Muammar Gaddafi (Arabic: معمر القذافي, transliteration: Muʿammar al-Qaddāfī; 1942–2011) was a Libyan revolutionary, politician, and political theorist who served as the de facto leader of Libya from 1969 to 2011. He ruled as the Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the "Brother Leader" of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011, when he was ousted and killed in the Libyan Civil War. Gaddafi was the chairman of the African Union from 2009 to 2010. He was also known for his distinctive personal rule, his revolutionary ideology, and his prominent role in African and Middle Eastern politics. In Hebrew, his name is transliterated as מועמר קדאפי.