Evidence of settlement in Tripoli dates back as early as 1400 BCE. Tripoli was originally a Phoenician colony. In the 9th century, the Phoenicians established a trading station in Tripoli and later, under Persian rule, the city became the center of a confederation of the Phoenician city-states of Sidon, Tyre, and Arados Island. Under Hellenistic rule, Tripoli was used as a naval shipyard and the city enjoyed a period of autonomy. It came under Roman rule around 64 BCE. The 551 Beirut earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Byzantine city of Tripoli along with other Mediterranean coastal cities.

During Umayyad rule, Tripoli became a commercial and shipbuilding center. It achieved semi-independence under Fatimid rule, when it developed into a center of learning. The Crusaders laid siege to the city at the beginning of the 12th century and were able finally to enter it in 1109. This caused extensive destruction, including the burning of Tripoli's famous library, Dar al-'Ilm (House of Knowledge), with its thousands of volumes. During the Crusaders' rule the city became the capital of the County of Tripoli. In 1289, it fell to the Mamluks and the old port part of the city was destroyed. A new inland city was then built near the old castle. During Ottoman rule from 1516 to 1918, it retained its prosperity and commercial importance. Tripoli and all of Lebanon was under French mandate from 1920 until 1943 when Lebanon achieved independence.

Ancient period Many historians reject the presence of any Phoenician civilization in Tripoli before the 8th (or sometimes 4th) century BCE. Others argue that the north–south gradient of Phoenician port establishments on the Lebanese coast indicates an earlier age for the Phoenician Tripoli.

Tripoli has not been extensively excavated because the ancient site lies buried beneath the modern city of El Mina. However, a few accidental finds are now in museums. Excavations in El Mina revealed skeletal remains of ancient wolves, eels, and gazelles, part of the ancient southern port quay, grinding mills, different types of columns, wheels, Bows, and a necropolis from the end of the Hellenistic period. A sounding made in the Crusader castle uncovered Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, in addition to Roman, Byzantine, and Fatimid remains. At the Abou Halka area (at the southern entrance of Tripoli) refuges dating to the early (30,000 years old) and middle Stone Age were uncovered.Saliba, R., Jeblawi, S., and Ajami, G., Tripoli the Old City: Monument Survey – Mosques and Madrasas; A Sourcebook of Maps and Architectural Drawings, Beirut: American University of Beirut Publications, 1995.

Tripoli became a financial center and main port of northern Phoenicia with sea trade (East Mediterranean and the West), and caravan trade (North Syria and hinterland).

Seleucid Empire Under the Seleucids, Tripoli gained the right to mint its own coins (112 BCE) which were minted in silver and bronze; it was granted autonomy between 104 and 105, which it retained until 64 BCE. At the time, Tripoli was a center of shipbuilding and cedar timber trade (like other Phoenician cities).

Roman period During the Roman and Byzantine period, Tripoli witnessed the construction of important public buildings including municipal stadium or gymnasium due to strategic position of the city midway on the imperial coastal highway leading from Antioch to Ptolemais. In addition, Tripoli retained the same configuration of three distinct and administratively independent quarters (Aradians, Sidonians, and Tyrians). The territory outside the city was divided between the three quarters.

During the late 3rd Century, Tripolis was the site of a Roman mint from around 270 to 286.

In 488, Severus of Antioch is baptised at the Church of Saint Leontius at Tripolis (modern-day Tripoli) with Evagrius as his sponsor.The Reign of Anastasius I, 491-518 - Oxford University Research ArchiveChapman, John (1911). "Monophysites and Monophysitism". The Catholic Encyclopedia.

