ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. This book provides the work of the Libyan University/London University project. It presents the economic, physical, and historical background which has shaped the Libyan countryside, and thus created the context against which the present position must be interpreted. The book analyses the results of the surveys of land use in Libya and of certain economic conditions closely associated with land use, which were conducted in the two years 1967 and 1968 under the auspices of the two Universities. Education had been almost completely neglected and what economic development had been encouraged had been largely for the benefit of the foreign colonizers. The discovery of oil and its rapid development and exploitation have had a profound impact on Libyan society in general and on the economy of the country in particular.
