Tripoli

Phoenician traders founded the city in the seventh century BC as Oyat; it became Oea under the Greek rulers of Cyrenaica, one of the three cities — with Sabratha and Leptis Magna — that gave Tripolitania its name, and the only one to survive antiquity. Under Rome it grew rich on the caravan trade and olive oil, and the marble arch of 165 AD, raised in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, is what remains above ground. Vandals and Byzantines followed, and the Arab conquest of the seventh century made it an Islamic port, its name shortened to Tarabulus.

Normans, Almohads and Hafsids held it before Spain seized the city in 1510; Charles V handed it to the Knights of St John in 1530, and they were driven out by the Ottomans in 1551. Ottoman rule, interrupted by the Karamanli dynasty that ran Tripoli as a near-independent state from 1711 to 1835, made it a corsair capital whose demands for tribute led to war with the United States at the start of the 19th century.

Italy invaded in 1911 and made Tripoli the capital of its colony, laying out arcaded avenues and squares beyond the walls. The city was taken by British forces in 1943 and became a capital of independent Libya in 1951. Oil money transformed it after 1959, and it was the centre of government under Muammar Gaddafi from 1969. In August 2011 it fell to the forces of the uprising and Gaddafi's rule ended. Since then it has been contested by armed groups, endured an assault by eastern-based forces in 2019 and 2020, and remains the seat of the internationally recognised government.

Tripoli has always faced the sea, and it shows in the mixture the city carries: Ottoman and Andalusian family names, a Maghrebi dialect close to Tunisian, the remains of a large Italian community that shaped the food and the streets, and long-standing Amazigh and Jewish presences, the second of which ended in the mid-20th century. The old merchant families of the medina still form a recognisable part of the city's identity.

Social life is centred on family and on hospitality. Visits are long, tea is poured in several rounds and the last is often served with peanuts or almonds, and weddings run for days with drumming, ululation and separate gatherings for men and women. Religious observance is mainstream, and Friday prayers and Ramadan set the rhythm of the week and the year. Public entertainment is limited: cafés, football, the beach and family visiting take the place of nightlife, and alcohol is illegal.

Craftwork survives in the souks, where coppersmiths, tailors, goldsmiths and makers of traditional dress still work inside the walls. Malouf, the Andalusian-rooted classical music of the Maghreb, and Libyan popular song are heard at weddings and on the radio. Loyalty to neighbourhood, town and family often counts for more than national politics, and residents speak carefully about the armed groups that operate in the city.

Tripoli had about 1.3 million people in the city at a 2021 estimate, and it dominates the country's administration and commerce. Ministries, the central bank, the national oil company and most large businesses are here, and public-sector salaries funded by oil revenue support a large share of households. Wealth is visible in the western suburbs and the coastal villas; damaged and neglected housing is visible elsewhere.

The day begins early, pauses in the afternoon heat and revives in the evening, when the corniche, the shopping streets of Gargaresh and the malls fill up. Families spend Fridays at the beaches east and west of the city. Traffic is heavy, and checkpoints run by different armed groups are part of ordinary journeys.

The recurring difficulties are power cuts, water interruptions, fuel queues, shortages of cash at the banks and the swings of the parallel exchange rate. Periodic clashes between armed groups close streets and schools for days at a time. The city has also absorbed people displaced from other parts of Libya since 2011, and it is a major point on the migration routes across the Mediterranean, with large migrant communities working in construction and services in difficult conditions.

Tripoli's kitchen mixes Maghrebi, Ottoman and Italian habits. Bazin, a firm dome of unleavened barley dough eaten with a meat and tomato stew, is among the dishes most associated with Libyan home cooking. Couscous is steamed and served with lamb or chicken and vegetables, and shorba, a lamb and vegetable soup with mint and tomato paste, is the standard opening to the Ramadan iftar.

Pasta remains from the Italian period, cooked in a Libyan way: imbakbaka, pasta simmered in one pot with meat in a spiced tomato sauce, and rishta, homemade noodles cooked in a tomato sauce. Usban, made of guts stuffed with offal and herbs, is a festival dish, and grilled fish from the Mediterranean is the speciality of the restaurants near the port. Street food runs to shawarma, falafel and sfinz, a fried dough eaten with sugar or egg for breakfast.

Sweets are dense and sugary — maqrud, semolina pastries filled with dates; ghraiba, crumbling biscuits; and Italian-derived cakes from the patisseries of the western suburbs. Dates come from the desert oases, and olive oil from the groves of the Jafara plain and the Nafusa mountains. Tea is boiled until a thick foam forms, poured from a height and drunk in three rounds; coffee is Italian in style, and alcohol is not sold.