ottoman period.

The Ottomans in Libya

Ottomans in Libya

During the time that the Ottoman Empire was establishing its roots in North Africa, the Spanish, in the name of the Crown of Aragon, invaded and captured Libya in the 1510 maritime campaign, now known as the Conquest of Tripoli. Historians have stated that the human cost of the invasion was immense: thousands of people were slaughtered and thousands more were imprisoned and enslaved¹. The bodies of those who died during the battle were reputedly strewn across all areas of Tripoli². Tripoli was used as a base for the Spanish Crusaders, but historians have determined that they were successfully prevented from proceeding further inland due to significant resistance from the local populations who forced the Crusaders to stay on the defensive³.

In 1551, after incessant attacks from the Catholic Crusaders, the Libyans decided to seek assistance from the Ottomans in their resistance to the Spanish Invaders. The Ottoman Empire sent soldiers to Libya to launch attacks against the Crusaders, who were still based in Tripoli. Initially despite fighting and laying siege around Tripoli, the Ottoman armies failed to capture the city⁴. More soldiers, under the command of Turgut Reis, one of the most accomplished figures in Ottomans naval history, were sent to Tripoli, intensifying the attacks against the Spanish. Eventually, in 1551 the Spanish capitulated to the pressures applied by the army of the Ottoman Empire and retreated from Tripoli, leaving Libya under Ottoman rule⁵. Thereafter, the provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan were joined into one regency, Libya, which became part of the Ottoman Empire.

From 1711 to 1835, Libya was mainly under the rule of the Karamanli dynasty, which managed to establish its protectorate as a largely autonomous region, although still aligned with the Ottaman Empire. During this period, Libya was mainly self governed by the Karamanli court. However, in 1793, a succession war began which is known as the Tripolitanian Civil War, which led to the deposing of Hamet Karamanli the then ruler of Libya, by Ali Benghul, an officer of the Ottoman Empire. The war ended in 1795, when Hamet and his brother Yusuf aided by the Bey of Tunis, returned to Tripoli and took the throne⁶. The Karamanli dynasty continued to rule Libya until 1835, when the Ottoman Revolt of Tripolitania began, and direct Ottoman rule was reimposed. This was a revolt by tribal leaders, against central Otterman rule and only ended after the death of Ghuma al-Mahmudi in 1858, who along with Abd al-Jalil led the revolt⁷.

The region continued under direct Ottoman rule, until the invasion by Italy in 1911, which brought an end to the Ottoman Empire in Libya.