Tripolitania

   It is located in the northwestern part of Libya, and it is one of the most populous and historic regions with about 80 percent of the country's population living here. It covers an area of about 365,000 square kilometers and runs from the Mediterranean Sea to the Saharan frontiers of Libya. The history of the area was dominated by its Saharan caravan trade and its port, which provided refuge to pirates and slave traders. Since ancient times, Cyrenaica has been drawn east toward Egypt, the Fezzan toward Chad and Sudan, and Tripolitania west toward Tunisia and the Maghreb.

   It is in Tripolitania that the first manifestations of nationalism came for the unification of Libya as well as the development of a political consciousness against foreign occupation. Despite the lack of support by the major colonial powers of the time, in 1918, the Republic of Tripoli was organized, and it was the first form of republican governance in the Arab world. After World War II, numerous political movements emerged in Libya, particularly in Tripolitania. Eventually, in 1950, the elites of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and the Fezzan settled on forming a united, federal Libya under the leadership of King Sayyid Mohammed Idris al-Sanusi.

   Today, the region surrounding Tripoli as far south as Jabal Nafusa constitutes the bread basket of the country, with farming dedicated largely to the cultivation of cereals, date palm, and olive groves as well as the use of the Jafara plain and its hills for pastoral nomadism. Jabal Nafusa is in the western part of al-Jabal al-Gharbi, or Trablusi, and it is home to various Ibadithe Berber communities known for their troglodyte housing architecture. These include Kabaw, Jadu, Yefren, and Kirkla. The social groups include At-fassato (also known as Infusan and people of Tanmmirt); I`azzaben (Ibadithe religious scholars); Irquiqin (term denoting all Berbers); Ishamjan (blacks or former slaves); Araben, or Eyyeshan (Arabs); and Ehadaden (blacksmiths). Most Berbers in Libya live in Jabal Nafusa, Zwara, and Ghaddamis.

   See also Kharijism; Sanusiyya.