Jump to content

Ottoman Tripolitania: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Reverted 1 edit by 41.254.71.84 (talk): Improperly done and not in keeping with MOS:INFOBOX
Citation bot (talk | contribs)
Bots
5,313,494 edits
Add: jstor, doi. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Superegz | Category:States and territories disestablished in 1912 | #UCB_Category 26/30
 
(44 intermediate revisions by 22 users not shown)
Line 8: Line 8:
|nation = Ottoman Empire
|nation = Ottoman Empire
|year_start = 1551
|year_start = 1551
|date_event1 = 1711
|date_event2 = 1801
|date_event3 = 1835
|year_end = 1912
|year_end = 1912
|date_start = 15 August
|date_end = 18 October
|event_start = [[Siege of Tripoli (1551)|Siege of Tripoli]]
|event_start = [[Siege of Tripoli (1551)|Siege of Tripoli]]
|event1 = [[Karamanli dynasty]] rises to power
|event2 = [[First Barbary War]]
|event3 = Ottoman Empire reestablishes direct control
|event_end = [[Italo-Turkish War]]
|event_end = [[Italo-Turkish War]]
|p1 = Hospitaller Tripoli
|p1 = Hospitaller Tripoli
Line 23: Line 27:
|s2 = Italian Cyrenaica
|s2 = Italian Cyrenaica
|flag_s2 = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
|flag_s2 = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
|image_flag = Flag of Tripoli 18th century.svg
|image_flag = Maritime flag of Regency of Tripoli (18th century).svg
|flag_caption =
|flag_caption =
|image_coat = Lesser coat of arms of Ottoman Tripolitania.svg
|image_coat = Lesser coat of arms of Ottoman Tripolitania.svg
Line 33: Line 37:
}}
}}


'''Ottoman Tripolitania''', also known as the '''Regency of Tripoli''', was officially ruled by the [[Ottoman Empire]] from 1551 to 1912.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=St. John |first=Ronald Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O49hCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 |title=Libya: Continuity and Change |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-135-03654-6 |pages=8–9 |language=en |author-link=Ronald Bruce St. John}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Naylor |first=Phillip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SSUKBgAAQBAJ |title=North Africa, Revised Edition: A History from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-292-76192-6 |pages=119, 122–123 |language=en}}</ref> It corresponded roughly to the northern parts of modern-day [[Libya]] in historic [[Tripolitania]] and [[Cyrenaica]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":152">{{Cite book |last=Abun-Nasr |first=Jamil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC |title=A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0521337674 |location=Cambridge |pages=191–193 |language=en}}</ref> It was initially established as an [[Ottoman Province|Ottoman province]] ruled by a [[pasha]] (governor) in [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] who was appointed from [[Constantinople]], though in practice it was semi-autonomous due to the power of the local [[Janissaries]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> From 1711 to 1835, the [[Karamanli dynasty]] ruled the province as a ''[[de facto]]'' hereditary monarchy while remaining under nominal Ottoman suzerainty.<ref name=":1" /> In 1835, the Ottomans reestablished direct control over the region until its [[Italian invasion of Libya|annexation by Italy]] in 1912.<ref name=":1522">{{Cite book |last=Abun-Nasr |first=Jamil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC |title=A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0521337674 |location=Cambridge |pages=314, 321 |language=en}}</ref>
'''Ottoman Tripolitania''', also known as the '''Regency of Tripoli''', was officially ruled by the [[Ottoman Empire]] from 1551 to 1912.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=St. John |first=Ronald Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O49hCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 |title=Libya: Continuity and Change |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-135-03654-6 |pages=8–9 |language=en |author-link=Ronald Bruce St. John}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Naylor |first=Phillip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SSUKBgAAQBAJ |title=North Africa, Revised Edition: A History from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-292-76192-6 |pages=119, 122–123 |language=en}}</ref> It corresponded roughly to the northern parts of modern-day [[Libya]] in historic [[Tripolitania]] and [[Cyrenaica]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":152">{{Cite book |last=Abun-Nasr |first=Jamil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC |title=A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0521337674 |location=Cambridge |pages=191–193 |language=en}}</ref> It was initially established as an [[Ottoman Province|Ottoman province]] ruled by a [[pasha]] (governor) in [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] who was appointed from [[Constantinople]], though in practice it was semi-autonomous due to the power of the local [[Janissaries]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> From 1711 to 1835, the [[Karamanli dynasty]] ruled the province as a ''[[de facto]]'' hereditary monarchy while remaining under nominal Ottoman [[suzerainty]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1835, the Ottomans reestablished direct control over the region until its [[Italian invasion of Libya|annexation by Italy]] in 1912.<ref name=":1522">{{Cite book |last=Abun-Nasr |first=Jamil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC |title=A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0521337674 |location=Cambridge |pages=314, 321 |language=en}}</ref>


