The earliest traces of human presence in Libya appears to date back to 80,000 years ago according to the British archaeologists who carried out archeological excavations near Appolonia in Cyrenaica at Hua Fteah Cave in which it was found an interesting field with the Pleistocene fauna, industry and part of the Middle Paleolithic a human jaw and two Teeth along with animal bones.... today are exposed at the British Museum, but the true testimony of human being settlement in Libya can be found easily in southern Libya in the caves of Tadrart Akakus and the valley Wadi Metkhandush where there are thousands of carvings and paintings date back to15,000 years ago.
In the first Millennium B.C was founded in southern Libya the kingdom of Garamants the inhabitants of Garama the actual Germa who controlled the south of Libya, while the north west of Libya which is now known as Tripolitania was frequented by Phoenician sailors from 700 BC who founded the three cities Tripolis...Leptis magna,Sabratha and Oea the modern Tripoli, on the other hand the Greeks were interested in the north east of Libya which is today called Cyrenaica where their sailors founded in 631 BC Cyrene, then other four cities, Apollonia, Ptolemais, Teuchira and Bernice today is known as Benghazi.
Libya then was divided, between the Garamants (indigenous) in the south Libyan region of Fasania or Fezzan, the Phoenicians mixed with locals in its north western region of Tripolitania and the Greeks at its eastern region of Cyrenaica.
In the first Millennium B.C was founded in southern Libya the kingdom of Garamants the inhabitants of Garama the actual Germa who controlled the south of Libya, while the north west of Libya which is now known as Tripolitania was frequented by Phoenician sailors from 700 BC who founded the three cities Tripolis...Leptis magna,Sabratha and Oea the modern Tripoli, on the other hand the Greeks were interested in the north east of Libya which is today called Cyrenaica where their sailors founded in 631 BC Cyrene, then other four cities, Apollonia, Ptolemais, Teuchira and Bernice today is known as Benghazi.
Libya then was divided, between the Garamants (indigenous) in the south Libyan region of Fasania or Fezzan, the Phoenicians mixed with locals in its north western region of Tripolitania and the Greeks at its eastern region of Cyrenaica.
such division continued until the end of the first century BC when the Romans took the control of Cyrenaica in 74 BC and of Tripolitania in 47 BC and of Fezzan in 19B.C.
Libya was a Roman colony 2000 years ago and its land gave birth to a famous Roman Emperor Septimius Severus ! The Romanitas of Libya continues till 533 AD when it was subjugated by the Byzantines and its inhabitants became Christians just like Marks or San Marco, the first Christian in Libya and one of the apostles of Jesus Christ earlier in the 1st century AD!
In 643 AD Libya changed its faith and adopted the Islamic faith with the arrival of the Arab army who left no architectural traces of their passage! They were interested more to the Maghreb regions where they founded kairauan in south of Tunisia then went up further west till today`s Morocco and Andalucía in southern Spain.
the Arab / Muslim Empire was ruled by dynasties of Ommiad of Damascus and then the Abbasids of Baghdad, and Libya of course was part of this Empire until the tenth century AD when Libya was invaded by the Arab tribes of Banusalim and Banuhilal who changed the demography and the identity of Libya making it more Arab than Berber ..
Libya was a Roman colony 2000 years ago and its land gave birth to a famous Roman Emperor Septimius Severus ! The Romanitas of Libya continues till 533 AD when it was subjugated by the Byzantines and its inhabitants became Christians just like Marks or San Marco, the first Christian in Libya and one of the apostles of Jesus Christ earlier in the 1st century AD!
In 643 AD Libya changed its faith and adopted the Islamic faith with the arrival of the Arab army who left no architectural traces of their passage! They were interested more to the Maghreb regions where they founded kairauan in south of Tunisia then went up further west till today`s Morocco and Andalucía in southern Spain.
the Arab / Muslim Empire was ruled by dynasties of Ommiad of Damascus and then the Abbasids of Baghdad, and Libya of course was part of this Empire until the tenth century AD when Libya was invaded by the Arab tribes of Banusalim and Banuhilal who changed the demography and the identity of Libya making it more Arab than Berber ..
for the next four centuries Libya had to surrender to different conquerors like the Normans of Sicily, the Fatimid of Cairo, the Hafsids of Tunisia.
Once the Arabs and the Jews were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish of Ferdinand v conquered Tripoli in 1510 when their Red Castle or Assaray Alhambra, which is an imposing castle was built and still standing in Tripoli to defend them from the Mediterranean future power , the Ottomans.
in 1540 the Knights of Malta take control of Tripoli from the Spaniards who were interested in other destinations, but the Maltese remained till 1555 when the Ottomans led by Murad Agha occupied the city and Cyrenaica in 1575 was also added to their power.
The Ottoman Sultans were far from Libya, which was controlled by local Pasha `or civil governors who were appointed by the supreme door and these pasha were interested mainly to collect taxes from the Libyans that the majority of them had to adopt the Bedouin life to escape the control of these Turks .
In 1711 one of these pashas, Ahmed Pasha Karamanly who was of Libyan mother announced the separation of Libya from the Ottoman Empire and made Libya one of the foremost independent states! He rule was on all the provinces of Libya and was based on the caravan trade with the Black Africa and taxes from the European ship that crossed the Mediterranean Sea.
