Tripoli, Libya

Tripoli is the capital and largest city of Libya, a large North African nation whose official name is the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Tripoli's history as a settlement dates back to ancient times, and its unique character reflects the city's diverse influences, particularly those of Roman, Arab, Turkish, and Italian culture. The city has traditionally been dubbed "The White Bride of the Mediterranean" because of its predominantly white stone architecture. Other names for the city include Tarabalus Al-Gharb (Arabic, "Tripoli of the West"), which is used to distinguish the capital from the city of Tripoli, Lebanon.

Landscape

Tripoli is located in the northwestern region of Libya known as Tripolitania. The city, which is set on the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, possesses a naturally deep harbor. Tripoli's landscape is flat and covered with coarse grass, sand flats, and marshes. Libya's climate is generally hot and arid, but because Tripoli is a coastal city it often has mild winters and warm summers; the average temperature in Tripoli in January is 11 degrees Celsius (52 degrees Fahrenheit) and 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) in July. Tripoli and other coastal areas along the Mediterranean in Libya also tend to receive more rainfall—nearly 400 millimeters (16 inches) more than the rest of the country. Though this is still a comparatively modest amount, various forms of agriculture are nonetheless more viable around the capital.

The city has two distinct parts. The first is composed of the remains of an ancient city, or medina, along the harbor. This section is bounded by a wall and contains structures that date back to Roman times, as well as buildings that were constructed during the Middle Ages. Some of the architecture in the ancient city was restored in the late twentieth century, but many other old buildings are in poor condition.

The other half of the city is Tripoli's modern quarter, which contains its industrial, administrative, and commercial buildings. A series of skyscrapers dominates the skyline west of the medina, along the coast. Just outside the southeastern corner of the old city is Green Square, called Al Saaha Alkhadhraa, a busy plaza which serves as the gateway to the local street market and other commercial businesses.

The modern quarter also houses many large villas and apartments built by the Italians, numerous hotels and embassies, and a number of theaters, museums, and universities. A busy suburb known as Gargaresh is located about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) west of the center of Tripoli.

People

Like Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, Libya is a north African nation that is part of the Arab world. About 97 percent of the country's population is of Arab-Amazigh descent. The Amazigh are a North African nomadic people who have become assimilated into Arab culture. They were formerly called the Berbers. The remainder of Libya's population is composed mainly of members of traditional tribal groups such as the Bedouin, the Tebou, and the Touareg, as well as immigrants from Northern, Western, and Sub-Saharan Africa. This basic demographic holds true in Tripoli as well; in addition, the city is home to a sizable number of expatriate workers, often from other Arab nations. According to the US Central Intelligence Agency, 1.183 million people lived in the urban area of Tripoli as of 2023.

The majority of Tripoli's residents are Sunni Muslims who speak Arabic; other languages spoken in the city include English, French, and Italian. The city's culture and social norms are built upon traditional Islamic principles, and religious holidays such as Ramadan and national holidays such as Independence Day bind Tripoli's residents together with a common thread of nationalism and faith. In addition, art in Libya is also heavily influenced by Islamic tradition, which avoids representations of human forms or of animals in favor of highly stylized and intricate geometric designs. These patterns can be found on all types of traditional artisan crafts in Tripoli, including weaving, jewelry-making, embroidery, and leatherwork.

Economy

Agriculture is an important economic activity in the Tripolitania region. Among the crops grown in and around Tripoli are citrus fruits, tomatoes, olives, barley, cauliflower, wheat, dates, almonds, and tobacco. Tripoli also produces a small amount of fresh and processed fish, mostly tuna and sardines. Despite all this, the amount of food produced by the farmlands in the relatively arable region of Tripoli is not enough to sustain this desert country, which imports a significant percentage of its food.

Oil has been the central focus of the Libyan economy and the driving force behind the country's rapid growth and modernization beginning in 1959 when oil was first discovered here. Although oil itself is not refined in Tripoli, the city houses an oil storage depot and several factories that support the oil industry by making essential equipment like tanks and drums.

Tripoli is Libya's most important manufacturing hub. Besides the manufacture of oil industry equipment, the city produces various other goods such as cigarettes, carpets, textiles, cement, leather products, and processed foods. Most factories in Tripoli are relatively small, with fewer than one hundred employees. Rapid migration from rural to urban areas has caused unemployment to be a problem in Libya's major cities, including Tripoli.

Tourism became an important industry in Tripoli, particularly after the United Nations (UN) lifted its economic sanctions on Libya in 2003 and, a year later, the United States resumed diplomatic relations with the country. However, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, as conflicts involving the two main rival powers as well as insurgent groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threatened security, countries often advised against residents traveling to Libya.