Like the Ottoman regencies in [[Ottoman Tunisia|Tunis]] and [[Regency of Algiers|Algiers]], the Regency of Tripoli was a major base for the privateering activities of the [[Barbary pirates|North African corsairs]], who also provided revenues for Tripoli.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> A remnant of the centuries of Turkish rule is the presence of [[Turks in Libya|a population of Turkish origin]], and those of partial Turkish origin, the ''[[Kouloughlis]]''.
Like the Ottoman regencies in [[Ottoman Tunisia|Tunis]] and [[Regency of Algiers|Algiers]], the Regency of Tripoli was a major base for the privateering activities of the [[Barbary pirates|North African corsairs]], who also provided revenues for Tripoli.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> A remnant of the centuries of Turkish rule is the presence of [[Turks in Libya|a population of Turkish origin]], and those of partial Turkish origin, the ''[[Kouloughlis]]''.
Line 43: Line 47:


===Ottoman conquest===
===Ottoman conquest===
By the beginning of the 16th&nbsp;century the Libyan coast had minimal central authority and its harbours were havens for unchecked bands of pirates. The [[Spanish Tripoli|Spaniards occupied Tripoli]] in 1510, but the Spaniards were more concerned with controlling the port than with the inconveniences of administering a colony. In 1530 the city, along with [[Malta]] and [[Gozo]], was ceded by [[Charles&nbsp;I of Spain]] to the [[Knights of St&nbsp;John]] as compensation for their recent expulsion from the island of [[Rhodes]] at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Christian rule lasted then until 1551, when Tripoli was besieged and conquered by famed Ottoman admirals [[Sinan Pasha]] and [[Turgut Reis]]. Declared as [[Bey]] and later [[Pasha]] of Tripoli, Turgut Reis submitted the tribes of the interior and several cities like [[Misrata]], [[Zuwara]], [[Gharyan]], and [[Gafsa]] in the next decade. These efforts contributed to cement the foundations of a statal structure in what is today Libya, but control from [[Constantinople]] remained loose at best, much like in the rest of the [[Barbary Coast]] of [[North Africa]].
By the beginning of the 16th&nbsp;century the Libyan coast had minimal central authority and its harbours were havens for unchecked bands of pirates. The [[Spanish Tripoli|Spaniards occupied Tripoli]] in 1510, but the Spaniards were more concerned with controlling the port than with the inconveniences of administering a colony. In 1530 the city, along with [[Malta]] and [[Gozo]], was ceded by [[Charles&nbsp;I of Spain]] to the [[Knights of St&nbsp;John]] as compensation for their recent expulsion from the island of [[Rhodes]] at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Christian rule lasted then until 1551, when Tripoli was [[Siege of Tripoli (1551)|besieged and conquered]] by famed Ottoman admirals [[Sinan Pasha]] and [[Turgut Reis]]. Declared as [[Bey]] and later [[Pasha]] of Tripoli, Turgut Reis submitted the tribes of the interior and several cities like [[Misrata]], [[Zuwara]], [[Gharyan]], and [[Gafsa]] in the next decade. These efforts contributed to cement the foundations of a statal structure in what is today Libya, but control from [[Constantinople]] remained loose at best, much like in the rest of the [[Barbary Coast]] of [[North Africa]].


