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TRIPOLI
  


about the capital, and are in almost exclusive possession of Cyrenaica, Marmarica, and the Aujila oases. In Fezzan the Saharan Berbers (Tinylkum Tuareg) are dominant, but are here largely intermingled with Negro or Negroid intruders from the Sudan. But even in the uplands many of the Berbers have been Arabized, and Cowper describes the people of the Tarhona heights as “pure-bred Arabs.” Other early intruders are the Jews, some of whom arrived from Egypt in the time of the Ptolemies, and still lead the life of troglodytes in the limestone caves of the Ghurian escarpments. They are also numerous in the large towns, where there are also colonies of Turks, and Maltese, Italian, Cretan and other South European traders and artisans.

On the other hand, no trace can be now detected either of the Greeks who colonized Cyrenaica in the 7th century B.C., or of the Phoenicians who at a still earlier date founded the three great cities of Oea, Sabrata and Leptis Magna (q.v.), from which the western region projecting seawards between the two Syrtes took the name Tripoli and other towns of Tripolitana. Later, when Oea, which stood between the two others, was made the capital of the province it was called Tripolis, the “Three Cities,” as it were, rolled into one, and this name it has retained since Roman times, being now distinguished from the Tripolis of Syria as West Tripolis, the Tarabulus el-Gharb of the Turks and Arabs. Tripoli (q.v.), the capital of the province, is thus one of the oldest places in the world, and no doubt owes its stability in large measure to its position over against Sicily at the northern terminus of three great historic caravan routes, one of which runs due south to Lake Chad through Fezzan and Bilma, that is, across the narrowest part of the Sahara; another runs south-west through Ghadames and Ghat to Timbuktu and Kano, and the third south by east through Sokna to Wadai and Darfur. East of Tripoli are the small seaports of Homs (Khoms) and Lebda.

In Barca the largest town is Bengazi (q.v.), the ancient Berenice, at the southern extremity of a headland which formerly enclosed a spacious natural haven on the north-east side of the Gulf of Sidra. But the harbour has been partly filled up by the ruins of a large fortress, and is inaccessible to vessels drawing over 6 or 7 ft. East of Bengazi are Merj, the ancient Barca (q.v.), and the exposed road stead of Derna (q.v.). Marsa-Susa, the ancient Apollonia, lies under the Ras Sem headland, and was the emporium of the neighbouring city of Cyrene (Ain Shahat-Grenna). The Turkish government displayed much activity in this fertile and healthy district in the period 1897–1903. To it were removed many of the Moslem inhabitants of Crete dissatisfied with the autonomous régime established in that island in 1898.

Agriculture and Trade.—Tripoli proper is purely an agricultural and trading country; it possesses no manufactures of importance, nor exploited mineral wealth save salt. The uncertainty of the rainfall, the apparent increasing poverty of the soil and the heavy taxation of the peasants reduced agriculture at the close of the 19th century to a lower point than theretofore recorded. The cultivation of wheat was largely supplanted by that of barley—the staple food of the peasantry, whilst esparto grass, a fibre growing wild in the rural districts within the cereal zone, acquired the chief place among local exports. The importation of foreign flour, begun in 1881, assumed large dimensions in providing for the deficiencies occasioned by ever-recurring failures of the wheat and barley harvests. Besides wheat and barley the principal products of the country are esparto grass, olives, saffron, figs and dates—these last being perhaps the finest in North Africa. Fruit also is abundant in certain parts, including oranges and lemons, and so are many kinds of vegetables. There is a lucrative sponge fishery, a monopoly of Greek traders, over 100 barques being engaged in the industry.

