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67-545: Ghadames or Ghadamis / ɡ ə ˈ d æ m ɪ s / ( Ghadamsi : ⵄⴰⴷⴻⵎⴻⵙ / Ɛadēməs [ʕadeːməs], Arabic : غدامس , Italian : Gadames ) is an oasis town in the Nalut District of the Tripolitania region in northwestern Libya . Ghadamès, known as 'the pearl of the desert', stands in an oasis. It is one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities and an outstanding example of a traditional settlement. Its domestic architecture

134-617: 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

201-580: 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

268-571: 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. Italy had long claimed that Tripoli fell within its zone of influence and that Italy had the right to preserve order within

335-417: A modern grammar of Ghadamès based on Lanfry’s materials. Lanfry mentions the number of c. 4,000 speakers as an optimistic estimate. The actual number of speakers is not known with certainty. Ethnologue cites a number of 13,100 speakers in 2016, including 2,000 living outside the area. However, this number reflects the total number of inhabitants of Ghadames, who are not all native speakers of Ghadamès, while

402-570: 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

469-440: A population of around 10,000, mainly Berbers . The old part of the town, which is surrounded by a city wall , has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. Each of the seven clans that used to live in this part of the town had its own district, of which each had a public place where festivals could be held. Ghadames has a hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWh ) with hot summers as average high temperature

536-530: A radical decentralization program undertaken by Gaddafi in September 1988, all General People's Committee secretariats ( ministries ), except those responsible for foreign liaison ( foreign policy and international relations ) and information, were moved outside Tripoli. According to diplomatic sources, the former Secretariat for Economy and Trade was moved to Benghazi ; the Secretariat for Health to Kufra ; and

603-539: 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

670-422: 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

737-480: A water source in the middle of a desert would have made it an important spot for anyone seeking to settle in the area. The first written records about Ghadames date from the Roman period when the settlement was known as Cydamus , from which modern Ghadames derives its name. In the 1st century BC, the Roman proconsul Lucius Cornelius Balbus invaded Cydamus during the reign of emperor Augustus . A permanent Roman garrison

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804-496: Is around 41 °C (105.8 °F) in July, the hottest month of the year as well as cool winters (with high diurnal variation). The town receives little precipitation throughout the year as average annual precipitation is only 73.1 mm (1.30 in). It has been suggested, based on archaeological evidence, that this area has been settled since the 4th millennium B.C., and is one of the oldest pre-Saharan settlements. Its situation near

871-507: Is characterized by a vertical division of functions: the ground floor used to store supplies; the first floor is for the family, overhanging covered alleys that create what is almost an underground network of passageways; and, at the top, open-air terraces reserved for the women. Ghadames lies roughly 462 km (287 mi) to the southwest of Tripoli , near the borders with Algeria and Tunisia . Ghadames borders Illizi Province , Algeria and Tataouine Governorate , Tunisia. The oasis has

938-473: 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. Those seven soldiers then managed to infiltrate through this way without being detected by

1005-458: Is the Leipzig-Jakarta list for Ghadames, extracted from Lanfry (1973). Lanfry's unconventional transcription has been adapted to modern usage. Symbols ă, ḥ, j, š, ž, y are equivalent to IPA ɐ, ħ, ɟ, ʃ, ʒ, j . Lanfry's length notation on vowels probably represents lexical stress (Kossmann 2013: 5, 15). Tripoli, Libya Tripoli , historically known as Tripoli-of-the-West , is

1072-677: The sha'biyah (top-level administrative division in the Libyan system), the Tripoli District . In the Arab world , Tripoli is also known as "Tripoli-of-the-West" (Arabic: طرابلس الغرب , romanized:  Ṭarābulus al-Gharb ), to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon , known in Arabic as Ṭarābulus ash-Shām ( طرابلس الشام ), meaning 'Tripoli of the Levant '. It is affectionately called "The Mermaid of

1139-700: The Libyan Civil War affecting the country and the threat of further damage it poses. Ghadam%C3%A8s language Ghadamès language materials have been gathered by two linguists. The first materials were published in 1903 and 1904 by Adolphe de Calassanti Motylinski (1854–1907). A more copious and reliable source is provided by the works of White Father Jacques Lanfry (1910-2000), who stayed in Ghadames from 1944 to 1945 and who published his main works in 1968 and 1973. No new research has been undertaken on location since then. Recently, Kossmann (2013) has published

1206-650: The Libyan National Army , the entire Tuareg community was forced to flee in an act of ethnic cleansing . The old town, inscribed in 1986 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was de-populated of its inhabitants throughout the 1990s, leaving the old buildings at risk of collapse due to a lack of maintenance. It has been listed on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2016 among four other sites in Libya, because of damage caused by