Under the Ottomans, the [[Maghreb]] was divided into three provinces, [[Ottoman Algeria|Algiers]], [[Ottoman Tunisia|Tunis]], and [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]. After 1565, administrative authority in Tripoli was vested in a Pasha directly appointed by the Sultan in Constantinople. The sultan supported the pasha with a corps of [[janissaries]] who he was dependent upon, which was in turn divided into a number of companies under the command of a junior officer or ''[[bey]]''. The janissaries quickly became the dominant force in Ottoman Libya and also was in charge of collecting taxes, however [[Barbary corsairs]] were the ones who steadily provided income to Tripoli from privateering activities. As a self-governing military guild answerable only to their own laws and protected by a ''[[divan]]'' (a council of senior officers who advised the pasha), the janissaries soon reduced the pasha to a largely ceremonial role.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=St John |first=Ronald Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qB69DwAAQBAJ |title=Libya: From Colony to Revolution |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-78607-241-2 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 2 "Second page"}}</ref>
Under the Ottomans, the [[Maghreb]] was divided into three provinces, [[Ottoman Algeria|Algiers]], [[Ottoman Tunisia|Tunis]], and [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]. After 1565, administrative authority in Tripoli was vested in a Pasha directly appointed by the Sultan in Constantinople. The sultan supported the pasha with a corps of [[janissaries]] who he was dependent upon, which was in turn divided into a number of companies under the command of a junior officer or ''[[bey]]''. The janissaries quickly became the dominant force in Ottoman Libya and were also in charge of collecting taxes; however, [[Barbary corsairs]] were the ones who steadily provided income to Tripoli from privateering activities. As a self-governing military guild answerable only to their own laws and protected by a ''[[divan]]'' (a council of senior officers who advised the pasha), the janissaries soon reduced the pasha to a largely ceremonial role.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=St John |first=Ronald Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qB69DwAAQBAJ |title=Libya: From Colony to Revolution |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-78607-241-2 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 2 "Second page"}}</ref>


In 1611, the local chiefs of the area conducted a [[coup d'état]] and successfully appointed Suleiman Safar, their own leader, as ''dey'' (local chief). As a result, his successors continually held the title and even occasionally identified as pasha.<ref name=":0" />
In 1611, the local chiefs of the area conducted a [[coup d'état]] and successfully appointed Suleiman Safar, their own leader, as ''dey'' (local chief). As a result, his successors continually held the title and even occasionally identified as pasha.<ref name=":0" />
Line 62: Line 66:


===Reassertion of Ottoman authority===
===Reassertion of Ottoman authority===
In 1835 the government of Sultan [[Mahmud&nbsp;II]] took advantage of local disturbances to reassert their direct authority. As decentralized Ottoman power had resulted in the virtual independence of Egypt as well as Tripoli, the coast and desert lying between them relapsed to anarchy, even after direct Ottoman control was resumed in Tripoli. The indigenous [[Senussi]] Movement, led by Islamic cleric [[Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi|Sayyid Mohammed Ali as-Senussi]], called on the countryside to resist Ottoman rule. The Grand Senussi established his headquarters in the oasis town of [[Jaghbub, Libya|Jaghbub]] while his ''ikhwan'' (brothers) set up ''zawiyas'' (religious colleges or monasteries) across North Africa and brought some stability to regions not known for their submission to central authority. In line with the expressed instruction of the Grand Sanusi, these gains were made largely without any coercion.
In 1835 the government of Sultan [[Mahmud&nbsp;II]] took advantage of local disturbances to reassert their direct authority. As decentralized Ottoman power had resulted in the virtual independence of Egypt as well as Tripoli, the coast and desert lying between them relapsed to anarchy, even after direct Ottoman control was resumed in Tripoli. The indigenous [[Senusiyya]] (or Sanusi) Movement, led by Islamic cleric [[Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi]], called on the countryside to resist Ottoman rule. The Grand Senussi established his headquarters in the oasis town of [[Jaghbub, Libya|Jaghbub]] while his ''ikhwan'' (brothers) set up ''zawiyas'' (religious colleges or monasteries) across North Africa and brought some stability to regions not known for their submission to central authority. In line with the expressed instruction of the Grand Sanusi, these gains were made largely without any coercion.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}


