places in Libya. Unfortunately, some of them, should had looked better these days…
I went to Libya driven by curiosity to see amazing ancient Roman and Greek ruins (i.e., Leptis Magna, Cyrene, Sabratha).
And I wasn’t disappointed, they’re fantastic!