Ahmed Karamanly become famous , and Libya became under his control a strong power in the Mediterranean ,the United States of America in 1805 had to make its first war after the independence against Libya`s Karamanlies.
the dynasty of Karamanly ruled Libya until 1835 when the Turks conquered it again after hearing the threat of Europeans was so close to the Libyan doors especially after France conquered Algeria in 1830 .
In reality the danger was very close to Libya where in 1911 the Italians embarked to occupy the only state of North Africa that was not in the hands of the Europeans! As Italy did not have a colonial experience and was just unified by Garibaldi fifty years earlier while the Libyans were convinced that they would be converted to the Christian faith under the Italian dominance! therefore Italy in its Libyan colonial experiment had to wait for twenty years to settle down in Libya till the year 1931 when the Libyan resistance leader Omar Mokhtar was hanged at the age of 73 years old .
Among the Italians governors in Libya there was Italo palbo who had good reputation as he totally changed the colonial policy in the so called fourth Italian bank! Where He guaranteed the inclusion of Arabs in the life of the colony, he encouraged a new agricultural policy that attracted 30,000 Italians to settle in Libya, the excavation of the ancient ruins in Libya reached its peak during his rule, but he had to face a tragic end!
in 1540 the Knights of Malta take control of Tripoli from the Spaniards who were interested in other destinations, but the Maltese remained till 1555 when the Ottomans led by Murad Agha occupied the city and Cyrenaica in 1575 was also added to their power.
The Ottoman Sultans were far from Libya, which was controlled by local Pasha `or civil governors who were appointed by the supreme door and these pasha were interested mainly to collect taxes from the Libyans that the majority of them had to adopt the Bedouin life to escape the control of these Turks .
In 1711 one of these pashas, Ahmed Pasha Karamanly who was of Libyan mother announced the separation of Libya from the Ottoman Empire and made Libya one of the foremost independent states! He rule was on all the provinces of Libya and was based on the caravan trade with the Black Africa and taxes from the European ship that crossed the Mediterranean Sea.
Ahmed Karamanly become famous , and Libya became under his control a strong power in the Mediterranean ,the United States of America in 1805 had to make its first war after the independence against Libya`s Karamanlies.
the dynasty of Karamanly ruled Libya until 1835 when the Turks conquered it again after hearing the threat of Europeans was so close to the Libyan doors especially after France conquered Algeria in 1830 .
In reality the danger was very close to Libya where in 1911 the Italians embarked to occupy the only state of North Africa that was not in the hands of the Europeans! As Italy did not have a colonial experience and was just unified by Garibaldi fifty years earlier while the Libyans were convinced that they would be converted to the Christian faith under the Italian dominance! therefore Italy in its Libyan colonial experiment had to wait for twenty years to settle down in Libya till the year 1931 when the Libyan resistance leader Omar Mokhtar was hanged at the age of 73 years old .
Among the Italians governors in Libya there was Italo palbo who had good reputation as he totally changed the colonial policy in the so called fourth Italian bank! Where He guaranteed the inclusion of Arabs in the life of the colony, he encouraged a new agricultural policy that attracted 30,000 Italians to settle in Libya, the excavation of the ancient ruins in Libya reached its peak during his rule, but he had to face a tragic end!
Just After three weeks of the outbreak of the World War II, the first plane that was shot down by the Italian soldiers was the one of Italo Balbo!
Even the intervention of Rommel’s Afrika Korps was in vain ,Italy lost the war, and its fourth Bank, which got its independence in 1951 thanks to the vote of Haiti`s representative !
Even the intervention of Rommel’s Afrika Korps was in vain ,Italy lost the war, and its fourth Bank, which got its independence in 1951 thanks to the vote of Haiti`s representative !
That small and poor north African country came one of the richest thanks to the discovery of oil in 1959 , but that wealth of Libya becomes just in theory after the military coup of the twelve army officers led by Muammar Gheddafi , the 27 year old lieutenant!
Famous Libyans
1-Shishak / Sheshonq I. .. Prince of Libyan origin, of the tribe of Mashuash, the founder of the 22 dynasty in Egypt in 950 BC which was formed by Libyan majority.
2 - Eratosthenes was born in Cyrene, 276 BC was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer and poet .Was one of the most versatile intellectuals of his era. The third librarian of the Library of Alexandria and tutor of Ptolemy IV Philopator, today best remembered as the first who measured with great precision the circumference of Earth.
3-San Marco was born near Cyrene, and was a disciple of the Apostle Paul, and later of Peter, and is traditionally considered the author of the Gospel of Mark. He is revered as a saint by several Christian churches, including Catholic, Orthodox and the Coptic Church, which sees it as its patriarch.
4- Septimius Severus the Roman emperor who was born in the Leptis Magna in 146 AD, but became the emperor of Rome in 193AD,Ruled the Roman Empire for 18 years, then he was died at today`s York in England in 211.
5-Yousif pasha Karamanly.. The pasha of Tripoli from 1795 to 1832 and the governor who made the Libyan fleet, a powerful force in the Mediterranean, against which the United States of America made its first war after its independence, but their war ship Philadelphia was captured by Tripoli marine on the Libyan coast in 1805.....the U.S. Navy `s anthem mentions that event: From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.
6-Omar Mokhtar was born in 1861.. the hero of the Libyan resistance against the fascist forces of Rodolfo Graziani fought for twenty years until 1931, when he was hanged at the age of 72 years .
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