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Al Jamahiriyah al Arabiyah al Libiyah ash Shabiyah al Ishtirakiyah

Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya


Libya is a North African country at the Mediterranean Sea. The capital is Tripoli (Tarabulus). Despite its enormous size of 1.8 Million km², it has only 5 Million inhabitants. Most of the country is arid, just a small coastal region along the Mediterranean Sea gets some winter rain.

Some ten thousand years ago, during the Ice Ages, this area was very fertile. It was inhabited by early man and small caves in the sandstone rocks were used as shelter and for cave paintings. Most important are the caves at Gilf Kebir and Al'Uweinat to the south east, along the borders to Egypt and Sudan. But the most important and well-known cave of this area, the CaveCave of Swimmers is right on the other side of the border in Egypt. The painted caves were first described by László Almásy:, who wrote a book about his discoveries.