Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi1 (Arabic: معمر القذافي مُعَمَرْ القِذَافِي Mu‘ammar al-Qaḏḏāfī) (born 7 June 1942) also known as Colonel Gaddafi has been the de facto leader of Libya since a 1969 coup. Although Gaddafi holds no public office or title, he is accorded the honorifics "Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" or "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution" in government statements and the official press. He is the fourth longest-serving head of state currently in office and longest-serving head of government.
Gaddafi was the youngest child born into a peasant family. His father is Mohammed Abdul Salam bin Hamed bin Mohammed Al-Gaddafi (Qadhafi), known as Abu Meniar (died 1985), his mother is Aisha Gaddafi. He grew up in the desert region of Sirte. He was given a traditional religious primary education and attended the Sebha preparatory school in Fezzan from 1956 to 1961. Gaddafi and a small group of friends that he met in this school went on to form the core leadership of a militant revolutionary group that would eventually seize control of the country. Gaddafi's inspiration was Gamal Abdel Nasser, president of neighboring Egypt, who rose to the presidency by appealing to Arab unity. In 1961, Gaddafi was expelled from Sebha for his political activism.
