Oea and Tripolitania The city was founded in the 7th century BC by the
Phoenicians, who gave it the
Libyco-Berber name Oyat (
Punic: 𐤅𐤉𐤏𐤕,
wyʿt), The Phoenicians were probably attracted to the site by its natural harbor, flanked on the western shore by the small, easily defensible
peninsula, on which they established their colony. The city then passed into the hands of the Greek rulers of
Cyrenaica as
Oea (
Greek: Ὀία,
Oía). Cyrene was a colony on the North African shore, a bit east of Tambroli and halfway to
Egypt. The
Carthaginians later wrested it again from the
Greeks. By the later half of the 2nd century BC, it belonged to the
Romans, who included it in their province of
Africa, and gave it the name of "Regio Syrtica". Around the beginning of the 3rd century
AD, it became known as the
Regio Tripolitana, meaning "region of the three cities", namely Oea (
i.e., modern Tripoli),
Sabratha and
Leptis Magna. It was probably raised to the rank of a separate province by
Septimius Severus, who was a native of
Leptis Magna. In spite of centuries of Roman habitation, the only visible Roman remains, apart from scattered
columns and
capitals (usually integrated in later buildings), is the Arch of
Marcus Aurelius from the 2nd century AD. The fact that Tripoli has been continuously inhabited, unlike
e.g., Sabratha and Leptis Magna, has meant that the inhabitants have either quarried material from older buildings (destroying them in the process) or built on top of them, burying them beneath the streets, where they remain largely unexcavated. There is evidence to suggest that the Tripolitania region was in some economic decline during the 5th and 6th centuries, in part due to the political unrest spreading across the Mediterranean world in the wake of the collapse of the
Western Roman Empire, as well as pressure from the invading
Vandals. It is recorded by
Ibn Abd al-Hakam that during the siege of Tripoli by a general of the
Rashidun Caliphate named
Amr ibn al-As, seven of his soldiers from the clan of Madhlij, sub branch of
Kinana, unintentionally found a section on the western side of Tripoli beach that was not walled during their hunting routine. According to
al-Baladhuri, Tripoli was, unlike Western North Africa, taken by the Muslims very early after
Alexandria, in the 22nd year of the
Hijra, that is between 30 November 642 and 18 November 643 AD. Following the conquest, Tripoli was ruled by dynasties based in
Cairo,
Egypt (first the
Fatimids,
Banu Khazrun, and later the
Mamluks), and
Kairouan in
Ifriqiya (the Arab
Fihrid,
Muhallabid, and
Aghlabid dynasties). For some time it was a part of the
Berber Almohad Caliphate,
Hafsid Kingdom, and
Banu Thabit dynasty.
16th to 19th centuries In 1510, the city was conquered by
Pedro Navarro, Count of Oliveto for Spain. In 1530, it was assigned together with Malta to the
Knights of St. John, who had been expelled by the
Ottoman Turks from their stronghold on the island of
Rhodes. Finding themselves in hostile territory, the Knights reinforced the city walls and built defenses. Though built on top of older buildings (possibly including a Roman public bath), much of the earliest defensive structures of the Tripoli castle (or "Assaraya al-Hamra",
i.e., the "
Red Castle") are attributed to the Knights of St John. Having previously combated
piracy from their base on
Rhodes, the Knights were given charge of the city to prevent it from being retaken by
Barbary pirates. The disruption the pirates caused to the Christian shipping lanes in the
Mediterranean had been one of the main incentives for the Spanish conquest of the city. The knights held the city until the
Siege of Tripoli in 1551 and their surrender to the
Ottomans, led by the Muslim Turkish commander
Turgut Reis. Turgut Reis served as pasha of Tripoli. During his rule, he adorned and built up the city, making it one of the most impressive cities along the North African Coast. Turgut was buried in Tripoli after his death in 1565. His body was taken from
Malta, where he had fallen during
the Ottoman siege of the island, to a tomb in the
Sidi Darghut Mosque which he had established close to his palace in Tripoli. The palace has since disappeared (supposedly it was situated between the so-called "Ottoman prison" and the
Arch of Marcus Aurelius), but the mosque, along with his tomb, still stands, close to the Bab Al-Bahr gate. After the capture by the Ottoman Turks, Tripoli once again became a base of operation for Barbary pirates. One of several Western attempts to dislodge them again was a Royal Navy attack under
John Narborough in 1675, of which a vivid eye-witness account has survived. , ca.1650 Effective Ottoman rule during this period (1551–1711) was often hampered by the local
Janissary corps. Intended to function as enforcers of local administration, the captain of the Janissaries and his cronies were often the
de facto rulers. In 1711,
Ahmed Karamanli, a Janissary officer of Turkish origin, killed the Ottoman governor, the "
Pasha", and established himself as ruler of the Tripolitania region. By 1714, he had asserted a sort of semi-independence from the Ottoman Sultan, heralding in the
Karamanli dynasty. The Pashas of Tripoli were expected to pay a regular tributary tax to the Sultan but were in all other aspects rulers of an independent kingdom. This order of things continued under the rule of his descendants, accompanied by the brazen piracy and blackmailing until 1835 when the Ottoman Empire took advantage of an internal struggle and re-established its authority. The Ottoman province (
vilayet) of Tripoli (including the dependent
sanjak of
Cyrenaica) lay along the southern shore of the Mediterranean between
Tunisia in the west and
Egypt in the east. Besides the city itself, the area included Cyrenaica (the Barca plateau), the chain of
oases in the Aujila depression,
Fezzan and the oases of
Ghadames and
Ghat, separated by sandy and stony wastelands. A 16th century Chinese source mentioned Tripoli and described its agricultural and textile products.
