Tripoli (city, Lebanon)

Waterfront in Tripoli
Tripoli is a seaport in northern Lebanon on the Mediterranean Sea. The city is also
an important manufacturing and transportation hub.
Vieljeux/Sipa Press/Woodfin Camp and Associates
Tripoli (city, Lebanon)
Tripoli (city, Lebanon) (Arabic Ţarābulus; ancient Tripolis), city and seaport on the
Mediterranean Sea coast in northern Lebanon, and, in ancient times, one of the
most important cities of Phoenicia. It is now Lebanon’s second-largest city and
the capital of Ash Shamal (North Lebanon) Governorate. It lies 85 km (53 mi)
north of Beirut on Lebanon’s main coastal highway and rail line and is also
connected by road and rail to Ḩimş, Syria. Most of the city’s residents are Sunni
Muslims; Christians make up a minority.
Tripoli occupies the banks of the Abū Alī River and an adjacent peninsula. The city
is divided into two distinct parts: the main one located inland on the banks of the
river, and the smaller one, called Al Mīn’ (Arabic, “the port”), located on the outer
tip of the peninsula. The site of Al Mīn’ was an island centuries ago and was the
location of the ancient Phoenician city and port, nothing of which remains. Silt
deposited at the mouth of the Abū Alī River filled in the strait between the island
and mainland, creating a low area that now supports fruit orchards.
Tripoli’s modern port is the second largest in Lebanon. Until 1981 it was the
Mediterranean Sea terminus of an Iraq Petroleum Company pipeline, which fed a
large oil refinery in Tripoli. The pipeline and refinery were damaged during the
Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). The refinery resumed operations briefly in the
early 1990s but is no longer functional. The pipeline, while no longer connected
with Iraq, carries smaller amounts of Syrian oil. Tripoli’s economy now depends on
fishing, thermal power generation, and the production of olive oil, soap, sugar,
tobacco, wood products, decorated metal products, and clothing.
Tripoli developed as a later Phoenician trade center. It was founded about 700 bc
as the capital of a trade confederation between the city-states of Tyre, Sidon, and
Aradus (modern Arwad, Syria), giving the city its name (Latin Tripolis, “three
cities”). Control of Tripoli changed hands from the Seleucids (198-64 bc), to the
Roman (later, Byzantine) Empire (64 bc-ad 638), to Arab Muslims. European
Crusaders captured it in 1109 after a destructive siege. Rebuilt, it became the
seat of a Crusader state known as the County of Tripoli. Egyptian Mamluks
destroyed Tripoli in 1289 as they drove the Crusaders from the region. The
Mamluks rebuilt the city again and Tripoli prospered for centuries. Most of the
dozens of historic buildings and monuments still standing in Tripoli date from the
Mamluk period, including the city’s citadel, two major mosques, public baths,
schools, and caravansaries (caravan inns). Along with the rest of the region,
Tripoli was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517. The city served as the
headquarters of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1982 to 1983,
when Tripoli was the site of a Syrian-backed Palestinian rebellion against PLO
leader Yasir Arafat. Population (1997 estimate) 240,000.
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