LIBYA'S HISTORY OF CONQUEST AND RULE BY FOREIGN PEOPLES

Libya is a former Italian colony on the north coast of Africa.

Libya's history is one of conquest and occupation by foreign peoples. In the fifth century A.D. Libya was over-run by the Vandals, who in turn were driven out by troops of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. Leaving a lasting mark on the character and customs of the nation in 643, the Arab invaders swept in from the east.

A second Muslim wave came in the eleventh century. Then after brief seizures by the Norman dukes of Sicily, the Spaniards and the knights of Malta, Tripoli fell to Turkish corsairs in 1551.

During the World War 2, the Libyan desert was a battleground until the Germans and Italians were driven out in 1943 and the British took over the government. At the same time, French forces drove north from Lake Chad and conquered southern Libya. Italy surrended all claims to Libya and in 1949, the United Nations voted to grant Libya, its independence. Sayyid Muhammad Idris became the first king of a United Libyans.

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