Author's Note: I would like to express my thanks to Richard W. Bulliet, Abdallah Ibrahim, and Fredj Stambouli, who provided very useful comments on an earlier draft of this essay.

¹ The Italians called the Ottoman possessions in Africa “Libya.” Before their occupation the western region was known in Arabic by the name of its capital city, Tarablus al-Gharb, or Tripoli, and the eastern as Barqah; to Europe the regions were Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, although “Tripolitania” often referred in the European literature to both regions. There was considerable confusion as a consequence, particularly since Cyrenaica was detached from and reattached to the central provincial administration in Tripoli several times. Here the term “Tripoli province” refers to both Tripolitania and Cyrenaica and those terms are reserved for designating their respective regions. “Tripoli” used alone refers to the entire province unless the context suggests it designates only the capital city. For the purposes of consistency, Turkish names and positions have been rendered in transliteration from Arabic, the language of the province.

² Ettore, Rossi, Storia di Tripoli e della Tripolitania dalla conquista araba al 1911 (Rome: 1968), p. 283;Google Scholar also see Pellissier de Reynaud, E., “Le Regence de Tripoli,” Revue des Deux Mondes, 1855, p. 14.Google Scholar

³ Paolo, Della Cella, Narrative of an Expedition from Tripoli in Barbary to the Western Frontier of Egypt in 1817… (London: 1822), p. 41.Google Scholar

⁴ On the Muntasir and Mrayyid families during this period, see Ministero delle Colonie (Italy), Notizie sulla regione de Misurata (Rome: 1916), p. 8.Google Scholar

⁵ Slousch, N., “La Tripolitaine sous la domination des Karamanlis,” Revue du Monde Musulman, 1908, p. 434;Google ScholarEnrico, de Agostini, Le popolazioni della Tripolitania: Notizie ethniche e storiche (Tripoli: 1917), pp. xx–xxi.Google Scholar

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⁷ Pellissier, de Reynaud, “Le Regence de Tripoli,” p. 97.Google Scholar

⁸ Cumming, D. D., “Modern History,” in British Military Administration, Handbook on Cyrenaica (Cairo: 1947), pp. 5–6.Google Scholar

⁹ Della, Cella, Narrative of an Expedition, pp. 178–198;Google ScholarSalaheddin, Hassan Salem, “The Genesis of Political Leadership of Libya, 1952–1969,” Ph.D. dissertation, George Washington University, 1973, pp. 195, 216.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Cited by Charles, Feraud, Annales Tripolitaines (Paris: 1927), p. 370.Google Scholar

¹¹ See ibid., p. 374; Rossi, , Storia de Tripoli, p. 298.Google Scholar

¹² On the policies of the various governors, see (in addition to the works of Feraud and Rossi) Tahir, ⊂Ahmad al-Zawi, in Wulat tarablus al-gharb min al-bidayat al-fath al-arabi ila nihayat al-⊃ahd al-turki [The governors of Tripoli from the beginning of the Arab conquest until the end of the Turkish era] (Bayrut: 1970).Google Scholar

¹³ See Subtil, E., “Histoire d'Abd el-Gelil Sultan du Fezzan, assassiné en 1842,” Revue de l'Orient, V, 1844. It was his mission to negotiate the French contract with Abd al-Jalil.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Andre, Martel, Les Confins Saharo-Tripolitains de la Tunisie, (1881–1911) (Paris: 1965), p. 104.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Rossi, , Storia de Tripoli, pp. 321–22;Google ScholarZawi, , Wulat, pp. 244, 257;Google ScholarEnrico, de Agostini, Le popolazioni della Cirenaica; Notizie etniche e storiche (Bengasi: 1922), p. 434.Google Scholar

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¹⁷ Zawi, , Wulat, p. 258;Google ScholarSalem, , “The Genesis of Political Leadership,” p. 146;Google ScholarAhmad, Sidqi Dajjani and Abd, al-Salam Adham, eds. Watha⊃iq tarikh Libya al-hadith: al-watha⊃iq al-⊃uthmaniyya [Documents of modern Libyan history: Ottoman documents] (Banghazi: 1974), doc. 20, pp. 41–42;Google ScholarGregory, J. W., Report on the Work of the Commission sent out by the Jewish Territorial Organization under the Auspices of the Governor-General of Tripoli to examine the territory proposed for the purpose of a Jewish settlement in Cyrenaica (London: 1909), p. 13.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Roderic, Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1856–1876 (Princeton: 1963), p. 147.Google Scholar

¹⁹ On Mahmud Nadhim's tenure as Grand Wazir, see Davison, , Reform in the Ottoman Empire, p. 281Google Scholaret seq; as governor, Zawi, , Wulat, p. 258. Copies of the newspaper are available in the Tripoli Archives. It was published continuously until 1911.Google Scholar

²⁰ Rossi, , Storia, de Tripoli, p. 323.Google Scholar

²¹ Davison, , Reform in the Ottoman Empire, p. 160;Google ScholarErnesto, Queirolo, “Gli enti autonomi dell'amministrazione locale,” Rinascita, pp. 401–402.Google ScholarSalem, , “Genesis of Political Leadership,” p. 140.Google Scholar

²² Slousch, N., “Les Senoussiya en Tripolitaine,” Revue du Monde Musulman, I, 1907, passim.Google Scholar

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²⁶ Evans-Pritchard, , The Sanusi, pp. 14, 80;Google ScholarMansour, R. Kikhia, “Le nomadisme pastoral en Cyrenaique septentrionale,” thèse de 3^eme cycle, Université d'Aix-Marseille, 1968, p. 159.Google Scholar

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²⁸ British Accounts and Papers, 1900, “Report on … Tripoli,” p. 8.