It was one of the first Ottoman provinces to be reclassified from an [[eyalet]] to a [[vilayet]] after an [[Vilayet Law|administrative reform]] in 1865, and by 1867 it had been reformed into the Tripolitania Vilayet.<ref>{{cite book|title=Almanach de Gotha: annuaire généalogique, diplomatique et statistique|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=luUq1szHJWYC&pg=PA829|access-date=2013-06-01|year=1867|publisher=J. Perthes|pages=827–829}}</ref>
It was one of the first Ottoman provinces to be reclassified from an [[eyalet]] to a [[vilayet]] after an [[Vilayet Law|administrative reform]] in 1865, and by 1867 it had been reformed into the Tripolitania Vilayet.<ref>{{cite book|title=Almanach de Gotha: annuaire généalogique, diplomatique et statistique|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=luUq1szHJWYC&pg=PA829|access-date=2013-06-01|year=1867|publisher=J. Perthes|pages=827–829}}</ref>


The Ottoman sultan [[Abdul Hamid II|Abdulhamid II]] twice sent his aide-de-camp Azmzade Sadik El Mueyyed to meet Sheikh Sanusi to cultivate positive relations and counter the West European scramble for Africa.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gökkent |first=Giyas Müeyyed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b6CAzgEACAAJ |title=Journey in the Grand Sahara of Africa and Through Time |publisher=Menah |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-7371298-8-2 |language=en}}</ref>
The highpoint of the Sanusi influence came in the 1880s under the Grand Senussi's son, [[Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi]], who was a skilled administrator and a charismatic orator. With 146&nbsp;lodges spanning the entire Sahara, he moved the Senussi capital to [[Kufra]]. Harsh Ottoman rule only fuelled the appeal of the Senussi Movement's call to repel foreign occupation. Remarkably, Mohammed al-Mahdi succeeded where so many had failed before him, securing the enduring loyalty of the Amazigh tribes of [[Cyrenaica]]. Over a 75‑year period, the Ottoman Turks provided 33&nbsp;governors and Libya remained part of the empire—although at times virtually autonomous—until [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] [[Italian invasion of Libya|invaded]] for the second time in 1911, as the Ottoman Empire was collapsing.

The highpoint of the Sanusi influence came in the 1880s under the Grand Senussi's son, [[Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi|Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Sanusi]]. With 146&nbsp;lodges spanning the entire Sahara, he moved the Senussi capital to [[Kufra]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Over a 75‑year period, the Ottoman Turks provided 33&nbsp;governors{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} and Libya remained part of the empire until [[Italian invasion of Libya|Italy invaded]] for the second time in 1911.


=== Italo-Turkish War ===
=== Italo-Turkish War ===
{{main|Italo-Turkish War}}
{{main|Italo-Turkish War}}
The [[Italo-Turkish War]] was fought between the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]] from September 29, 1911 to October 18, 1912.
The [[Italo-Turkish War]] was fought between the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]] from September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912.


As a result of this conflict, the Ottoman Turks ceded the provinces of [[Tripolitania]], [[Fezzan]], and [[Cyrenaica]] to Italy. These provinces together formed what became known as [[Libya]].
As a result of this conflict, the Ottoman Turks ceded the provinces of [[Tripolitania]], [[Fezzan]], and [[Cyrenaica]] to Italy. These provinces together formed what became known as [[Libya]].
Line 76: Line 84:
==Administrative divisions==
==Administrative divisions==
[[File:Ottoman Empire Administrative Divisions.png|thumb|A map showing the administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire in 1899, including the province of Tripoli.]]
[[File:Ottoman Empire Administrative Divisions.png|thumb|A map showing the administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire in 1899, including the province of Tripoli.]]
By the 19th century, the province of Tripoli, known officially as ''Tarablus al-Gharb'' ('Tripoli of the West') was organized into five [[Sanjak|''sanjak''s]] (districts):<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Lisa |date=1984 |title=Nineteenth-Century Reform in Ottoman Libya |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/163044 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=325–348 |issn=0020-7438}}</ref>
By the 19th century, the province of Tripoli, known officially as ''Tarablus al-Gharb'' ('Tripoli of the West') was organized into five [[Sanjak|''sanjak''s]] (districts):<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Lisa |date=1984 |title=Nineteenth-Century Reform in Ottoman Libya |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/163044 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=325–348 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800028208 |jstor=163044 |issn=0020-7438}}</ref>
# Sanjak of Tarablus al-Gharb (Tripoli)
# Sanjak of Tarablus al-Gharb (Tripoli)
# Sanjak of [[Al-Khums|Khums]]
# Sanjak of [[Al-Khums|Khums]]

