Rebel leaders said Thursday longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi died after a shootout with rebel soldiers in his hometown of Sirte.

As the longest running leader in the Africa and the Arab world, Gaddafi’s reign has been filled with many exploits. Here is a brief list of his time as Libya’s leader.

Sept. 1969: Gadhafi ousts Libya’s King Idriss I, making Gadhafi a key leader at age 27.

1970: Gadhafi closes all British and U.S. military bases in Libya.

April 1971: Gadhafi announces plans to merge Libya with Egypt and Sudan, though nothing comes of the plan.

1973: Nationalization of foreign oil companies begins.

1976: Gadhafi publishes the Green Book, laying out a theory rejecting both capitalism and Marxism.

1977: Gadhafi renames Libya the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya – state of the masses.

1986: U.S. bombs Tripoli, the capital of Libya, in retaliation for a bomb attack killing a U.S. soldier in Germany.

1988: A Libyan agent bombs a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 passengers on board. The agent was later convicted and jailed in Scotland.

2003: Gadhafi agrees to pay $2.7 billion in compensation to the families of the 270 victims of the 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

2006: U.S. and Libya resume diplomatic ties.

2009: The jailed Libyan agent in Scotland returns to Libya.

Feb. 2011: Protests begin in Libya after revolutions spring up throughout the Arab world.

March 2011: NATO begins airstrikes and imposes no-fly zone on Gadhafi forces.

Aug. 2011: Rebels enter Tripoli. Gadhafi’s whereabouts are unknown.

Oct. 2011: The new rebel government says Gaddafi died from injuries when he was captured.