1273-745: 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

1340-402: 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 . In 1835, the Ottomans took advantage of

1407-696: 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

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1474-523: The capital and largest city of Libya , with a population of about 1.317 million people in 2021. 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. It includes the port of Tripoli and the country's largest commercial and manufacturing center. It is also the site of the University of Tripoli . Tripoli

1541-414: The " Sha'biyah " included the city, its suburbs and their immediate surroundings. In older administrative systems and throughout history, there existed a province (" muhafazah "), state (" wilayah ") or city-state with a much larger area (though not constant boundaries), which is sometimes mistakenly referred to as Tripoli but more appropriately should be called Tripolitania . As a District, Tripoli borders

1608-805: 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. In 1510,

1675-572: 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. Effective Ottoman rule during this period (1551–1711) was often hampered by the local Janissary corps. Intended to function as enforcers of local administration,

1742-574: The Berber language group. Aikhenvald and Militarev (1984) group it as Eastern Berber , and Kossmann (1999) specifically groups it together with Awjila . Ethnologue classifies it as East Zenati . Like other Berber languages and Arabic, Ghadamès has both pharyngealized ("emphatic") and plain dental consonants. Gemination is contrastive. Consonants listed between brackets occur only very sporadically. Most Berber languages have just three phonemic vowels. Ghadamès, like Tamasheq , has seven vowels. Below

1809-809: 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. 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

1876-452: The Italians started to build a new 1,040-kilometer (646-mile) railway (with a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8.5 in) 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

1943-477: The Mediterranean" (Arabic: عروسة البحر , romanized:  ʿArūsat al-Baḥr , lit.   'bride of the sea'), describing its turquoise waters and whitewashed buildings. The name derives from Ancient Greek Trípolis ( Τρίπολις ), from Τρεις Πόλεις , Treis Póleis , lit.   ' three cities '  – referring to Oea, Sabratha and Leptis Magna . The city of Oea

2010-501: 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. 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

2077-526: The Tunisian border, on the continent of Africa. Over a thousand kilometers (621 miles) separates Tripoli from Libya's second largest city, Benghazi. Coastal oases alternate with sandy areas and lagoons along the shores of Tripolitania for more than 300 km (190 mi). The city lies about 70 kilometers north from the Nafusa Mountains , the source of seasonal rivers like Wadi Al-Mjeneen. Until 2007,

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2144-462: The average remains at between 9 and 18 °C (48 and 64 °F). The average annual rainfall is less than 400 millimeters (16 inches). Snowfall has occurred in past years. The rainfall can be very erratic. Epic floods in 1945 left Tripoli underwater for several days, but two years later an unprecedented drought caused the loss of thousands of head of cattle. Deficiency in rainfall is no doubt reflected in an absence of permanent rivers or streams in

2211-617: 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. The 2022 Tripoli clashes and 2023 Tripoli clashes continued to disrupt

2278-414: 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

2345-680: 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

2412-446: The city as is indeed true throughout the entire country. The allocation of limited water is considered of sufficient importance to warrant the existence of the Secretariat of Dams and Water Resources, and damaging a source of water can be penalized by a heavy fine or imprisonment. The Great Manmade River , a network of pipelines that transport water from the desert to the coastal cities, supplies Tripoli with its water. The grand scheme

2479-511: The city guards, then managed to incite a riot within the city while shouting Takbir, causing the confused Byzantine garrison soldiers to think the Muslim forces were already inside in the city and flee towards their ship leaving Tripoli, thus allowing Amr to subdue the city easily. According to al-Baladhuri , Tripoli was, unlike Western North Africa, taken by the Muslims very early after Alexandria , in

2546-454: 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

2613-480: The city. Tripoli and its surrounding suburbs all lie within the Tripoli sha'biyah (district). In accordance with Libya's former Jamahiriya political system, Tripoli comprises Local People's Congresses where, in theory, the city's population discuss different matters and elect their own people's committee; at present there are 29 Local People's Congresses. In reality, the former revolutionary committees severely limited

2680-432: The democratic process by closely supervising committee and congress elections at the branch and district levels of governments, Tripoli being no exception. Tripoli is sometimes referred to as "the de jure capital of Libya" because none of the country's ministries are actually located in the capital. Even the former National General People's Congress was held annually in the city of Sirte rather than in Tripoli. As part of

