Libya: landmarks, animals & facts for kids

Libya is a large country in North Africa with a long coastline on the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Algeria and Tunisia. Its capital is Tripoli. More than 90 percent of Libya is desert, part of the Sahara, so most people live along the coast. Libya is known for its spectacular Roman and Greek ruins, desert oases, prehistoric rock art and large oil reserves.

On My Earth Toy you can explore Leptis Magna, one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the Mediterranean, with its theatre, market and grand arches by the sea. Look for the Saharan horned viper, a desert snake with little horns over its eyes, and discover the Sahara, the largest hot desert on Earth.

Geography and nature

Libya's coast has a mild Mediterranean climate, but inland the land quickly turns into sand seas, rocky plateaus and mountains such as the Tibesti on the border with Chad, where Bikku Bitti reaches 2,267 metres. The country has no permanent rivers. Instead, a huge project called the Great Man-Made River pumps ancient groundwater from deep beneath the desert to coastal cities. In the far south, the Waw an Namus volcano has small lakes inside its crater.

People, languages and culture

Arabic is the official language, and Amazigh (Berber) languages such as Tamazight and Tamasheq are spoken in some regions. Almost all Libyans are Sunni Muslims. The old desert town of Ghadames, with its white mud-brick houses connected by shaded covered alleys, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the Acacus Mountains, rock paintings and carvings thousands of years old show giraffes, cattle and people from a time when the Sahara was green. Couscous and spicy soups are popular dishes.

History in a nutshell

Phoenicians founded trading towns on the west coast, and Greeks built the city of Cyrene in the east. The region became part of the Roman Empire, and Leptis Magna was the birthplace of Emperor Septimius Severus. Arab armies brought Islam in the 7th century, and later the Ottoman Empire ruled. Italy colonised Libya in 1911. On 24 December 1951, Libya became an independent kingdom. Muammar Gaddafi ruled from 1969 until 2011, and since then the country has gone through periods of conflict.