Muammar Abu Meniar el-Gaddafi was born in the North African desert, south of Sirte, Libya, in 1942 (the exact date is unknown; some sources day June 1, while others say sometime in September). The son of a poor Bedouin nomad, Gaddafi lived in his family’s remote desert camp until he went away to school at age 9.
While a student at a secondary school at Sebha, Gaddafi was inspired by the speeches of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and became a committed Arab nationalist.
His rule saw him go from revolutionary hero to international pariah, to valued strategic partner and back to pariah again.Gaddafi developed his own political philosophy, writing a book so influential – in the eyes of its author, at least – that it eclipsed anything dreamt up by Plato, Locke or Marx.
He made countless show-stopping appearances at Arab and international gatherings, standing out not just with his outlandish clothing, but also his blunt speeches and unconventional behaviour.
He spent his life reinventing himself and his revolution: one Arab commentator called him the “Picasso of Middle East politics”, although instead of Blue, Rose or Cubist periods, he had his pan-Arab period, his Islamist period, his pan-African period, and so on.
Previously The Los Angeles Times reported over the weekend that deceased Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi had “secretly salted away more than $200 billion in bank accounts, real estate and corporate investments around the world before he was killed.” The story was repeated around the world, with various news sites reporting that Gadhafi died richer than the three richest people on the planet – Carlos Slim, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett – combined.
If not the richest person in history, Gaddafi would have been the richest person living.
The largest oil deposits in Africa were completely under the authority of Muammar Gaddafi, the “King of Kings.”Very little money was committed by Gaddafi to the country’s infrastructure. Welfare, agriculture, hospitals, and schools receive very little funding in Libya. When Gaddafi did spend money, it was mostly to buy off African politicians to support him.
It was held by official institutions such as the Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan Investment Authority, so he could take money out whenever he pleased.
That is an incredible amount of money and would have made Gadhafi not only richer than today’s richest – it also would have made him one of the wealthiest individuals in the history of the world, and significantly wealthier than every great American that has ever lived, save the legendary industrialists Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.
After 42 years at the helm of his sparsely populated, oil-rich nation, Muammar Gaddafi – the Arab world’s longest-ruling leader – lost his grip on power after a six-month uprising.
Since he lead a successful military coup in 1969, Gaddafi styled himself as Libya’s “brother leader” and the “guide of the revolution,” as an almost paternal figure looking after Libya’s six million inhabitants. Source