"The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, more commonly known as Libya, rests at the periphery of three worlds: Arab, African, and Mediterranean. Libya's strategic location, combined with its oil wealth and revolutionary leadership, have kept this isolated, sparsely populated country in the headlines for much of the last four decades." "The fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Libya provides a much-needed economics, cultural, historical, geographical, and political perspective of the old as well as the new Libya. More than a quarter of the information is either new or substantially revised and updated since the last edition. Through its maps, a list of acronyms, a chronology, an introductory essay, a comprehensive bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant events, places, personalities, and ideas, this reference examines everything from the Arab conquest of twelve centuries ago to the state of the country after the September Revolution on September 1, 1969, and the dominance of the Qaddafi regime."--BOOK JACKET.

The dictionary -- Appendixes -- Libya fact sheet -- Karamanli dynasty, 1711-1835 -- Turkish governors of Libya, 1835-1911 -- Libyan cabinets, 1952-1969 -- Revolutionary Command Council, January 1970 -- Libyan government, October 2005 -- Recoverable oil reserves, 1967-2004 -- Selected chronology of sanctions against Libya.