Key Dates in Libya's History
Here are the key dates in Libya's history over the past 100 years, after the announcement of the death of deposed strongman Moammar Gadhafi on Thursday:
- 1911-1912: Italy conquers Libya, which had been under domination of the Ottoman Empire since 1551.
- 1912-1932: Armed resistance to Italian rule under the leadership of the Sanussi dynasty.
- 1934: Italy merges Libya's three historic regions -- Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica -- into one colony. It becomes an Italian province in 1939.
- 1943: The World War II Allies drive Italy from Libya. In the post-war period, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica remain under British administration and the French control Fezzan.
- 1951: Libya becomes independent on December 24 with King Idriss al-Senussi head of state of a federal monarchy based on its three historic regions.
- 1958-1959: Oil discovered. Drilling starts in 1961.
- 1969: King Idriss deposed in a military coup led by Gadhafi.
- 1970-1971: Gadhafi introduces state socialism by nationalizing most economic activity, including banks and oil companies.
- 1973: Libyan forces occupy the Aozou Strip in northern Chad until 1994. During this time Libya intervenes several times in the conflict in its neighbor.
- 1977: Gadhafi declares a "people's revolution" and sets up revolutionary committees.
- 1986: The United States bombs Libyan military facilities, killing 44, in retaliation for alleged Libyan involvement in the bombing of a Berlin nightclub frequented by U.S. military personnel. Washington severs economic ties with Tripoli and calls on the world to treat Gadhafi as a pariah.
- 1992-1993: The United Nations imposes sanctions on Libya in a bid to force it to hand over two Libyans suspected of the bombing over the Scottish town of Lockerbie of a Pan Am airliner in December 1988, in which 270 were killed.
- 2003: The normalization of relations between Libya and the West, which began in 1999, is marked by the lifting of sanctions and the announcement by Tripoli that it is abandoning programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.
- 2005: Major energy companies, notably from the United States, resume their activities in Libya, which were broken off in 1986.
- June 2009: Gadhafi pays his first state visit to Italy after the signature of a treaty resolving colonial-era disputes between the two countries.
- February 15, 2011: The start of the bloody uprising against Gadhafi’s regime. On March 19, French, U.S. and British forces launch U.N.-mandated air attacks. NATO takes over the operation on March 31.
The rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC) gradually takes over on the international stage.
- August 23: Rebels overrun Gadhafi's headquarters in Tripoli after heavy fighting. They find no trace of the strongman or his sons.
- October 20: The new ruling authorities announce that Gadhafi has been killed in the final assault on the last pocket of resistance in his hometown Sirte, which has been "totally liberated."