Governorates of Libya
Encyclopedia
The governorates of Libya (muhafazah
) were a tenfold top-level administrative division of Libya from 1963 until 1983.
They came into being on 27 April 1963. In 1970, after the 1 September 1969 Free Officers Movement coup, there was an administrative reorganization which gave local authorities more power to implement policies of the national government, and redesignated some of the names and boundaries of the ten governorates. In February 1975, Libya issued a law that abolished the governorates and their service directorates, however they continued to operate until they were fully replaced in 1983 by the baladiyat system districts.
Historically, the three provinces of Libya
(Tripolitania
in the northwest, Cyrenaica
in the east, and Fezzan
in the southwest) were sometimes called governorates.
Muhafazah
A ' is a first-level administrative division of many Arab countries, and a second-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia. The term is usually translated to governorate in English, and occasionally to province. It comes from the Arabic root 'h-f-ẓ' which means to 'keep and guard'...
) were a tenfold top-level administrative division of Libya from 1963 until 1983.
They came into being on 27 April 1963. In 1970, after the 1 September 1969 Free Officers Movement coup, there was an administrative reorganization which gave local authorities more power to implement policies of the national government, and redesignated some of the names and boundaries of the ten governorates. In February 1975, Libya issued a law that abolished the governorates and their service directorates, however they continued to operate until they were fully replaced in 1983 by the baladiyat system districts.
Historically, the three provinces of Libya
Provinces of Libya
The Provinces of Libya existed during the last period of colonial Italian Libya through post-independence Libya. The country was divided into provinces from 1934 in the colonial era to 1963 when the Governorates system was instituted.-Italian colonial era:...
(Tripolitania
Tripolitania
Tripolitania or Tripolitana is a historic region and former province of Libya.Tripolitania was a separate Italian colony from 1927 to 1934...
in the northwest, Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...
in the east, and Fezzan
Fezzan
Fezzan is a south western region of modern Libya. It is largely desert but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise inhospitable Sahara.-Name:...
in the southwest) were sometimes called governorates.
Ten governorates
The original ten governorates were:- Bayda GovernorateBayda GovernorateBayda Governorate was one of the governorates of Libya from 1963 to 1969. Its capital was Bayda.Other important towns in the governorate were Marj, Al Qubah, Shahhat and Apollonia....
In 1971 Bayda was renamed Jabal al Akhdar. - Al Khums GovernorateAl Khums GovernorateAl Khums Governorate or Homs Governorate was one of the governorates of Libya from 1963 to 1983. Its capital was the town of Khoms.The governorate's population was 136,679 in 1964 and had risen to 184,079 by 1972....
- Awbari GovernorateAwbari GovernorateAwbari Governorate or Ubari Governorate was one of the governorates of Libya from 1963 to 1973. Its capital was the town of Ubari. It was created out of the southwestern part of Fezzan. In 1973 the Awbari Governorate was merged into an altered Sabha Governorate.The governorate's population was...
- Az Zawiyah GovernorateAz Zawiyah GovernorateAz Zawiyah Governorate was one of the governorates of Libya from 1963 to 1983. Its capital was Zawiya.The governorate's population was 190,708 in 1964 and had risen to 231,242 by 1972....
- Benghazi GovernorateBenghazi GovernorateBenghazi Governorate was one of the governorates of Libya from 1963 to 1983. Its capital was the town of Benghazi.*Bayda Governorate - east*Misrata Governorate - west*Sabha Governorate - west*Awbari Governorate - west...
- Darnah GovernorateDarnah GovernorateDarnah Governorate was one of the governorates of Libya from 1963 to 1983. Its capital was the town of Derna.The governorate's population was 84,112 in 1964 and had risen to 108,407 by 1972.*Bayda Governorate - west...
- Al Jabal al Gharbi GovernorateAl Jabal al Gharbi GovernorateAl Jabal al Gharbi Governorate was one of the governorates of Libya from 1963 to 1983.. Its capital was Gharyan. Other important towns in the governorate were Yafran, Nalut, Ghadames and Mizda....
In 1970 Al Jabal al Gharbi was renamed Gharyan. - Misrata GovernorateMisrata GovernorateMisrata Governorate or Misratah Governorate was one of the governorates of Libya from 1963 to 1983. Its capital was the town of Misrata.The governorate's population was 145,894 in 1964 and had risen to 156,980 by 1972....
- Sabha Governorate
- Tarabulus GovernorateTarabulus GovernorateTarabulus Governorate was one of the governorates of Libya from 1963 to 1983. It was also known as Tripoli Governorate because it contained the city of Tripoli, which was also its administrative capital...
.
Reorganisation under Gaddafi
As early as 1973, Libya had been divided into forty-six baladiyat for census purposes. In 1983 Libya replaced the governorates structure with the district (baladiyah) one, creating forty-six districts.External links
- Map of the ten governorates of Libya, Area Handbook for Libya, United States Library of Congress