During an
Ottoman siege in 1522, the
Knights Hospitaller were expelled from
Rhodes, which had been
their base since the early 14th century. They subsequently entered negotiations with Spanish Emperor
Charles V who offered them Tripoli and the islands of
Malta and
Gozo as their new base. Tripoli had been
under Spanish rule since
its capture in 1510. A delegation sent by the Hospitallers produced a report which stated that these locations were unfavourable, and they were reluctant to accept both Tripoli and the Maltese Islands because of the distance between them and the considerable expenses that would be necessary to maintain them. The Hospitallers eventually accepted Tripoli, Malta and Gozo as a fief on 23 March 1530, and they took control of the city on 25 July. The Order established its headquarters at
Birgu on Malta, while a
Governor was appointed to administer Tripoli. The first Hospitaller Governor was
Gaspare de Sanguessa, and although he attempted to establish friendly relations with nearby tribes, resistance to Christian rule continued from the nearby settlement of
Tajura which was under
Ottoman influence. The Florentine military engineer Piccino was sent to Tripoli to design modifications to the city's fortifications in the early 1530s. The Hospitallers made several attempts to recapture Tripoli, starting with a raid on Tripolitania in 1552. Dragut became the
beylerbey of Tripoli in 1556, and he modified the city's fortifications such that it became one of the best-defended cities in Africa. De Valette, who became the Order's Grand Master in 1557, still hoped to retake the city and in 1559 an invasion force was assembled for this purpose but it was defeated in the
Battle of Djerba in 1560. Tripoli remained under direct or indirect Ottoman rule until it was
captured by Italy during the
Italo-Turkish War in 1911. == Government ==