2747-420: 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

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2814-427: The following districts: Tripoli has a hot semi-arid climate ( Köppen : BSh ) with hot and dry, prolonged summers and relatively wet mild winters. Although virtually rainless, summers are hot and muggy with temperatures that often exceed 38  °C (100  °F ); average July temperatures are between 22 and 33 °C (72 and 91 °F). In December, temperatures have reached as low as 0 °C (32 °F), but

2881-454: 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

2948-514: The heat. That same time, director Moustapha Akkad chose Ghadames as a filming location for interior scenes of the city of Medina in The Message , an Islamic epic drama film. During the Libyan Civil War , National Transitional Council forces entered the town on 30 August 2011, which had been under siege by NTC forces since the beginning of the conflict. Until 2011, the city was under control by independent Tuareg troops. After being captured by

3015-571: 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

3082-629: The late 7th century, Ghadames was ruled by the Muslim Arabs. The population quickly converted to Islam and Ghadames played an important role as base for the Trans-Saharan trade until the 19th century. The 12th century geographer Abu Hamid al-Gharnati included Ghadamis among the countries of Sudan (i.e., countries of black people), a hypothesis that Saad considers possible, as Ghadamis always had settlers representing him in Timbuktu . The etymology of

3149-543: 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

3216-489: The name Ghadames is very closely linked with its history. It is believed that the name Ghadames is originally connected to the name of the ancient Berber tribe of Tidamensi , a tribe from Fezzan . It is also believed that the name Tidamensi was corrupted by the invading Romans to form the name Cydamus, which in turn gave way to the name Ghadames. In October 1911, shortly after the Italo-Turkish War broke out, Ghadames

3283-456: The number of 2,000 emigrant speakers is based on a very old source. Ethnologue classifies the language as 6b (Threatened). Ghadamès is a Berber language on its own, preserving several unique phonological and morphological features, and the Ghadamès lexicon, as recorded by Lanfry, shows relatively little influence from Arabic. There is as yet no consensus on the classification of Ghadamès within

3350-591: 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

3417-483: 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

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3484-489: The remainder, excepting one, to Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi 's birthplace. In early 1993 it was announced that the Secretariat for Foreign Liaison and International Co-operation was to be moved to Ra's Lanuf . In October 2011, Libya fell to The National Transitional Council (N.T.C.), which took full control, abolishing the Gaddafi-era system of national and local government. Tripoli lies at the western extremity of Libya close to

3551-562: 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

3618-486: The southern part of the former Italian colony of Libya , forming the Military Territory of Fezzan-Ghadames until Libyan independence in 1951. Ghadames was made the territory's capital during this time. In the 1970s, the government built new houses outside of the old part of the town. However, many inhabitants return to the old part of the town during the summer, as its architecture provides better protection against

3685-509: 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. In

3752-460: 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. By the Treaty of Lausanne , Italian sovereignty over Tripolitania and Cyrenaica

3819-400: 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

3886-549: Was "TL". 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

3953-452: 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

4020-502: 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

4087-459: 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

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4154-433: 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

4221-459: Was established during the reign of Septimius Severus , and the emperor may have visited the settlement around AD 202. However, the Romans withdrew from the area a few decades later during the Crisis of the Third Century . During the 6th century, a bishop lived in the oasis, after the population had been converted to Christianity by Byzantine missionaries. It became a stronghold of the Donatist heresy until its conquest by Muslim Arabs . During

4288-419: Was founded in the 7th century BC by the Phoenicians , who gave it the Libyco-Berber name Oyat ( Punic : 𐤅𐤉‬‬𐤏‬𐤕 , romanized:  Wyʿt ), before passing into the hands of the Greek rulers of Cyrenaica as Oea ( Ancient Greek : Ὀία , romanized :  Oía ). Due to the city's long history, there are many sites of archeological significance in Tripoli. Tripoli may also refer to

4355-483: Was occupied by Italian soldiers marching from Tripoli . However, Italy's hold on the city was interrupted several times until June 1915, when a general rising throughout Libya caused the Italian garrison to retreat from Ghadames to the stronghold of Tripoli. Effective control over the city was restored in December 1918, but rebellion throughout Fezzan kept Ghadames in a state of emergency until 1923. In 1943, Free French forces occupied Ghadames and its surrounding area in

4422-475: Was the only one of the three to survive antiquity, and became known as Tripoli, within a wider region known as Tripolitania . Neighboring Sabratha was sometimes referred to by sailors as "Old Tripoli". The city was founded in the 7th century BC by the Phoenicians , who gave it the Libyco-Berber name Oyat ( Punic : 𐤅𐤉‬‬𐤏‬𐤕‬, wyʿt ), suggesting that the city may have been built upon an existing native Berber city. The Phoenicians were probably attracted to

4489-436: 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 50 km (31 mi) to

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