TRIPOLI, LIBYA

view of Old City of Tripoli, courtesy,
Kids.NationalGeographic.com

The Arab-occupied city of Tripoli, pronounced Trables (ⵜⵔⵢⴱⵓⵍⵙ) in the Tamazight language of the indigenous Amazigh (Berber), is the capital and largest city of Arab-occupied Libya, with a population of about three million in 2019. It is located in the northwest of Libya on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean Sea and forming a bay. The Amazigh in the city often interact with the large Amazigh communities in Zuwara, about 60 miles to the west, and those of the Nafusa Mountains about 35 miles to the south.

Tripoli was founded in the 7th century BCE by the Phoenicians, who gave it the Libyco-Berber name Oyat suggesting that it may have been built upon an existing native Berber city. 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. Later, this colony passed into the hands of the Greek rulers of Cyrenaica, and they renamed it “Oea” but it was soon retaken by the Phoenicians again. By the latter half of the 2nd century BCE, the town passed 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 CE, the city became known as the Regio Tripolitana, meaning "region of the three cities", namely Oea, 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. 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. In the mid 7^th century, Tripoli was conquered by Arab Muslims and under Muslim rule, the indigenous Berbers slowly came to accept Islam resulting in two parallel societies. The overwhelming majority of the people of Tripoli, and Libya in general, remained Amazigh, but a small minority held onto their indigenous culture and identity while the majority decided to identify with the Arab conquerors thus becoming, what is known today as, Arabized Berbers. They accepted Abdallah al Mahdibillah, an Ismaili Muslim Arab settler of Syria who was installed as the imam of much of the Maghreb, including Tripolitania, as imam and Mahdi (Promised One). In 1158, the supporters of the Berber Almohad dynasty arrived in Tripoli from Morocco and established their authority. An Almohad emir, Muhammad bin Abu Hafs, ruled Libya from Tripoli from 1207 to 1221 and established the Hafsid dynasty, which outlived the Almohads. The Hafsids ruled Tripoli for nearly 300 years. During that time, there was significant trade with the city-states of Europe, and art, literature, architecture, and scholarship were encouraged. Despite the commercial ties with Europe, Hafsid relations with the European powers eventually deteriorated when the latter intrigued in the dynasty's increasingly troubled and complex internal politics. Theocratic republics, tribal states, and coastal enclaves seized by pirate captains defied the sultan's authority, and in 1460 Tripoli was declared an independent city-state by its merchant oligarchy. For centuries thereafter, Tripoli was home to a section of the Barbary pirates, the majority of whom were Arabs, but also counted numerous Berbers (Arabized?) among them. Pirate activity ceased when Spain, then Turkey, conquered the area, and the city was voluntarily handed over to the Knights of St. John of Rhodes in an attempt to prevent a resurgence of piracy. But by the 17^th century, Tripoli once again became a base of operation for the Barbary pirates. One of several Western attempts to dislodge them again was an English Royal Navy attack under Commander John Narborough in 1675. 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 for the protection of their commerce from piracy under the 1796 Treaty with Tripoli. The demand was refused by President Thomas Jefferson, and an American naval force was sent to blockade Tripoli. The First Barbary War (1801-1805) ensued and continued for four years.

In 1912, Libya came under Italian occupation. After many years of warfare against Italian forces, fought mostly by Berbers, Libya became independent in 1947 with Tripoli as its capital, but at a price. It was officially styled an Arab country, putting the Berbers in a second class status. No major persecutions occurred against them even when Libya became a kingdom in 1951. It wasn’t until 1969 when Muammar Qaddafi seized power that persecution of Berbers began. Qaddafi instituted an Arabization policy in the country, affecting Tripoli along with every place else and indigenous cultures and languages were brutally suppressed. Then during the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, the Amazigh became some of the fiercest fighters in Libya's revolt against Qaddafi's rule and brigades from the Nafusa mountains helped lead the final assault on Tripoli in August. Now with Qaddafi gone, the Amazigh language became legal again and shortly thereafter, Mazigh Buzakhar, a long-time Amazigh activist who, with his twin brother was arrested by Qaddafi’s forces for his pro-Amazigh activities, founded the Tira Association for Tamazight Culture and Language in Tripoli. In November 2020, he, his brother, and four friends, also founded the newspaper Tilelli, the first (monthly) newspaper run by Amazigh and written in Tamazight, but also in English and Arabic. Cultural organizations, spearheaded by eager young people in the Nafusa mountains and Tripoli, are working hard to spark a cultural revival. The Poet's Society, headed by Hassan Abu Sag, is seeking to get young people to write Amazigh poetry and songs.

Today, some sites of interest include: the port of Tripoli, the University of Tripoli, the vast Bab al-Azizia barracks which includes the former family estate of Muammar Qaddafi (Qaddafi largely ruled the country from his residence in this barracks), the Assaraya Alhamra Museum, the Old City, Oea Village Road, Oea Tours, and the Arch of Marcus Aurelius from the 2nd century CE.