利比亚(Libya)
正式名称阿拉伯利比亚人民社会主义民众国（Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya）
北非国家。面积1,757,000平方公里。人口约5,241,000（2001）。首都︰的黎波里。柏柏尔人曾一度是主要的族群，现在大部分人已被阿拉伯文化所同化；其他族群有义大利人、希腊人、犹太人和非洲黑人。语言：阿拉伯语（官方语）和含米特语（柏柏尔人）。宗教︰伊斯兰教（国教），基督教徒占很小比例。货币︰利比亚第纳尔（LD）。除两个很小地区之外，全境均为撒哈拉沙漠：西北角为的黎波里塔尼亚，东北部是昔兰尼加。的黎波里塔尼亚是全国最重要的农业区，也是人口最稠密的地区。经济以石油生产和出口为基础，其他资源有天然气、锰和石膏。畜牧业在北部占重要地位，有绵羊和山羊。政府形式为社会主义国家，有一决策机构；国家元首为格达费（实际上），政府首脑是总理。
早期历史参阅Cyrenaica、Fezzan和Tripolitania。16世纪鄂图曼土耳其人将费赞、昔兰尼加和的黎波里塔尼亚置於的黎波里摄政的统治之下。1911年义大利宣称取得控制权，到第二次世界大战爆发时，约有15万义大利人移居到利比亚，战争期间是激战的战场。1951年利比亚宣告独立，1953年成为阿拉伯国家联盟的成员国。1959年境内发现石油，利比亚由此致富。十年後，以格达费为首的一群军官废黜了国王，将该国变为伊斯兰共和国。在格达费的统治下，支持巴勒斯坦解放组织（PLO）和恐怖集团，遭到许多国家的抗议，尤其是美国。与查德断断续续的战役（1970～1980年代）到1987年查德击败利比亚才结束。1988年美国一架飞机在苏格兰洛克爆炸，美国指控为利比亚民族主义者所为，对利比亚实行贸易禁运，1992年获得联合国支持。
English version：
Libya
Country, North Africa. Area: 678,400 sq mi (1,757,000 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 5,648,000. Capital: Tripoli. Berbers, once the major ethnic group, have been assimilated into the Arab culture. Italians, Greeks, Jews, and black Africans are among the other ethnic groups. Languages: Arabic (official), Hamitic (Berbers). Religions: Islam (official), small percentage Christianity. Currency: dinar. All but two tiny fractions of Libya are covered by the Sahara desert: Tripolitania, in the northwestern corner, and Cyrenaica in the northeast. Tripolitania is Libya's most important agricultural region and its most populated area. The production and export of petroleum are the basis of Libya's economy; other resources include natural gas, manganese, and gypsum. The rearing of livestock, including sheep and goats, is important in the north. It is a socialist state with one policy-making body; the chief of state is Muammar al-Qaddafi (de facto), and the head of government is the prime minister. For early history, see Cyrenaica, Fezzan, Tripolitania. In the 16th century the Ottoman Turks combined Fezzan, Cyrenaica, and Tripolitania under one regency in Tripoli. In 1911 Italy claimed control of Libya, and by the outbreak of World War II 150,000 Italians had immigrated there. The scene of much fighting in the war, it became an independent state in 1951 and a member of the Arab League in 1953. The discovery of oil in 1959 brought wealth to Libya. A decade later a group of army officers led by Qaddafi deposed the king and made the country an Islamic republic. Under Qaddafi's rule it supported the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and terrorist groups, bringing protests from many countries, particularly the U.S. Intermittent warfare with Chad (1970s-1980s) ended with Chad's defeat of Libya in 1987. International relations in the 1990s were dominated by the consequences of the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland; the U.S. accused Libyan nationalists of the deed and imposed a trade embargo on Libya, endorsed by the U.N. in 1992.