Tripoli

Historic region and Roman province of North Africa. It was originally settled by Berbers and was a Phoenician colony named for its three constituent cities (treis poleis), Oea (Tripoli), Leptis Magna, and Sabrata. It fell to Numidia in 146 BCE. The Roman emperor Diocletian (284-305 CE), in his reorganization of the empire, formed two provinces, Byzacena and Tripolitania, from the southern and eastern parts of the old province of Africa. Tripolitania included the western part of Libya, with its capital at Leptis Magna. Region was later occupied by Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, and Ottomans. It was ceded to Arabs (ca. 641) by the Byzantine Empire. Later under the control of the Almohads (by the 12th century), vassalized by the Turks in 1551, and occupied by Italy in 1911.