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 Historical definitions of Tripolitania | |
| Capital | Tripoli |
Tripolitania/trɪpɒlɪˈteɪniə/ (Arabic:طرابلس), historically known as theTripoli region, is a historic region and formerprovince of Libya.
The region had been settled since antiquity, first coming to prominence as part ofthe Carthaginian empire. Following the defeat of Carthage in thePunic Wars,Ancient Rome organized the region (along with what is now modern dayTunisia and easternAlgeria), into aprovince known asAfrica, and placed it under the administration of aproconsul. During theDiocletian reforms of the late 3rd century, all of North Africa was placed into the newly createdDiocese of Africa, of which Tripolitania was a constituent province.
After thefall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, Tripolitania changed hands between theVandals and theByzantine Empire, until it was taken during theMuslim conquest of the Maghreb in the 8th century. It was part of the region known to the Islamic world asIfriqiya, whose boundaries roughly mirrored those of the old Roman province ofAfrica Proconsularis. Though nominally under the suzerainty of theAbbasid Caliphate, local dynasties such as theAghlabids and later theFatimid Caliphate were practically independent. The nativeBerbers, who had inhabited the area locally for centuries before the arrival of theArabs, established their own nativeHafsid dynasty over Ifriqiya in the 13th century, and would control the region until it was conquered by theOttoman Empire in the 15th century, who establishedOttoman Tripolitania as a distinct province. Tripolitania becamean Italian colony in 1911.
After the 1934 formation of Libya, theTripolitania province was designated as one of the three primaryprovinces of the country, alongsideCyrenaica province to the east andFezzan province to the south.
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Historically, the name Tripoli designated a region rather than a city, just as today in Arabic the same word Tarablus (طرابلس) is used for both the city and the region. The Arabic 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.
The region of Tripoli or Tripolitania derives from theGreek nameΤρίπολις (Tripolis) "three cities", referring toOea,Sabratha andLeptis Magna. Oea was the only one of the three cities to survive antiquity, and became known asTripoli. Today Tripoli is the capital city of Libya and the northwestern portion of the country.
In addition toTripoli, the following are among the largest and most important cities of Tripolitania:Misrata,Zawiya (near ancient Sabratha),Gharyan,Khoms (near ancient Leptis Magna),Tarhuna andSirte.
The city ofOea, on the site of modernTripoli, was founded by thePhoenicians in the 7th century BC. It was conquered for a short time by the Greek colonists ofCyrenaica, who were in turn displaced by thePunics ofCarthage. TheRoman Republic captured Tripolitania in 146 BC, and the area prospered during theRoman Empire period. The Latin nameRegio Tripolitania dates to the 3rd century. TheVandals took over in 435, and were in turn supplanted by the counter offensive of theByzantine Empire in the 530s, under the leadership ofemperorJustinian the Great and his generalBelisarius.
In the 7th century, Tripolitania wasconquered by the Rashidun Caliphate, and its successors, theUmayyad andAbbasid Caliphates, inherited it.
TheFatimid Caliphate, founded byIsma'ili Muslims in 909 inRaqqada, Tunisia, ruled the area from Tunisia to Syria. In the 1140s, theItalo-Normans invaded Tripoli and created the briefKingdom of Africa, which theAlmohad Caliphate destroyed in 1156.Abu Zakariya Yahya, avassal of the Almohads, established an independent state in Tunisia in 1229 and took control of Tripolitania shortly after. He founded theHafsid dynasty, which controlled the region until the 16th century. During that century, wars between the Ottomans and the states ruled by theHouse of Habsburg repeatedly led to the region changing alliances, although the Hafsids continued to rule. Hafsid rule ended when theOttoman Empire broughtAbu Abdallah Muhammad VI ibn al-Hasan to Constantinople in 1574 and executed him.
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Ottoman Tripolitania (Ottoman Turkish:ایالت طرابلس غرب) extended beyond the region of Tripolitania proper, also including Cyrenaica. Tripolitania became effectively independent under the rulers of theKaramanli dynasty in 1711 until Ottoman control was re-imposed byMahmud II in 1835. Ottoman rule persisted until the region was captured byItaly in the 1911–1912Italo-Turkish War. Italy officially granted autonomy after the war but gradually occupied the region.
AfterWorld War I, anArab republic,Al-Jumhuriya al-Trabulsiya, or "Tripolitanian Republic", declared the independence of Tripolitania fromItalian Libya. Its proclamation in autumn 1918 was followed by a formal declaration of independence at the 1919Paris Peace Conference, which drafted theTreaty of Versailles. It was the first formally declaredrepublican form of government in theArab world, but it gained little support from international powers and had disintegrated by 1923. Italy, under the fascist dictatorBenito Mussolini, had managed to re-establish full control over Libya by 1930.
Originally administered as part of a single colony, Italian Tripolitania was a separate colony from 26 June 1927 to 3 December 1934, when it was merged into Libya. The Italian fascists constructed theMarble Arch as a form of an imperial triumphal arch at the border between Tripolitani and Cyrenaica near the coast.
Tripolitania experienced a huge development in the late 1930s, when the ItalianFourth Shore was created with theProvince of Tripoli, with Tripoli as a modern "westernized" city. The Tripoli Province ("Provincia di Tripoli" in Italian) was established in 1937, with the official name beingCommissariato Generale Provinciale di Tripoli. It was considered a province of theKingdom of Italy and lasted until 1943.
DuringWorld War II, several back-and-forth campaigns with mobile armour vehicles ebbed and flowed across the North African coastal deserts between first Fascist Italians and the British, with the Italians joined by theNazi Germans in 1941. Libya was finally occupied by the westernAllies, with the British moving west fromEgypt after their victory atEl Alamein in October 1942 against German Field MarshallErwin Rommel and hisAfrika Korps and the Americans and British from the west after landings inOperation Torch inMorocco andAlgeria in November 1942. From 1942 and past the end of the war in 1945 to 1951, when Libya gained independence, Tripolitania and the region ofCyrenaica were administered by theBritish Military Administration. Italy formally renounced its claim upon the territory in 1947.
Tripolitania retained its status as aprovince in theKingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1963, when it was replaced by a new system ofgovernorates, which divided Tripolitania into the governorates ofKhoms,Zawiya,Jabal al Gharbi,Misrata, andTarabulus.
The Modern Latin missionary jurisdiction was called theApostolic Vicariate of Tripolitana but was later renamed after itsepiscopal see, Benghazi.
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