Libya gained independence in 1951 under the rule of King Idris I. In 1959, oil was discovered. The king had a pipeline built to export the lucrative commodity and opened Libya to foreign investment, including from American and British oil companies.
The Western nations were permitted to maintain air bases in the country. In 1969, the kind was toppled in a coup led by Colonel Mummar Qaddafi. Qaddafi, whole full would last forty-two years, consolidated state control over the oil industry, closed the foreign air bases, and nationalized Italian-owned property. He used the country's oil wealth to fund a pan-Arab movement, of which he envisaged himself as the leader.