ليبيا (Libiya)¹

How is the land laid out?

Most of the land consists of a large chunk of the Sahara² Desert, the world's largest expanse of dry waste. In the middle of the nation it reaches the Mediterranean Sea and divides habitable Libya in two. The two exceptions--other than oases--are the al-Jabal al-Akhdar highlands and nearby coast of northeast Libya, in the part of Libya classically known as Cyrenaica; and the Jabal Nafisah highlands and nearby coast of northwest Libya.

Two interesting features of the desert are: I. the Tibesti mountains--mostly in Chad³ but extending into southern Libya; and II. the Fezzan, an area of many oasis. Most of the desert is duller--a windy, dusty plateau of rock (hamada) and gravel (areg).

Who lives there?

This is within the part of north Africa in which speakers of Maghrebi⁴ Arabic⁵ and Sunni Moslems are the majority.

There are two cities of more than a million people: Ṭarābulus (Tripoli) and بنغازي (Banghazi or Benghazi or Bengazi).

There are five World Heritage Sites: Archaeological Site of Cyrene at شحات (Shahhat), Archaeological Site of Leptis Magna, Archaeological Site of Sabratha, Old Town of Ghadamès and Rock-Art Sites of Tadrart Acacus.

Within Libya

Murzua, Awbari, Sabha, al-Jufrah, Surt, Sawfajjin, Gadamis, Yafran, Garyan, an-Nugat al-Hums, az-Zawiyah, al-Aziziyah, Tripoli, Tar Hunah, Zlitan, Misratah

Benghazi, Tubruq, Darnah, al-Fatih, al-Jabal al-Ahdar, al-Khufrah, Ajdabiya

Other broad topics

Africa

Footnotes

1. Libya in English.
2. Translates from Arabic as wilderness.
3. Tchad in French.
4. Maghrebi means western in Arabic.
5. Some would consider this several languages, others would subsume it under Arabic.