The Latin name
Libya (from Greek ,
Libye) referred to the region west of the
Nile Valley, generally corresponding to modern
Northwest Africa. Its people were ancestors of the modern
Berber people. Berbers occupied the area for thousands of years before the beginning of human records in Ancient Egypt. Climate changes affected the locations of the settlements. More narrowly,
Libya could also refer to the country immediately west of Egypt, viz.
Marmarica (
Libya Inferior) and
Cyrenaica (
Libya Superior). The
Libyan Sea or
Mare Libycum was the part of the
Mediterranean south of
Crete, between
Cyrene and
Alexandria.