Trade, before the suppression of the oversea slave traffic, was largely in negroes, brought across the Sahara with other Sudan produce, for the Turkish market. It now consists chiefly in the export of esparto, barley in years of plenty, eggs, cattle, sponges, mats and henna, all articles of local production, and, from Central Africa, ivory, ostrich feathers, tanned goat-skins and a little gold dust. The cattle go mainly to Malta, the esparto, barley, eggs and ivory mostly to England, the feathers to Paris and London, and the skins to New York. The henna and mats are sent to Turkey, Egypt, Tunis and Malta. The exports of esparto grass vary with the success or failure of the cereal crops; thus in 1903 the value or barley exported was £70,800, and of esparto £76,400. In 1904 the exports of barley fell to £3,200 and those of esparto rose to £126,000. From Bengazi hundreds of thousands of sheep are exported to Egypt, Malta. and Crete. With Egypt there is an overland as well as sea trade. The caravan trade, which in the forty years ending 1901 had an annual average value of £114,000, is so costly that only articles yielding considerable profit can be carried; the desert trade is, moreover, being deflected to the Niger and the Guinea coast. Tripoli imports, chiefly, food-stuffs (flour, rice, sugar, tea) cotton goods, tobacco, metals and hardware About two-thirds of the imports are from Great Britain. Exclusive of Bengazi the value of trade, imports and exports combined, was for the last thirty years of the 19th century some £770,000 per annum. The trade of Bengazi and Derna, chiefly with Great Britain and Malta, largely increased at the beginning of the 20th century. For the five years 1902–1906 the average annual value of imports was £214,000, of exports £45S,700. From these ports the chief exports are sheep and goats, oxen, wool and skins, barley and camels—the last sent overland to Alexandria. Food-stuffs, tea, olive oil and cotton goods are the chief imports. There is an active contraband trade with Greece and Malta in firearms and gunpowder.

Barley is the chief food of the people both in Tripoli proper and in Bengazi. The nomad Arabs possess thousands of camels, cattle and sheep. They weave rough woollen garments, make reed matting, carpets of alternative strips of woven goat and woven camel hair, and manufacture butter. Olive and date-palm trees are cultivated in large numbers. Tea has become a favourite beverage both in the regency and with the Sudanese. Tea, sugar and cottons form the staple articles of exchange with the Sudanese for their produce.

Communications.—The town of Tripoli is connected by telegraph cable with Malta, and telegraph lines run inland from that town to Murzuk, Bengazi, Derna and other towns in the regency, and to Gabes in Tunisia. A wireless telegraphic apparatus connects Derna and Rhodes. There are regular sailings between Malta and Tripoli and between Tunis and Tripoli. Italian vessels also call regularly at Bengazi and Derna. The shipping trade is mostly in the hands of Italians—who have more than half the total tonnage—and French, British shipping coming third. Inland communication is almost entirely by camel caravans.

Administration.—The vali or governor-general, who exercises chief authority both civil and military, is appointed .by the sultan of Turkey and holds office at his majesty’s pleasure. The system of government, executive and judicial, resembles that of other Turkish provinces, but with some modifications in the direction of local autonomy. Bengazi or Barca is a separate sub-province with an administration responsible direct to Constantinople. Revenue is derived chiefly from customs, tithes and a poll tax called verghi. Owing to expenditure on the army, some 10,000 Turkish troops being stationed in the re ency, the receipts from revenue are generally below the cost of administration. The receipts in the period 1900–1905 averaged about £150,000 a year and the expenditure £170,000, of which amount some £100,000 was on military requirements.

History.—The early history of Cyrenaica and Tripoli is distinct though similar. Cyrenaica was first colonized by Greeks, afterwards it fell under the sway of the Ptolemies and from them passed to the Romans (see Cyrenaica). Tripoli, on the other hand, was originally a Phoenician colony (vide ante, Towns). Later it was dependent on Carthage and followed its fortunes. From the Romans the province received its present name. In the 5th century both Tripoli and Cyrenaica were conquered' by the Vandals, whose power was destroyed by the Byzantine general Belisarius in the following century. In the middle of the 7th century the whole country was overrun by the Arabs, and Christianity gave place to Islam. From this period, for many centuries, Tripoli was subject to the successive rulers of Tunisia. It was pillaged in 1146 by the Normans of Sicily. In 1321 the Beni Ammar established an independent dynasty, which lasted with an interval (1354–1369), during which two sovereigns of the Beni Mekki reigned, until 1401 when Tripoli was reconquered by the Tunisians. In 1510 Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain took Tripoli, and in 1528 it was given to the knights of St John, who were expelled in 1553 by the Turkish corsairs Dragut and Sinan. Dragut, who afterwards fell in Malta, lies buried in a much venerated kubba close to one of the mosques. After his decease the Connexion between Tripoli and Constantinople seems to have been considerably weakened. But the Tripolitan pirates soon became the terror and scourge of the Mediterranean; half the states of Europe seem at one time or other to have sent their fleets to bombard the capital. In 1714 Ahmed Pasha Caramanli achieved practical independence and he and his descendants