Latest revision as of 01:28, 14 August 2024

Not to be confused with Tripoli Eyalet.
Ottoman Tripolitania
ایالت طرابلس غرب
(1551–1864)
Eyālet-i Trâblus Gârb
ولايت طرابلس غرب
(1864–1912)
Vilâyet-i Trâblus Gârb
Eyalet and Vilayet of Ottoman Empire
1551–1912
Flag of Ottoman Tripolitania
Flag
Lesser coat of arms (1856) of Ottoman Tripolitania
Lesser coat of arms (1856)

The Tripolitania Eyalet in 1795
CapitalTripoli
History 
1551
• Karamanli dynasty rises to power
1711
1801
• Ottoman Empire reestablishes direct control
1835
1912
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Hospitaller Tripoli
Hafsid dynasty
Mamluk Sultanate
Italian Tripolitania
Italian Cyrenaica
Today part ofLibya

Ottoman Tripolitania, also known as the Regency of Tripoli, was officially ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1551 to 1912.[1][2] It corresponded roughly to the northern parts of modern-day Libya in historic Tripolitania and Cyrenaica.[1][3] It was initially established as an Ottoman province ruled by a pasha (governor) in Tripoli who was appointed from Constantinople, though in practice it was semi-autonomous due to the power of the local Janissaries.[1][2] From 1711 to 1835, the Karamanli dynasty ruled the province as a de facto hereditary monarchy while remaining under nominal Ottoman suzerainty.[1] In 1835, the Ottomans reestablished direct control over the region until its annexation by Italy in 1912.[4]

Like the Ottoman regencies in Tunis and Algiers, the Regency of Tripoli was a major base for the privateering activities of the North African corsairs, who also provided revenues for Tripoli.[1][2] A remnant of the centuries of Turkish rule is the presence of a population of Turkish origin, and those of partial Turkish origin, the Kouloughlis.

History

[edit]
Part of a series on the
History of Libya
Prehistory  
Ancient history 3200–146 BC
Roman era 146 BC – mid-7C
Islamic rule mid-7c–1510
Spanish Tripoli 1510–1530
Hospitaller Tripoli 1530–1551
Ottoman Tripolitania 1551–1911
Italian colonization:
Italian Tripolitania and Cyrenaica		 1911–1934
Italian Libya 1934–1943
Allied occupation 1943–1951
Kingdom of Libya 1951–1969
Libya under Muammar Gaddafi 1969–2011
First Civil War 2011
National Transitional Council 2011–2012
General National Congress 2012–2014
House of Representatives 2014–present
Second Civil War 2014–2020
Government of National Accord 2016–2021
Government of National Unity 2021–present
flag Libya portal
The Tripolitania Vilayet in 1900

Ottoman conquest

[edit]

By the beginning of the 16th century the Libyan coast had minimal central authority and its harbours were havens for unchecked bands of pirates. The Spaniards occupied Tripoli in 1510, but the Spaniards were more concerned with controlling the port than with the inconveniences of administering a colony. In 1530 the city, along with Malta and Gozo, was ceded by Charles I of Spain to the Knights of St John as compensation for their recent expulsion from the island of Rhodes at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Christian rule lasted then until 1551, when Tripoli was besieged and conquered by famed Ottoman admirals Sinan Pasha and Turgut Reis. Declared as Bey and later Pasha of Tripoli, Turgut Reis submitted the tribes of the interior and several cities like Misrata, Zuwara, Gharyan, and Gafsa in the next decade. These efforts contributed to cement the foundations of a statal structure in what is today Libya, but control from Constantinople remained loose at best, much like in the rest of the Barbary Coast of North Africa.

