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Tripoli (Formerly a province)

formerly a province of the Ottoman empire; the extreme E. of the Barbary states of north Africa, stretching along the whole extent of both the greater and lesser Syrtes (the gulfs of Cabes and Sidra); bounded on the W. by Tunis, on the S. (very vaguely ) by the Libyan Desert and Fezzan, on the E. if we include the plateau of Barcaby Egypt, and on the N. by the Mediterranean Sea; area estimated at over 400,- 000 square miles. Pop. about 530,000.

Tripoli is less mountainous than the rest of Barbary, for the Atlas range terminates here in a couple of chains running parallel to the coast and never exceeding 4,000 feet in height. There are no rivers, and rain seldom falls during the long hot summers, but the heavy dew supports ports vegetation in favored spots.

The climate is is extremely uncertain. coast region (about 1,100 miles in length) is very fertile about Tripoli and Mesurata, where all sorts of tropical fruits, grain, wine, cotton, madder, etc., are produced; but further E., along the shores of the Gulf of Sidra, reigns sandy desolation. The interior yields senna, dates, and galls, and the carob and lotus are indigenous. Sheep and cattle are reared in great numbers, and there is a hardy breed of small but excellent horses, besides strong and beautiful mules. The commerce of the country consists in exporting, principally to Malta and the Levant, the products of the country and of the interior of Africa (gold dust, ivory, natron, and ostrich feathers), which are brought hither in caravans across the desert. The imports (which consist chiefly of European manufactures) have been declining gradually of late years, owing partly to the new direction which the trade of central Africa is assuming, and partly to the abolition of the slave trade, which stopped the demand for many of the commodities that supported the traffic.

From the Phoenicians Tripoli passed into the hands of the rulers of Cyrenaica (Barca), from whom it was wrested by the Carthaginians. It next belonged to the Romans, who included it within the province of Africa, and gave it the name of Regio Syrtica. About the beginning of the 3d century A. D. it became known as the Regio Tripolitana (on account of its three principal cities, Ea, Sabrata, and Leptis, which were leagued together), and was probably raised to the rank of a separate province by Septimius Severus, who was a native of Leptis. Like TRIPOLITAN WAR In the rest of north Africa, it was conquered by the Arabs early in the 8th century, and the feeble Christianity of the natives was supplanted by a vigorous and fanatical Mohammedanism. In Mohammedanism. 1510 it was taken by Don Pedro Navarro for Spain, and in 1523 it was assigned to the Knights of St. John, who had lately been expelled by the Ottoman Turks from their stronghold in the Island of Rhodes. The knights kept it with some trouble till 1551, when they were compelled to surrender to the Turkish admiral Sinan, and Tripoli henceforward joined in the ge general piracy which made the Barbary states the terror of maritime Christendom. In 1714 the ruling pasha, Ahmad Karamânlî, assumed the title of bey, and asserted a sort of semiindependence of the Sultan, and this order of things continued under the rule of his descendants, accompanied by the most brazen piracy and blackmailing, till 1835, when the Porte took advantage reassert its authority. A new Turkish pasha, with vice-regal powers, was appointed and the state was made a made vilâyet of the Ottoman empire. an intestinal struggle in Tripoli a Italy had long claimed that Tripoli fell within her zone of influence and that she had the right to preserve order within the state. In order to protect her citizens residing in Tripoli from further indignities from the Turkish Government, Italy, on Sept. 29, 1911, declared war against Turkey and announced her intention of annexing Tripoli. On Sept. 30 a force of 40,000 men was sent to occupy the city of Tripoli. On Oct. 1, 1911, a naval battle was fought at Prevesa, European Turkey, and three Turkish vessels were destroyed. By the Treaty of Lausanne Italian sovereignty was acknowledged by Turkey, although the Caliph was permitted to exercise re ligious authority.