Tripolitania

For more information on Tripolitania, visit Britannica.com.

A region in Libya.

The three historic North African regions of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and the Fezzan combine to make up the modern state of Libya, which is officially known as the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Tripolitania is the most populous of the three regions, with almost 80 percent of the country's five million people. It is located in the northwestern part of the country and covers an area of approximately 140,000 square miles (365,000 sq. km). Bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, its boundaries stretch east to the Gulf of Sidra and Cyrenaica, west to Tunisia, and south into the Saharan Desert, where it adjoins the Fezzan.

In classical times, three ancient cities, Leptis Magna, Oea, and Sabratah, flourished on the northern coast of Tripolitania. Founded by Phoenician colonists, each was situated at the end of a long caravan route winding south into the heart of subSaharan Africa. All three cities enjoyed naturally safe harbors; lying at the end of ancient routes to the south, what began as primitive trading posts soon turned into flourishing caravan centers.

During the Roman period, Leptis Magna developed into one of the finest examples of an African city. A key factor in its development was its location on the Mediterranean Sea, sheltered by a promontory at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda, and near the relatively well watered hinterland of Tripolitania. Leptis, over time, became much more important as a commercial center than either Oea or Sabratah. Leptis Magna is the most impressive archaeological site in Tripolitania, and in Libya as well. The Severan Arch, erected in honor of a visit from Emperor Septimius Severus in 203 C.E., and the Hadrianic Baths complex are particularly noteworthy.

Tripolitania shares a common history and close ties with the Maghrib, the western Islamic world traditionally comprising Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. It is a part, both geographically and culturally, of the Maghrib and is sometimes included in descriptions of that region. Libyan migration from Tripolitania to Tunisia, in particular, has been commonplace for centuries. Cross-border migration was especially heavy during the Italian occupation, which began in 1911, as many Tripolitanians fled Libya to escape the Italian invaders. In consequence, many Tunisians are of Libyan descent, and related families are often found on opposite sides of the Libya-Tunisia border.

At the outset of the twentieth century, the Italian occupation of Libya stimulated political consciousness throughout Tripolitania. Consequently, it was from this region that the strongest impulses supporting unification with Cyrenaica and the Fezzan developed. The ill-fated Tripoli Republic, proclaimed in the fall of 1918, was the first republican government formally created in the Arab world. However, the creation of the Tripoli Republic, together with a declaration of independence and subsequent attempts to promote Libyan independence at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, stirred little enthusiasm among the major powers of the world. By 1923 the Tripoli Republic had disintegrated.

Following World War II, a wide variety of political groups and parties were formed in Libya, and especially in Tripolitania. All of them favored a free and united Libya with membership in the Arab League. However, they differed widely in their choice of leadership for an independent Libya. When the foreign powers charged with determining Libya's future were unable to reach agreement, the traditional elites in Tripolitania, together with their peers in Cyrenaica and the Fezzan, agreed in 1950 to form a federal government, known as the United Kingdom of Libya, under the leadership of King Idris I. The monarchy was later replaced by a revolutionary government headed by Muammar al-Qaddafi in September 1969.

Located on the site of the ancient city of Oea, Tripoli is the capital of Tripolitania as well as the de facto capital of Libya. The area surrounding Tripoli as far south as the Jabal Nafusa is rich agricultural land with large groves of fruit and olive trees as well as date palms. Much of Libya's food comes from this region. South of the Jabal Nafusa, the desert begins, providing spectacular scenery most of the way to the Fezzan. Tripolitania also includes limited oil reserves and scattered iron ore deposits.

Bibliography

Nelson, Harold D., ed. Libya: A Country Study, 3d edition. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979.

St John, Ronald Bruce. Historical Dictionary of Libya, 3d edition. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998.

Wright, John. Libya: A Modern History. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.

— RONALD BRUCE ST JOHN

Tripolitania

Tripolitania

History of Libya
This article is part of a series
Ancient Libya
Islamic Tripolitania and Cyrenaica
Ottoman Libya
Italian Colony
Kingdom of Libya
Modern Libya
Libya Portal  v • d • e

This 1-lire airmail stamp, depicting an Arab horseman pointing to an airplane passing overhead, was used in 1931.

