Tripoli

Tripoli, a vilayet of the Turkish Empire, stretching along the Mediterranean from Egypt on the east to Tunis and Algeria on the west, and bounded on the south by the Sahara. Its area, including Barca (q.v.) and Fezzan, is estimated at some 390,OOO square miles, but its limits are not very strictly determined. Beyond the level tract along the coast, which in the neighbourhood of Tripoli and Misratah is extremely fertile, stretch vast sandy plains, traversed by two rocky chains, with a maximum height of 4,000 feet, which join the Atlas range near Kairwan. The rivers are few and small, and the springs often fail. The feltile districts on the coast produce corn, fruit, wine, cotton, madder, tobacco, etc; the dates, which grow further inland, surpass all others in North Africa. The activity of the caravans has diminished considerably owing to the suppression of the slave trade, but large quantities of ivory gold-dust, esparto grass, and ostrich feathers are still exported. The inhabitants are mostly Berbers, with an admixture of Moors, Arabs, Turks, Jews, and a few Europeans (mostly Maltese). TRIPOLI, the capital, is a dirty town, thoroughly Moorish in character, situated on a low rocky promontory, extending into the Mediterranean and forming one side of a small bay.