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TRIPOLI

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 289 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TRIPOLI , a See also:

Turkish vilayet (regency) of See also:North See also:Africa. It is bounded N. by the Mediterranean (between 11° 40' and 25° 12' E.) and has a See also:coast-See also:line of over Iwo m. Tripoli comprises at least five distinct regions—Tripoli proper, the See also:Barca See also:plateau (See also:Cyrenaica), the Aujila oases, See also:Fezzan (q.v.) and the oases of See also:Ghadames and See also:Ghat—which with the intervening sandy and stony wastes occupy the space between See also:Tunisia and See also:Egypt, extend from the Mediterranean See also:south-wards to the Tropic of See also:Cancer, and have a collective See also:area of about 400,000 sq. m., with a See also:population estimated at from 800,000 to 1,300,000. Towards the south and See also:east the frontiers are undefined. But on the See also:west See also:side the conventional line laid down by agreement with See also:France in 1886 was more accurately determined in 1892, when the terminal point on the Mediterranean was shifted from Borj-el-Biban to See also:Ras Ajir, 18 m. to the south-east, in 33° 12' N. 11° 40' E. From this point the line passes along the See also:Wad Magla and across the Erg (See also:sand) See also:dunes in such a way as to leave Ghadames to See also:Turkey. In consequence of frontier collisions the boundary as far as Ghadames was precisely defined in 1910. South of that point the See also:rival claims of France and Turkey remained in dispute. For some distance east of Tunisia the seaboard is See also:low and sandy, and is often regarded as a See also:part of the See also:Sahara, which, however, begins only some 8o m. farther south, ph ic beyond the Jebels Nefusi, Yefren and Ghurian Feature. Features. (Gharian).

The " See also:

Jebel," as this See also:system is locally called, terminates eastwards in the Tarhona heights of the Horns (Khoms) coast See also:district, has a mean See also:altitude of about 2000 ft. and culminates in the Takut (Tekuk) See also:volcano (2800 ft.) nearly due south of the See also:capital. It is not a true See also:mountain range, but rather the steep scarp of the Saharan plateau, which encloses southwards the Jefara coast plains, and probably represents the See also:original coast-line. The Ghurian See also:section is scored in places by the beds of intermittent coast streams, and on its See also:lower slopes is clothed with a See also:rich sub-tropical vegetation. South of these escarpments, the vast Hammada el-Homra, the " Red Hammada," an interminable stony table-See also:land covering some 40,000 sq. m., occupies the whole space between Tripoli proper and the Fezzan depression. The now uninhabited and See also:water-less Hammada formerly drained through several large See also:rivers, such as the Wadis Targelat (Uani, Kseia), Terrgurt, Sofejin, Zemzem and See also:Bel, north-eastwards to the Gulf of Sidra (Syrtis See also:major). Southwards the table-land is skirted by the Jebel Welad See also:Hassan, the Jebel es-Suda, the Jebel Morai-Yeh, and other detached ranges, which have a normal west to east trend in the direction of the Aujila oases, rising a little above the level of the plateau, but falling precipitously towards Fezzan. The Jebel es-Suda (See also:Black Mountains), most conspicuous of these ranges, with a mean altitude of 2800 ft., takes its name from the blackened aspect of its See also:limestone and See also:sandstone rocks, which have been subjected to volcanic See also:action, giving them the See also:appearance of See also:basalt. Eastwards this range ramifies into the two See also:crescent-shaped chains of the Haruj el-Aswad and Haruj el-Abiad (" Black " and " See also:White " Haruj), which rise some 700 ft. above the Red Hammada, and enclose an extensive Cretaceous plateau. Rocks of Cretaceous See also:age See also:cover, indeed, an immense area of the See also:northern part of the vilayet, See also:recent eruptive rocks being represented by the lavas and ashes of the craters of Takut and Manterus. The later palaeozoic formations occur in Fezzan. Beyond the barren Ghadama district in the north of the Hammada the dreary aspect of the See also:wilderness is broken by several tracts under grass, See also:corn and date-palms, and containing some permanent reservoirs in the beds of the Wadis Sofejin and Zemzem, where the plateau falls from a mean height of 2000 ft. to s000 and 53o ft. respectively. But it again rises rapidly southwards to a somewhat See also:uniform level of 1600 or 1700 ft., and here the See also:main See also:caravan route from Tripoli to Murzuk and See also:Lake See also:Chad traverses for a distance of fully 13o m. a monotonous region of sandstone, underlying - See also:clays, marls, See also:gypsum and fossiliferous silicious deposits.