Tripolitania or Tripolitana (Arabic: طرابلس, transliterated: Ṭarābulus) is a historic region and former province (muhafazah or wilayah) of Libya, situated alongside Cyrenaica and Fezzan. The system of administrative divisions that included Tripolitania was abolished in the early 1970s in favour of a system of smaller-size municipalities or baladiyat (singular baladiyah). The baladiyat system was subsequently changed many times and has lately become the "Sha'biyat" system. The region that was Tripolitania is now composed of several smaller baladiyat or sha'biyat – see administrative divisions in Libya.

In the old system, Tripolitania included Tripoli, the capital city of Libya and a vast north-western portion of the country; in the subsequent systems, the sha'biyah of Tripoli has become much smaller than the original Tripolitania, including merely the city of Tripoli and its immediate surroundings. Because the city and the sha'biyah are nowadays almost coextensive, the term "Tripolitania" has more historical than contemporary value. In Arabic the same word ( طرابلس ) is used for both the city and the region, and that word, used alone, would be understood to mean only the city; in order to designate Tripolitania in Arabic, a qualifier such as "state", "province" or "sha'biyah" is required.

Contents 1 Historical background 2 Colonial and postcolonial heads of Tripolitania 3 See also 4 External links 5 Notes

Historical background

The region was originally inhabited by Berbers; in the 7th century BC Phoenicians settled in colonies along the coast, which later came under the control of Carthage. Numidia captured it in 146 BC, then the Romans came a century later, under whom Tripolitania became a prosperous area. The Vandals took over in 435, and were in turn supplanted by the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century. The Arabs swept through in the 7th century. The Ottoman Turks took charge in 1553, and kept it as the "vilayet of Tripoli" until 1911, when it was captured by Italy in the Italo-Turkish War.

Italy officially granted autonomy after the war, but gradually occupied the region. Originally administered as part of a single colony, Tripolitania was a separate colony from 26 June 1927 to 3 December 1934, when it was merged into Libya.

During World War II Libya was occupied by the Allies and until 1947 Tripolitania (and the region of Cyrenaica) were administered by the United Kingdom. Italy formally renounced its claim upon the territory in the same year.

Colonial and postcolonial heads of Tripolitania

Tripolitania existed as a political entity (a state or welaiya) at least since early Ottoman times (if not before in Islamic or Roman times), the list below starts from 1911 (onset of the Italian colonization era). See the timeline under external links, below, for a more comprehensive.

Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office.

Term	Incumbent	Notes
1911	Independent government	In rebellion against Ottoman sovereignty
3 October 1911	Italian occupation
1911 – March 1913	Sulayman ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Baruni, Ruler of Tripolitania
16 November 1918	Tripolitanian Republic
16 November 1918 – November 1920	Ahmad Tahir al-Murayyid, Chairman of the Council of the Republic
18 May 1919	nominally under Italian Suzerainty
November 1920 – 1923	Ahmad Tahir al-Murayyid, Chairman of the Central Reform Board
12 November 1922	Annexed by Italy
October 1911	Raffaele Borea Ricci d'Olmo, Governor
11 October 1911 – 1912	Carlo Francesco Giovanni Battista Caneva, Governor
1912–1913	Ottavio Ragni, Governor
2 June 1913 – 1914	Vincenzo Garioni, Governor
1914–1915	Luigi Druetti, Governor
1915–1915	Iulio Cesare Tassoni, Governor
1915–1918	Giovanni Battista Ameglio, Governor
6 July 1920 – July 1921	Luigi Mercatelli, Governor
July 1921 – July 1925	Giuseppe Volpi, conte di Misurata, Governor
July 1925 – 24 January 1929	Emilio De Bono, Governor
24 January 1929 – 31 December 1933	Pietro Badoglio, Governor
1 January 1934	Incorporated into Libya
23 October 1942	British Administration
December 1942 – 26 January 1943	Maurice Stanley Lush, Governor
1943–1946	Travers Robert Blackley, Administrator
1946	UN Administration
1946 – April 1949	Travers Robert Blackley, Administrator
April 1949 – 24 December 1951	Travers Robert Blackley, Resident
24 December 1951	Incorporated into Libya

See also

• Postage stamps of Tripolitania
• Karamanli dynasty
• In addition to Tripoli the following are among the largest and most important cities of Tripolitania: Misratah, Az Zawiyah, Gharyan, Al Khums, Tarhuna and Sirt.
• Libyan resistance movement

External links

• Tripolitania timeline
• Map of Tripolitania showing its important cities and towns.
• Worldstatesmen.org's History and list of rulers of Tripolitania.
• Hostkingdom.net's History and list of rulers of Tripolitania.
• Brief history of Tripolitania

Notes

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)