GK
Shikhi

Lesson 3/55 min

Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco

Libya

  • Colonel Muammar Gaddafi took power on 1 September 1969
  • The Western military operation (Odyssey Dawn) began on 19 March 2011
  • Gaddafi was killed on 20 October 2011 at Sirte, after 42 years in power
  • His book was the “Green Book”; Green Square is in Tripoli
  • He was called the “Iron Man of Africa”

Watch out: One source gives 17 March 2011 for the start of the operation. The UN Security Council voted on 17 March; the air campaign began on 19 March. One source calls Aziziyah in Libya the world's hottest place, but in 2012 the World Meteorological Organization rejected that 58 °C reading; the record now stands at 56.7 °C in Death Valley.

Did you know?: Libya is still politically divided; in October 2026 the foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia were working on a UN-backed way out.

Tunisia and the Arab Spring

  • 17 December 2010: the vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight in protest at police abuse, starting the Arab Spring
  • Tunisia's ruler Ben Ali fell in 2011, the first Arab leader to go
  • Tunisia's revolution is called the Jasmine Revolution
  • The architect of modern Tunisia: Habib Bourguiba
  • Highest peak: Jebel ech Chambi (1,544 m, one source's figure)
  • The capital Tunis is also the largest city
  • First democratically elected president: Beji Caid Essebsi

Algeria

  • The largest country in Africa by area
  • Independence from France on 5 July 1962 after about eight years of bloody war
  • One source places the world's largest dune at Erg Tifernine (about 430 m high)
  • The Islamist party is the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS)
  • It is a Mediterranean country

Morocco

  • Its Arabic name means “Kingdom of the West”
  • Old capital Fez, famous for the fez cap
  • Al-Qarawiyyin University is in Fez and is called one of the oldest universities still running
  • Casablanca is a Moroccan city; the capital is Rabat

Ibn Battuta

  • A Sunni Muslim traveller and scholar from Morocco
  • His travel book is the Rihla
  • He came to Sonargaon in Bengal in 1346
  • An English translation of one source appeared in 1958

Check yourself

Where was Gaddafi killed?

At a glance

  1. 1

    Gaddafi took power on 1 September 1969 and was killed on 20 October 2011 (at Sirte).

  2. 2

    The Arab Spring began in Tunisia: Bouazizi set himself alight on 17 December 2010.

  3. 3

    The first Arab leader to fall was Tunisia's Ben Ali (2011).

  4. 4

    Algeria became independent from France on 5 July 1962.

  5. 5

    Morocco's Ibn Battuta came to Sonargaon in 1346.

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