In its northern section this part of the Hammada, as it is locally called in a pre-eminent sense, is relieved by a few patches of herbage, scrub and brushwood, with a little water See also:

left in the rocky cavities by the heavy showers which occasionally fall. North-eastwards the Neddik pass over the Jebel Morai-Yeh leads down to the remarkable See also:chain of low-lying oases, which, The AuJiis from the See also:chief member of the See also:group, is commonly Depression. called the Aujila depression. Collectively the oases See also:present the aspect of a See also:long winding valley, which is enclosed on the north side by the See also:southern escarpments of the Barca plateau, expands at intervals into patches of perennial verdure and shallow saline basins, and extends from the See also:Wadi el-Fareg, near the Gulf of Sidra, through the Bir See also:Rassam, Aujila, Jalo, Faredgha, and See also:Siwa oases, to the Natron lakes and the dried-up See also:branch of the See also:Nile See also:delta known as the See also:Bahr bila-Ma (waterless See also:river). The whole region presents the aspect of a silted-up marine inlet, which perhaps in See also:Pliocene times penetrated some 300 m. south-east-wards in the direction of the Nile. Nearly all the fossil shells found in its sands belong to the See also:fauna now living in the Mediterranean, and Siwa is 98 ft. below See also:sea-level. This is true also of its eastern extensions, Sittra (8o) and the Birket el-Kerun in the See also:Fayum (141). But Aujila and Jalo stand 130 and 296 ft. respectively above sea-level, so that the See also:idea entertained by the explorer See also:Gerhard See also:Rohlfs of transforming the chain of oases into a marine gulf, and thus converting the Barca plateau into an See also:island or See also:peninsula in the midst of the Mediterranean See also:waters, and in fact flooding the Libyan See also:desert, must See also:share the See also:fate of See also:Colonel See also:Francois Roudaire's equally visionary See also:scheme in respect of the Western Sahara. The Barca plateau, which consists largely of strata of See also:tertiary formation, falls in terraces down to the Aujila depression, and The Barca presents an unbroken rampart of steep cliffs towards Plateau. the Mediterranean, is by far the most favoured region of the vilayet. Its many natural advantages of See also:climate, See also:soil and vegetation led to the See also:establishment of several See also:Greek colonies, the See also:oldest and most famous of which was that of See also:Cyrene (q.v.), dating from about 63o B.C. From this See also:place the whole region took the name of Cyrenaica (q.v.) and was also known as Penlapolis, from its " five cities" of Cyrene, See also:Apollonia, See also:Arsinoe, See also:Berenice and Barca. The elevated plateau of Cyrenaica, which encloses the Gulf of Sidra on the west, is separated southwards by the Aujila depression from the Libyan desert, and projects northwards far into the Mediterranean, might seem, like the See also:Atlas region in the west, to belong geologically rather to the See also:European than to the See also:African mainland. It has a mean altitude of considerably over 2000 ft., and in the Jebel Akhdar (See also:Green Mountains) attains a height of nearly 3500 ft.

East-wards the Barca uplands See also:

merge gradually in the less elevated Marmarica plateau, which nowhere rises more than 1800 ft. above sea-level, and disappears altogether in the direction of the Nile delta. The most easterly spot on the coast belonging to Tripoli is the See also:head of the Gulf of Solum; from this point the frontier line separating the regency from the See also:Egyptian dominions runs south so as to leave the Siwa See also:oasis on the Egyptian side of the line. South of the Aujila depression the land rises steadily to a height of nearly 1200 feet in the Kufra oases, which See also:lie between 21 ° and 24° E., The Kufra north of the Tropic of Cancer and due east of Fezzan. The K The group consists of five distinct oases in the See also:heart of the Libyan desert—Taizerbo, Zighen, Bu-Zeima, Erbena and Kebabo—which extend for a distance of 20o m. north-west and south-east, and have a collective area of 7000 sq. m. and a population of boon or 7000 Arabo-See also:Berber nomads. See also:Good water is obtained in abundance from the underground reservoirs, which lie within a few feet of the See also:surface, and support over a million date-palms. Kufra, that is, " Infidels " (in reference to the now See also:extinct See also:pagan Tibu See also:aborigines), is a centre of the Senussite brotherhood, whose cazeva (See also:convent) at Jof, in Kebabo, ranks in importance with that of Jarabub, their chief station in Cyrenaica. This circumstance, together with the See also:great fertility of the group and its position midway on the caravan route between Cyrenaica and See also:Wadai, imparts exceptional importance to these oases. Formerly the See also:Turks did not exercise authority in Kufra, the See also:influence of the See also:Senussi being See also:paramount. Kufra, moreover, is outside the limits usually assigned to Tripoli. But in 1910 See also:Ottoman troops were in occupation of the oases. Ghat stands 2400 feet above the sea, on the Wadi Aghelad in the Igharghar See also:basin, and consequently belongs, not to the Fezzan Chat. depression, but to the Saharan plateau.

End of Article: TRIPOLI

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