Italian Tripolitania

Italian Tripolitania was an Italian colony in what is now western Libya, created after Italy seized the region from the Ottoman Empire in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912. The Ottoman Empire formally agreed to evacuate Tripolitania and Cyrenaica under the Treaty of Lausanne in October 1912, though resistance continued for years. The colony covered the western and northern part of Libya, with Tripoli as its main city and administrative centre. Italy promoted roads, railways and archaeological excavations of Roman sites, and encouraged Italian settlers, especially in and around Tripoli. Local opposition took organised form in 1918 with the Tripolitanian Republic, although it failed to establish lasting control. In 1934 Italian Tripolitania was merged with Italian Cyrenaica to form the colony of Italian Libya, and from 1939 Tripolitania was treated as part of the Kingdom of Italy's 'fourth shore'. Italian rule ended during the Second World War, when Libya was occupied by Allied forces and later became independent in 1951. The colonial period left a lasting Italian imprint on Tripoli's architecture and population.