²⁹ Ibid., 1866, p. 112; 1900, “Report on … Tripoli,” p. 14. Those enjoying tax exemptions at the turn of the century were a sizable proportion of the population, for they included both the murabit tribes and the qulughli. The qulughli were estimated in 1900 to include between 20,000 and 25,000 adult men.

³⁰ On waqf in Tripoli, see Franzoni, , Colonizzazione, pp. 239–40;Google ScholarEvans-Pritchard, , The Sanusi, pp. 76–78; PRO, WO 230/248.Google Scholar

³¹ A complete list, with the names of the producers or owners of the products and their value, is in the Usta Collection, Tripoli Archives.

³² Martel, , Les Confins, pp. 123–25; British Accounts and Papers, 1872; “Report on Bangazi,” p. 1080.Google Scholar

³³ Evans-Pritchard, , The Sanusi, pp. 15–16.Google Scholar

³⁴ British Accounts and Papers, vol. 75, p. 930.

³⁵ Martel, , Les Confins, p. 128.Google Scholar

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³⁷ Salem, , “The Genesis of Political Leadership,” pp. 222–23, 247;Google ScholarTripolitania Monografie, maggio 192.Google Scholar

³⁸ On the Muntasirs, see Notizie sulla regione de Misurata, passim.

³⁹ Archivio del Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Archivio Storico del Ministero dell'Africa Italiana [hereafter, ASMAI] 150/4, 1913, “Questione del Gebel.”

⁴⁰ Salem, , “The Genesis of Political Leadership,” p. 142;Google ScholarEvans-Pritchard, , The Sanusi, p. 102;Google ScholarCumming, , “Modern History,” p. 12.Google Scholar

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⁴² Slousch, , “Senousiya en Tripolitaine,” p. 170.Google Scholar

⁴³ Martel, , Les Confins, p. 286.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Ibid., pp. 333–36, 472.

⁴⁵ ASMAI, 147/1, 1906, “Rapporto Riservato: le Oasis de Cufra e de Giahrabub.”

⁴⁶ Martel, , Les Confins, pp. 637, 648, 808.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Ibid., pp. 218–31.

⁴⁸ Slousch, , “Senousiya en Tripolitaine,” p. 181.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ ASMAI 147/1, 1905.

⁵⁰ USGA, Tripoli Consul to the Secretary of State, 07 29, 1879.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Ibid., January 3, 1879.

⁵² Ernest, Edmondson Ramsaur Jr, The Young Turks: Prelude to the Revolution of 1908 (Princeton: 1957), pp. 34, 53, 76;Google ScholarFeroz, Ahmed, The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908–1914 (Oxford: 1969), p. 20.Google Scholar

⁵³ PRO, FO 371/544, July 26, 1908.

⁵⁴ Usta Collection: Minutes of the Committee of Union and Progress meetings, Tripoli Archives; Ahmed, , The Young Turks, p. 173.Google Scholar

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⁵⁷ Cumming, , “Modern History,” p. 30;Google ScholarMartel, , Les Confins, II, p. 268.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Renato, Mori, “La penetrazione pacifica italiana in Libia del 1907 al 1911 e il Banco di Roma,” Rivista di Studi Politici Internazionali, XX IV, 1957, pp. 107–16.Google Scholar

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⁶² ASMAI 150/3, 1919, “Promemoria sugli avvenimenti politici e militari della Tripolitania per Ahmed bey Ben Muntasser.”

⁶³ ASMAI 150/3, 1916, “Biografia de Ahmed Zia en Din Ben Muntasser.”

⁶⁴ Cumming, , “Modern History,” pp. 30–31.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Tahir, Ahmad al-Zawi, Jihad al-abtal fi tarablus al-gharb [The jihad of the heroes in Tripoli] (Bayrut: 1970), p. 39.Google Scholar

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⁶⁷ Renseignements Coloniaux, 12, 1908, p. 1.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Slousch, N., “Les Turcs et les indigènes en Tripolitaine,” Revue du Monde Musulman, 1907, p. 366.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Coro, , “Che cos'era la Libia,” p. 19;Google ScholarSlousch, , “Les Turcs et les indigènes,” p. 367.Google Scholar

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⁷² Slousch, , “Les Turcs et les indigènes,” p. 371.Google Scholar