Under the Ottomans, the Maghreb was divided into three provinces, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. After 1565, administrative authority in Tripoli was vested in a Pasha directly appointed by the Sultan in Constantinople. The sultan supported the pasha with a corps of janissaries who he was dependent upon, which was in turn divided into a number of companies under the command of a junior officer or bey. The janissaries quickly became the dominant force in Ottoman Libya and were also in charge of collecting taxes; however, Barbary corsairs were the ones who steadily provided income to Tripoli from privateering activities. As a self-governing military guild answerable only to their own laws and protected by a divan (a council of senior officers who advised the pasha), the janissaries soon reduced the pasha to a largely ceremonial role.[5]

In 1611, the local chiefs of the area conducted a coup d'état and successfully appointed Suleiman Safar, their own leader, as dey (local chief). As a result, his successors continually held the title and even occasionally identified as pasha.[5]

Karamanli dynasty and the Barbary Wars

[edit]
Further information: Karamanli dynasty

During the 18th century, Ottoman power waned in North Africa, with the sultans ending the practice of sending pashas to Tripoli, Algiers and Tunis. The title of pasha began to assume its hereditary status.[6]

In 1711, Ahmed Karamanli, an Ottoman cavalry officer and son of a Turkish officer and Libyan woman, seized power and founded the Karamanli dynasty, which would last 124 years. The 1790–95 Tripolitanian civil war occurred in those years.

In May 1801, Pasha Yusuf Karamanli demanded from the United States an increase in the tribute ($83,000) which it had paid since 1796 for the protection of their commerce and enslavement of crews by barbary pirates when the Treaty of Tripoli was signed. The demand was refused by third American President Thomas Jefferson, an American naval force was sent and blockaded Tripoli, and the desultory First Barbary War dragged on from 1801 until 3 June 1805. The Regency of Tripoli was defeated by the newly revived United States Navy.

The Second Barbary War (1815, also known as the Algerian War) was the second of the two wars fought between the United States and the Ottoman Turks' North African regencies of Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis, known collectively as the Barbary States.

On 5 September 1817, Yusuf Karamanli invited the leaders of the Libyan tribe of Al-Jawazi to his castle in Benghazi, following a dispute regarding tribute and an uprising against his rule. Consequently, the Pasha ordered the execution of all attendees, and chased down the other tribe members, which resulted in the massacre of at least 10,000 people, who eventually sought refuge in neighboring countries, especially Egypt. This was known as the Al-Jawazi massacre.[7][8]

Reassertion of Ottoman authority

[edit]

In 1835 the government of Sultan Mahmud II took advantage of local disturbances to reassert their direct authority. As decentralized Ottoman power had resulted in the virtual independence of Egypt as well as Tripoli, the coast and desert lying between them relapsed to anarchy, even after direct Ottoman control was resumed in Tripoli. The indigenous Senusiyya (or Sanusi) Movement, led by Islamic cleric Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi, called on the countryside to resist Ottoman rule. The Grand Senussi established his headquarters in the oasis town of Jaghbub while his ikhwan (brothers) set up zawiyas (religious colleges or monasteries) across North Africa and brought some stability to regions not known for their submission to central authority. In line with the expressed instruction of the Grand Sanusi, these gains were made largely without any coercion.[citation needed]

It was one of the first Ottoman provinces to be reclassified from an eyalet to a vilayet after an administrative reform in 1865, and by 1867 it had been reformed into the Tripolitania Vilayet.[9]

The Ottoman sultan Abdulhamid II twice sent his aide-de-camp Azmzade Sadik El Mueyyed to meet Sheikh Sanusi to cultivate positive relations and counter the West European scramble for Africa.[10]

The highpoint of the Sanusi influence came in the 1880s under the Grand Senussi's son, Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Sanusi. With 146 lodges spanning the entire Sahara, he moved the Senussi capital to Kufra.[citation needed]

Over a 75‑year period, the Ottoman Turks provided 33 governors[citation needed] and Libya remained part of the empire until Italy invaded for the second time in 1911.

