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YearMaps
Industrial Era1969 CE – 2013 CEPeak: 1.6M km² (1974 CE)

Libyan Arab Republic: Map & History

Muammar Gaddafi became the de facto leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état.

4.5
1969 CEDrag timeline:1974 CE2013 CE
1969 CE
1980 CE
1990 CE
2000 CE
2013 CE
Peak Extent: 1.6M km²Vector Attribution: Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0)Wikidata: Q17435890 ↗
W

Wikipedia Encyclopedic Compendium

Historiographical synthesis & structured realm registry

Wikipedia: History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi
History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi historical cartography
Industrial Era sovereign realm (1969 CE – 2013 CE)

Muammar Gaddafi became the de facto leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. When Idris was in Turkey for medical treatment, the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) headed by Gaddafi abolished the monarchy and the constitution and established the Libyan Arab Republic, with the Ba'athist motto "Unity, Freedom, Socialism".

Peak Territory
1,614,070 km²
Content & infobox metadata adapted from Wikipedia (History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi)

Modern Countries Once Part of Libyan Arab Republic

At its mapped extent, Libyan Arab Republic covered territory in 1 present-day country. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.

States and Provinces

Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.

Libyan Arab Republic in Depth

2011 civil war and collapse of Gaddafi's government

A renewed serious threat to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya came in February 2011, with the 2011 Libyan revolution. Inspiration for the unrest is attributed to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, connecting it with the wider Arab Spring. In the east, the National Transitional Council was established in Benghazi. The novelist Idris Al-Mesmari was arrested hours after giving an interview with Al Jazeera about the police reaction to protests in Benghazi on 15 February.

Many Libyan officials had sided with the protesters and requested help from the international community to bring an end to the massacres of civilians. The government in Tripoli had lost control of half of Libya by the end of February, but as of mid-September Gaddafi remained in control of several parts of Fezzan.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia: History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Libyan Arab Republic: Key Facts

Preceded by

Succeeded by

  • State of Libya

Facts from Wikidata Q17435890 (CC0).

Libyan Arab Republic Timeline

Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion

1 Epochs
Territorial Apex1974 CE

Expansion to peak recorded area of 1,614,070 km² in 1974 CE.

Libyan Arab Republic: Frequently Asked Questions

When did the Libyan Arab Republic exist?

The Libyan Arab Republic is dated to 1969 CE – 2013 CE, in the Industrial era.

How large was the Libyan Arab Republic at its peak?

At its peak in 1974 the Libyan Arab Republic covered about 1,614,070 km².