Editing Libya (section)

=== Italian colonization and Allied occupation (1911–1951) ===
{{Main|Italian Tripolitania|Italian Cyrenaica|Italian Libya}}
{{see also|Italian colonization of Libya}}
[[File:Omar Mukhtar 13.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|left|[[Omar Mukhtar]] was a prominent leader of Libyan resistance in Cyrenaica against Italian colonization.]]

After the [[Italo-Turkish War]] (1911–1912), Italy simultaneously turned the three regions into colonies.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/1398437.stm |title=Timeline: Libya |work=BBC News |date=29 January 2013 |access-date=5 February 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023080030/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/1398437.stm |archive-date=23 October 2011  }}</ref> From 1912 to 1927, the territory of Libya was known as [[Italian North Africa]]. From 1927 to 1934, the territory was split into two colonies, [[Italian Cyrenaica]] and [[Italian Tripolitania]], run by Italian governors. Some 150,000 Italians settled in Libya, constituting roughly 20% of the total population.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-46562/Libya |title=Libya |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=5 February 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430102144/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/339574/Libya |archive-date=30 April 2013  }}</ref>

[[Omar Mukhtar]] rose to prominence as a [[Libyan resistance movement|resistance leader]] against Italian colonization and became a national hero despite his capture and execution on 16 September 1931.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1398437.stm Libya profile – Timeline] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120816010152/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13755445 |date=16 August 2012 }}, ''[[BBC News]]'' Africa, 1 November 2011</ref> His face is currently printed on the Libyan ten dinar note in memory and recognition of his patriotism. Another prominent resistance leader, Idris al-Mahdi as-Senussi (later [[Idris of Libya|King Idris I]]), Emir of Cyrenaica, continued to lead the Libyan resistance until the outbreak of the [[World War II|Second World War]].

The so-called "[[pacification of Libya]]" by the Italians resulted in mass deaths of the indigenous people in Cyrenaica, killing approximately one quarter of Cyrenaica's population of 225,000.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cGHGPgj1_tIC&pg=PA309|title=The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing|last=Mann|first=Michael|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521538541|page=309|access-date=1 July 2019|archive-date=16 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416132840/https://books.google.com/books?id=cGHGPgj1_tIC&pg=PA309|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Ilan Pappé]] estimates that between 1928 and 1932 the Italian military "killed half the Bedouin population (directly or through disease and starvation in [[Italian concentration camps in Libya]])."<ref>[[Ilan Pappé]], ''The Modern Middle East''. Routledge, 2005, {{ISBN|0-415-21409-2}}, p. 26.</ref>
[[File:Cartolina Giovanni Pastorelli.jpg|thumb|Italian propaganda postcard depicting the [[Italian invasion of Libya]] in 1911]]

In 1934, Italy combined [[Cyrenaica]], [[Tripolitania]] and [[Fezzan]] and adopted the name "Libya" (used by the Ancient Greeks for all of North Africa except Egypt) for the unified colony, with Tripoli as its capital.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nanjira |first1=Daniel Don |title=African Foreign Policy and Diplomacy from Antiquity to the 21st Century |date=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-37982-6 |page=207 |language=en}}</ref> The Italians emphasized infrastructure improvements and public works. In particular, they greatly expanded Libyan railway and road networks from 1934 to 1940, building hundreds of kilometres of new roads and railways and encouraging the establishment of new industries and dozens of new agricultural villages.

In June 1940, [[Military history of Italy during World War II|Italy entered World War II]]. Libya became the setting for the hard-fought [[North African Campaign]] that ultimately ended in defeat for Italy and its [[Afrika Korps|German ally]] in 1943.

From 1943 to 1951, Libya was under [[Allied occupation of Libya|Allied occupation]]. The British military [[British Military Administration (Libya)|administered]] the two former Italian Libyan provinces of Tripolitana and Cyrenaïca, while the French [[French Fezzan|administered]] the province of Fezzan. In 1944, Idris returned from exile in [[Cairo]] but declined to resume permanent residence in Cyrenaica until the removal of some aspects of foreign control in 1947. Under the terms of the [[Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947|1947 peace treaty]] with the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], Italy relinquished all claims to Libya.<ref>{{cite web|author=Tecola W. Hagos |url=http://www.tecolahagos.com/part4.htm |title=Treaty Of Peace With Italy (1947), Evaluation And Conclusion |publisher=Ethiopia Tecola Hagos |date=20 November 2004 |access-date=5 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207051037/http://www.tecolahagos.com/part4.htm |archive-date= 7 December 2012 }}</ref>