Italo-Turkish War

[edit]
Main article: Italo-Turkish War

The Italo-Turkish War was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy from September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912.

As a result of this conflict, the Ottoman Turks ceded the provinces of Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica to Italy. These provinces together formed what became known as Libya.

Administrative divisions

[edit]
A map showing the administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire in 1899, including the province of Tripoli.

By the 19th century, the province of Tripoli, known officially as Tarablus al-Gharb ('Tripoli of the West') was organized into five sanjaks (districts):[11]

  1. Sanjak of Tarablus al-Gharb (Tripoli)
  2. Sanjak of Khums
  3. Sanjak of Jabal al-Garb
  4. Sanjak of Fezzan
  5. Sanjak of Benghazi (Cyrenaica)

These district names were reported by James Henry Skene in 1851[12] and five districts of the same name existed after the reforms of the 1860s that transformed the province officially into a vilayet (or wilayah in Arabic).[11] Among these, Cyrenaica was made an independent sanjak in 1863 that was directly dependent on Istanbul, then it was assigned to Tripoli's supervision in 1871, and finally it was attached to Istanbul again in 1888.[11][13]

[edit]
  • 1667 map
    1667 map
  • The "Kingdom of Tripoli" (Royaume de Tripoly) is shown as including much of modern-day Libya on a map by Guillaume Delisle (1707).
    The "Kingdom of Tripoli" (Royaume de Tripoly) is shown as including much of modern-day Libya on a map by Guillaume Delisle (1707).
  • 1736 map
    1736 map
  • 1747 map
    1747 map
  • 1771 map
    1771 map
  • Tripolitania in 1818
    Tripolitania in 1818
  • 1907 map
    1907 map

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e St. John, Ronald Bruce (2015). Libya: Continuity and Change. Routledge. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1-135-03654-6.
  2. ^ a b c Naylor, Phillip (2015). North Africa, Revised Edition: A History from Antiquity to the Present. University of Texas Press. pp. 119, 122–123. ISBN 978-0-292-76192-6.
  3. ^ Abun-Nasr, Jamil (1987). A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 191–193. ISBN 0521337674.
  4. ^ Abun-Nasr, Jamil (1987). A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 314, 321. ISBN 0521337674.
  5. ^ a b St John, Ronald Bruce (2017). "Chapter 2 "Second page"". Libya: From Colony to Revolution. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-78607-241-2.
  6. ^ Lewis, Raphaela (1988). Everyday life in Ottoman Turkey. New York, NY: Dorset Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-88029-175-0.
  7. ^ "Libyan tribe demands to prosecute Turkey for the massacres committed against its people, similar to that of the Armenians". horizonweekly.ca. 5 October 2016.
  8. ^ مذبحة الجوازي.. دماء 10 آلاف ليبي تطارد إردوغان. 3thmanly.com/ (in Arabic). 18 October 2018.
  9. ^ Almanach de Gotha: annuaire généalogique, diplomatique et statistique. J. Perthes. 1867. pp. 827–829. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
  10. ^ Gökkent, Giyas Müeyyed (2021). Journey in the Grand Sahara of Africa and Through Time. Menah. ISBN 978-1-7371298-8-2.
  11. ^ a b c Anderson, Lisa (1984). "Nineteenth-Century Reform in Ottoman Libya". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 16 (3): 325–348. doi:10.1017/S0020743800028208. ISSN 0020-7438. JSTOR 163044.
  12. ^ Skene, James Henry (1851). The Three Eras of Ottoman History, a Political Essay on the Late Reforms of Turkey, Considered Principally as Affecting Her Position in the Event of a War Taking Place. Chapman and Hall. p. 76.
  13. ^ Emine Ö. Evered (2012). Empire and Education Under the Ottomans: Politics, Reform and Resistance from the Tanzimat to the Young Turks. I.B.Tauris. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-78076-109-1. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ottoman_Tripolitania&oldid=1240192681"