Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tripoli (2.)

TRIPOLI, the capital of the above country, is situated in 32 53 40" N. lat. and 13 11 32" E. long., on a pro montory stretching out into the Mediterranean and forming a small bay. Its crenellated enceinte wall has the form of an irregular pentagon. A line of small half-ruined forts is supposed to protect one side of the harbour, and the castle of the governor the other. The desert almost touches the western side of the city, while on the east is the ver dant oasis of Meshiga, where are still to be seen the tombs of the Caramanlian sultanas and the twelve-domed mar about of Sy Hamonda. In the town itself there are seven principal mosques, six of them possessing lofty minarets in the Turkish style. The streets are narrow, dirty, and unpaved; there is no European quarter properly so called: Tripoli is still a typical Moorish city. Its population numbers about 20,000.