Muammar Gaddafi became the de facto leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. When Idris was in Turkey for medi
Gaddafi at the African Union Summit, Addis Ababa, 2 February 2009
Gaddafi (left) with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1969
Alfateh Festivity in Bayda, Libya, on 1 September 2010
Muammar al Gaddafi at the AU summit
From 1969 to 2011, the politics of Libya were determined de facto by Muammar Gaddafi, who had been in power since his overthrow of the Kingdom of Libya in 1969.
Mutassim Gaddafi with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009.
Plaque denoting the "Peoples' Bureau" (Embassy) of "Socialist People's Libyan Arab Great Jamahiriya" in Prague.
Royaume de Tripoli 1707