Barbary Wars (1801-1815) , burning at the
Second Battle of Tripoli Harbor during the
First Barbary War in 1804 In the early part of the 19th century, the regency at Tripoli, owing to its
piratical practices, was twice involved in war with the United States. In May 1801, the pasha demanded an increase in the tribute ($83,000) which the U.S. government had been paying since 1796 for the protection of their commerce from piracy under the
1796 Treaty with Tripoli. The demand was refused by third President
Thomas Jefferson, and a naval force was sent from the United States to blockade Tripoli. The
First Barbary War (1801–1805) dragged on for four years. In 1803, Tripolitan fighters captured the U.S. Navy heavy frigate
Philadelphia and took its commander, Captain
William Bainbridge, and the entire crew as prisoners. This was after the
Philadelphia was run aground when the captain tried to navigate too close to the port of Tripoli. After several hours aground and Tripolitan gun boats firing upon the
Philadelphia, though none ever struck the
Philadelphia, Captain Bainbridge made the decision to surrender. The
Philadelphia was later turned against the Americans and anchored in Tripoli Harbor as a gun battery while her officers and crew were held prisoners in Tripoli. The following year, U.S. Navy Lieutenant
Stephen Decatur led a successful daring nighttime raid to retake and burn the warship rather than see it remain in enemy hands. Decatur's men set fire to the
Philadelphia and escaped. A notable incident in the war was the expedition undertaken by diplomatic Consul
William Eaton with the objective of replacing the pasha with an elder brother living in exile, who had promised to accede to all the wishes of the United States. Eaton, at the head of a mixed force of US Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, along with Greek, Arab and Turkish mercenaries numbering approximately 500, marched across the Egyptian / Libyan desert from
Alexandria,
Egypt and with the aid of three American warships, succeeded in
capturing Derna. Soon afterward, on 3 June 1805, peace was concluded. The pasha ended his demands and received $60,000 as ransom for the
Philadelphia prisoners under the
1805 Treaty with Tripoli. In 1815, in consequence of further outrages and due to the humiliation of the earlier defeat, Captains Bainbridge and
Stephen Decatur, at the head of an American squadron, again visited Tripoli and forced the pasha to comply with the demands of the United States. See
Second Barbary War.
Late Ottoman era (1835–1912) Clock tower in Tripoli's old town medina In 1835, the Ottomans took advantage of a local civil war to reassert their direct authority. After that date, Tripoli was under the direct control of the
Sublime Porte. Rebellions in 1842 and 1844 were unsuccessful. After the
French occupation of Tunisia (1881), the Ottomans increased their garrison in Tripoli considerably.
