Libya Districts

Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa, and almost all of it is desert: its people live in a thin strip along the Mediterranean, and the map of its districts is a few small coastal slivers beneath a few enormous southern blocks. Its 22 districts (shabiyat) are the tier that the country's census, its electoral rolls and its news reports are organised around, and learning them is mostly a matter of learning the coast.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: The three historic regions: Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan
In the game: 22 districts

Start

What you are looking at

The 22 districts, named in their usual English spelling. The districts are the ones created in 2007; the country has been redrawn several times since, and this is the tier that international sources still use and that carries the ISO 3166-2 codes. Tripoli, the capital, is a small district on the northwest coast beside Jafara and Murqub, and Benghazi, the second city, is its eastern counterpart.

The groups are the three historic regions, and not an administrative level. Tripolitania is the northwest, Cyrenaica the east, and Fezzan the southwest interior. Where a district has been counted in more than one (Jufra and Sirte sit on the old border), the game puts it in Tripolitania.

How to place one

Start on the northwest coast. Nuqat al Khams, Zawiya, Jafara, Tripoli and Murqub follow the shore from the Tunisian border, with Misrata and Sirte along the Gulf of Sirte.
Cross to the green mountain. Jabal al Akhdar, Marj, Benghazi and Derna are the small districts of the Cyrenaican bulge, with Butnan against Egypt.
Go south in big blocks. Al Wahat and Kufra fill the east of the country, and Kufra is the largest district of all.
Finish in the southwest. Murzuq, Sabha, Ghat, Wadi al Shatii and Wadi al Hayaa make up Fezzan, with Nalut and Jabal al Gharbi above it.

Every district, by group

Tripolitania10 districts: Jabal al Gharbi, Jafara, Jufra, Misrata, Murqub, Nalut, Nuqat al Khams, Sirte, Tripoli, Zawiya
Cyrenaica7 districts: Al Wahat, Benghazi, Butnan, Derna, Jabal al Akhdar, Kufra, Marj
Fezzan5 districts: Ghat, Murzuq, Sabha, Wadi al Hayaa, Wadi al Shatii

Worked examples

Tripoli

The capital

Tripoli is one of the smallest districts, a coastal patch on the northwest coast between Jafara and Murqub, and it holds the capital and a large share of the population.

Kufra

The largest

Kufra fills the southeast corner against Egypt, Sudan and Chad, and covers about a sixth of the country on its own.

Nuqat al Khams

The western end

Nuqat al Khams is the thin coastal district at the Tunisian border, west of Zawiya.

Frequently asked questions

How many districts does Libya have?

22 on the map this game uses, the districts (shabiyat) of 2007. Libya has since reorganised its administration more than once, and its own authorities are not always agreed on a count, so lists you find elsewhere may differ.