Overall, by 2019, Tripoli's economy, as well as the country's as a whole, had increasingly deteriorated as the ongoing conflict and questions over control damaged banking systems, oil production, and foreign investment. The situation became even worse in April 2019 when a militia group known as the Libyan National Army (LNA) tried to seize control of Tripoli. The rebellion was put down in 2020, and the United Nations attempted to broker a cease-fire. However, political unrest between competing groups resulted in a blockade of the nation's oil-producing facilities. The blockade, combined with the ongoing tensions in Libya, dealt a severe blow to the nation's economy. Libya's gross national product (GDP) contracted by 11.2 percent in 2019 and 23.93 percent in 2020. The United Nations continued its efforts to find a solution for the Libyan governmental crisis, resulting in a stabilization of the nation's economy in 2021.

Landmarks

Tripoli's most famous landmark is a sixteenth-century Spanish castle known as the Assaraya Al-Hamra, or the Red Castle. This enormous and imposing structure—its courtyards, houses, and alleyways take up more than 1,394 square meters (15,000 square feet)—is located on the eastern corner of the old city. The castle grounds house the Jamahiriya Museum, which contains five floors of galleries showcasing classical art and archeological artifacts detailing the history of Libya. Also within the medina is an ancient marble arch, decorated with carvings. The arch was built by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in about the year 163 CE, and an old curse foretells misfortune to anyone who removes a stone from it.

Besides its lovely walled courtyards, alleys, and bustling souks (open-air markets), the old city is also full of mosques. These include the exquisitely decorated Karamanli Mosque, the Gurgi Mosque, built by the Ottoman Turks, and the Draghut Mosque, named after one of Tripoli's governors. The old French and British consulates can be found here as well.

Besides Green Square, Tripoli's other major plaza is Maidan Al-Jezayir, the location of a former Catholic cathedral built by the Italians. The cathedral has since been converted into a mosque, and its steeple into a minaret. The National Library, with its large domed roof, is also in Maidan Al-Jezayir. About 500 meters (1,640 feet) away is what used to be the palace of Libya's former King Idris; this building is now called "The People's Palace," and is a space used by government activists. Other attractions in Tripoli include a zoo, a water park, a botanical garden, a planetarium, several art galleries, and a large stadium called "Sports City."

History

In about 500 BCE, Phoenicians, sailors from what is now known as Lebanon, founded Tripoli—they called it Oea—and the city has been continuously settled since that time. The Phoenicians had no interest in colonizing the city; instead, they wanted to build a port city where their trade ships to Spain could dock. Around 46 BCE, Tripoli was taken over by the Romans, who ruled it for the next six hundred years.

Other forces went on to control Tripoli, including the Germanic tribe known as the Vandals in the fifth century, and Arab invaders in the seventh century. The city continued to be controlled by the Arabs until the sixteenth century, when it was briefly occupied by the Spanish and then taken over by Ottoman Turks. The Turks made Tripoli a colonial capital and were responsible for building most of the old city's surviving mosques and streets.

In 1911, the Italians seized Tripoli. It was their intention to use Tripoli to increase their trading influence in the Mediterranean and North Africa to better compete with Britain and France. Under Italian rule, the city expanded beyond the walls of the medina and its infrastructure improved. However, Tripoli's residents resented being subjected to the strict rule of the colonists, and a Libyan resistance army fought against the Italians during World War I. After the defeat of the Axis powers, control of Libya was given jointly to French and British forces. In 1951, the UN declared Libya an independent nation, with King Idris as its first ruler.

In 1969, Idris was dethroned in a coup orchestrated by Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, who became Libya's head of state, ruling the country as an authoritarian state. Arab nationalism and Islamic law were the main guiding principles behind Qaddafi's policies, which in the latter half of the twentieth century led to increasing mistrust of Libya on the part of Western nations.

Libya's economy developed by leaps and bounds during the mid-twentieth century as a result of its extraordinary oil profits, but the sanctions placed on the country by the UN after the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jetliner by forces linked to Libya slowed the country's growth.

The sanctions against Libya ended in 2003 after Libya accepted responsibility for the bombings and agreed to compensate claimants. Qaddafi also agreed to end Libya's program of developing weapons of mass destruction. Qaddafi's brutal crackdown on protesters during local unrest in 2011 spawned a civil war in the country that triggered UN naval and airforce intervention. The Qaddafi regime was overthrown later that year with Qaddafi's assassination. Libya formed a new parliament in 2012 and elected a new prime minister, Ali Zaydan.

However, since that time, Libya's government has remained in flux and two rival administrations and parliaments have been vying for power, with one (headed by rebels) based in Tripoli and the other (internationally recognized) based in Tobruk. While the United Nations attempted to bring the two administrations together, forming a unity government to be known as the Government of National Accord and based in Tripoli, in 2015, the Tobruk parliament voted against the new government in 2016.

The situation escalated when, in April 2019, Khalifa Haftar, leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA), ordered his forces to launch an offensive with the goal of taking control of Tripoli. According to media reports, hundreds, including civilians, were killed that month. The LNA’s efforts to take Tripoli failed in 2020, partly due to foreign military intervention. Since 2020, the United Nations has attempted to bring stabilizing elections to Libya, but has meet with only limited success. By the end of 2023, Libyan officials said they were closer to holding such elections.

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