Italian era (1912–1947) Italy had long claimed that Tripoli fell within its zone of influence and that Italy had the right to preserve order within the state. Under the pretext of protecting its own citizens living in Tripoli from the Ottoman government, it
declared war against the Ottomans on 29 September 1911, and announced its intention of annexing Tripoli. On 1 October 1911, a naval battle was fought at
Prevesa, Greece, and three Ottoman vessels were destroyed. and indigenous Libyans in Tripoli, 1930s By the
Treaty of Lausanne, Italian sovereignty over
Tripolitania and
Cyrenaica was acknowledged by the Ottomans, although the
caliph was permitted to exercise religious authority. Italy officially granted autonomy after the war, but gradually occupied the region. Originally administered as part of a single colony, Tripoli and its surrounding province were a separate colony from 26 June 1927 to 3 December 1934, when all Italian possessions in North Africa were merged into one colony. By 1938, Tripoli had 108,240 inhabitants, including 39,096 Italians. Tripoli underwent a huge architectural and urbanistic improvement under Italian rule: the first thing the Italians did was to create in the early 1920s a sewage system (that until then it lacked) and a modern hospital. In the coast of the province was built in 1937–1938 a section of the
Litoranea Balbia, a road that went from Tripoli and Tunisia's frontier to the border of
Egypt. The
car tag for the Italian province of Tripoli was "TL". ) in 1939 Furthermore, in 1927, the Italians founded the
Tripoli International Fair, with the goal of promoting Tripoli's economy. This is the oldest trade fair in Africa. The so-called
Fiera internazionale di Tripoli was one of the main international "Fairs" in the colonial world in the 1930s, and was internationally promoted together with the
Tripoli Grand Prix as a showcase of
Italian Libya. The Italians created the
Tripoli Grand Prix, an international motor racing event first held in 1925 on a racing circuit outside Tripoli. The Tripoli Grand Prix took place until 1940. The first airport in Libya, the
Mellaha Air Base was built by the
Italian Air Force in 1923 near the Tripoli racing circuit. The airport is currently called
Mitiga International Airport. Tripoli even had a railway station with some
small railway connections to nearby cities, when in August 1941 the Italians started to build a new railway (with a gauge, like the one used in Egypt and Tunisia) between Tripoli and
Benghazi. But the war stopped the construction the next year. Tripoli was controlled by Italy until 1943 when the provinces of
Tripolitania and
Cyrenaica were captured by Allied forces. The city fell to troops of the British
Eighth Army on 23 January 1943. Tripoli was then governed by the British until independence in 1951. Under the terms of the
1947 peace treaty with the
Allies, Italy relinquished all claims to Libya.
Gaddafi era (1969–2011) Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi became leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after a successful coup d'état. On 15 April 1986,
U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered major bombing raids, dubbed
Operation El Dorado Canyon, against Tripoli and
Benghazi, killing 45 Libyan military and government personnel as well as 15 civilians. This strike followed US interception of telex messages from Libya's East Berlin embassy suggesting the involvement of Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi in a
bomb explosion on 5 April in
West Berlin's La Belle discothèque, a nightclub frequented by US servicemen. Among the alleged fatalities of the 15 April retaliatory attack by the United States was Gaddafi's adopted daughter,
Hana Gaddafi. The
United Nations sanctions against Libya imposed in April 1992 under
Security Council Resolution 748 were lifted in September 2003, which increased traffic through the Port of Tripoli and through airports in Libya. This lifting of the resolution had a positive impact on the city's economy allowing for more goods to enter the city.
Libyan Civil War (2011) In February and March 2011, Tripoli witnessed intense
anti-government protests and violent government responses resulting in hundreds killed and wounded. The city's
Green Square was the scene of some of the protests. The anti-Gaddafi protests were eventually crushed, and Tripoli was the site of pro-Gaddafi rallies. The city defenses loyal to Gaddafi included the military headquarters at
Bab al-Aziziyah (where Gaddafi's main residence was located) and the
Mitiga International Airport. At the latter, on 13 March, Ali Atiyya, a colonel of the
Libyan Air Force, defected and joined the revolution. In late February, rebel forces took control of
Zawiya, a city approximately to the west of Tripoli, thus increasing the threat to pro-Gaddafi forces in the capital. During the subsequent
battle of Zawiya, loyalist forces besieged the city and eventually recaptured it by 10 March. As the
2011 military intervention in Libya commenced on 19 March to enforce a U.N. no-fly zone over the country, the city once again came under air attack. It was the second time that Tripoli was bombed since the 1986 U.S. airstrikes, and the second time since the 1986 airstrike that bombed
Bab al-Azizia, Gaddafi's heavily fortified compound. In July and August, Libyan online revolutionary communities posted tweets and updates on attacks by rebel fighters on pro-government vehicles and checkpoints. In one such attack,
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and
Abdullah Senussi were targets. The government, however, denied revolutionary activity inside the capital. Several months after the initial uprising, rebel forces in the
Nafusa Mountains advanced towards the coast,
retaking Zawiya and reaching Tripoli on 21 August. On 21 August, the symbolic Green Square, immediately renamed Martyrs' Square by the rebels, was taken under rebel control and pro-Gaddafi posters were torn down and burned. During a radio address on 1 September, Gaddafi declared that the capital of the
Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya had been moved from Tripoli to
Sirte, after rebels had taken control of Tripoli. In August and September 2014,
Islamist armed groups extended their control of central Tripoli. The
House of Representatives parliament set up operations on a Greek car ferry in
Tobruk. A rival
New General National Congress parliament continued to operate in Tripoli.
Recent developments The
2022 Tripoli clashes and
2023 Tripoli clashes continued to disrupt the city. The UN-recognized Libyan government in the west of the country is expected to assert its control in May 2025 following the reported killing of powerful militia leader Abdelghani al-Kikli, also known as Gheniwa. ==Law and government==