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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TOO-TUM |
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TRIPOLI , a Turkish vilayet (regency) of North Africa. It is bounded N. by the Mediterranean (between 11 40' and 25 12' E.) and has a coast-line of over Iwo m. Tripoli comprises at least five distinct regionsTripoli proper, the Barca plateau (Cyrenaica), the Aujila oases, Fezzan (q.v.) and the oases of Ghadames and Ghatwhich with the intervening sandy and stony wastes occupy the space between Tunisia and Egypt, extend from the Mediterranean south-wards to the Tropic of Cancer, and have a collective area of about 400,000 sq. m., with a population estimated at from 800,000 to 1,300,000. Towards the south and east the frontiers are undefined. But on the west side the conventional line laid down by agreement with France in 1886 was more accurately determined in 1892, when the terminal point on the Mediterranean was shifted from Borj-el-Biban to Ras Ajir, 18 m. to the south-east, in 33 12' N. 11 40' E. From this point the line passes along the Wad Magla and across the Erg (sand) dunes in such a way as to leave Ghadames to Turkey. In consequence of frontier collisions the boundary as far as Ghadames was precisely defined in 1910. South of that point the rival claims of France and Turkey remained in dispute. For some distance east of Tunisia the seaboard is low and sandy, and is often regarded as a part of the Sahara, which, however, begins only some 8o m. farther south, ph ic beyond the Jebels Nefusi, Yefren and Ghurian Feature. Features. (Gharian). The " Jebel," as this system is locally called, terminates eastwards in the Tarhona heights of the Horns (Khoms) coast district, has a mean altitude of about 2000 ft. and culminates in the Takut (Tekuk) volcano (2800 ft.) nearly due south of the capital . It is not a true mountain range, but rather the steep scarp of the Saharan plateau, which encloses southwards the Jefara coast plains, and probably represents the original
crescent
recent
Beyond the barren Ghadama district in the north of the Hammada the dreary aspect of the wilderness is broken by several tracts under grass, corn and date-palms, and containing some permanent reservoirs in the beds of the Wadis Sofejin and Zemzem, where the plateau falls from a mean height of 2000 ft. to s000 and 53o ft. respectively. But it again rises rapidly southwards to a somewhat uniform level of 1600 or 1700 ft., and here the main caravan route from Tripoli to Murzuk and Lake Chad traverses for a distance of fully 13o m. a monotonous region of sandstone, underlying - clays, marls, gypsum and fossiliferous silicious deposits. In its northern section this part of the Hammada, as it is locally called in a pre-eminent sense, is relieved by a few patches of herbage, scrub and brushwood, with a little water left in the rocky cavities by the heavy showers which occasionally fall. North-eastwards the Neddik pass over the Jebel Morai-Yeh leads down to the remarkable chain of low-lying oases, which, The AuJiis from the chief
present the aspect of a long winding valley, which is enclosed on the north side by the southern escarpments of the Barca plateau, expands at intervals into patches of perennial verdure and shallow saline basins, and extends from the Wadi el-Fareg, near the Gulf of Sidra, through the Bir Rassam, Aujila, Jalo, Faredgha, and Siwa oases, to the Natron lakes and the dried-up branch of the Nile delta known as the Bahr bila-Ma (waterless river). The whole region presents the aspect of a silted-up marine inlet, which perhaps in Pliocene times penetrated some 300 m. south-east-wards in the direction of the Nile. Nearly all the fossil shells found in its sands belong to the fauna now living in the Mediterranean, and Siwa is 98 ft. below sea-level. This is true also of its eastern extensions, Sittra (8o) and the Birket el-Kerun in the Fayum (141). But Aujila and Jalo stand 130 and 296 ft. respectively above sea-level, so that the idea entertained by the explorer Gerhard Rohlfs of transforming the chain of oases into a marine gulf, and thus converting the Barca plateau into an island or peninsula in the midst of the Mediterranean waters, and in fact flooding the Libyan desert, must share the fate of Colonel Francois Roudaire's equally visionary scheme in respect of the Western Sahara.The Barca plateau, which consists largely of strata of tertiary formation, falls in terraces down to the Aujila depression, and The Barca presents an unbroken rampart of steep cliffs towards Plateau. the Mediterranean, is by far the most favoured region of the vilayet. Its many natural advantages of climate, soil and vegetation led to the establishment of several Greek colonies, the oldest and most famous of which was that of Cyrene (q.v.), dating from about 63o B.C. From this place the whole region took the name of Cyrenaica (q.v.) and was also known as Penlapolis, from its " five cities" of Cyrene, Apollonia
South of the Aujila depression the land rises steadily to a height of nearly 1200 feet in the Kufra oases, which lie between 21 and 24 E., The Kufra north of the Tropic of Cancer and due east of Fezzan. The K The group consists of five distinct oases in the heart of the Libyan desertTaizerbo, Zighen, Bu-Zeima, Erbena and Kebabowhich extend for a distance of 20o m. north-west and south-east, and have a collective area of 7000 sq. m. and a population of boon or 7000 Arabo-Berber nomads. Good water is obtained in abundance from the underground reservoirs, which lie within a few feet of the surface, and support over a million date-palms. Kufra, that is, " Infidels " (in reference to the now extinct pagan
chief
Ghat stands 2400 feet above the sea, on the Wadi Aghelad in the Igharghar basin, and consequently belongs, not to the Fezzan Chat. depression, but to the Saharan plateau. The Aghelad, or Passage," trends north to the Iasawanvalley along the east foot of the Tasili plateau, that is, the divide between the waters End of Article: TRIPOLI If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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