Rashidun era Tripoli was conquered for the first time in a separate conquest by the commander Yuqna in the year 18 AH (639/640 AD),الواقدي، فتوح الشام، ما بعد ص 419. then the Byzantine Empire reoccupied some of its coast at the end of the Caliphate of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab or the beginning of the caliphate of Uthman Ibn Affan. When Uthman appointed Muawiyah over the Levant, Muawiyah sent Sufyan bin Mujib al-Azdi to Tripoli to restore it, and it was three cities combined, so he built in Al-Marj ("the meadow"), miles from it, a fortress called "Sufyan's fort", and he used to stay in his fortress every night and fortify the Muslims there, then go to the enemy in the morning. He besieged Tripoli and cut off the supply of its people from the sea and land. Ibn Asaker adds in his “History of Damascus” details that confirm the story, which he transmitted with his chain of transmission on the authority of Abu Muti’ Mu’awiyah bin Yahya al-Tarabulsi (died after 170 AH, 786/787 AD) on the authority of a Sheikh from Tripoli that Sufyan bin Mujib camped with his great army in Marj al-Silsilah (Beddawi), which is five miles from Tripoli. At the origin of Mount Terbol, he used to walk to Tripoli to besiege it and then return to his camp in Al-Beddawi, and he continued on that for months until Muawiyah wrote to him ordering him to build for him and his companions a fortress that would shelter him by night and besiege them by day. As a result, Sufyan built a fortress two miles from Tripoli, which is called “Sufyan’s Fort.”

On the basis of this historical text of Abu Al-Muti’ al-Tarabulsi, the historian Omar Tadmouri said that the Sufyan fortress is now located at the now-known Tripoli Citadel. The castle is two miles away from old Tripoli (El Mina), or 3200 meters.عمر تدمري، الصحابة في لبنان، ص 60. When the siege intensified upon them, they gathered in one of the city's fortresses and wrote to the Roman king Constans II asking him to supply them or to send them boats to escape to. Subsequently, the emperor sent numerous boats to them, so they boarded them at night and fled. When Sufyan became aware, he found the fortress in which they were empty, so he entered it, and wrote the news of the conquest to Muawiyah. Then Abd al-Malik re-built it afterwards and fortified it (in modern El Mina).البلاذُري، فتوح البلدان، من ص126 إلى 128، مكتبة مشكاة الإسلامية.

Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid periods Tripoli gained in importance as a trading centre for the whole Mediterranean after it was inhabited by the Arabs. Tripoli was the port city of Damascus; the second military port of the Arab Navy, following Alexandria; a prosperous commercial and shipbuilding center; a wealthy principality under the Kutama Ismaili Shia Banu Ammar emirs. Legally, Tripoli was part of the jurisdiction of the military province of Damascus (Jund Dimashq).Tadmouri, O. AS., Lubnan min al-fath al-islami hatta sukut al-dawla al-'umawiyya (13–132 H/ 634–750 CE): Silsilat Dirasat fi Tarih AlSahel AlShami, Tripoli, 1990. Arabic.

Abbasid era The Byzantines took advantage of the political changes resulted by the Abbasid revolution, by attacking the Islamic regions and occupying Tripoli in 141 AH (758/759 AD) from its governor, Rabāh bin al-Nu’mān, with Bekaa getting attacked by the rebel Elias in the year 137 AH (754/755 AD) and the revolt took place in 141 AH. And when events escalated, it became imperative for the Abbasid Caliph to fight back with combat to defend the Caliphate. He mobilized the frontiers with fighters to protect them. He assigned the Tanukhid tribes to head to the mountains of Beirut to protect the coasts of the Levant and Islamic possessions from the Byzantine danger and local hostile movements.الشيخ الدكتور بدري أمان الدين (مختصر البيان، في ذكر آل عبد الله وبني بحتر وبني فوارس التنوخيين في لبنان)

Revolt of Tripoli

In Tripoli, 357 AH corresponding to the year 968 AD, there was a revolution against the Turkic Abbasid-appointed Ikhshidid rulers as a result of the tyranny of the governor, Abu al-Hasan Ahmed bin Ghurair al-Arghli, and his injustice and cruelty in the treatment of the people. It is known that Tripoli was affiliated at the time to the Wilayat of Damascus, and that the Damascene wali is the one who appoints the governor of Tripoli. The people expelled the ruler from the city, so he settled in the and fortified it, and the residents of Tripoli became without a ruler or an Amir.الأنطاكي، يحيى بن سعيد (1990)، تاريخ الأنطاكي، طرابُلس، لُبنان، ص. 131. And in the meantime, the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros Phocas II arrived in Tripoli in his campaign on the Levant in an attempt to take it from the Muslims, where he had seized the north of the country, including Arqa. Where he arrested Abu Al-Hassan bin Ghurair Al-Arghli and took all his money, then he went to Tripoli and went down to it on the day of Eid Al-Adha and stayed in it that night and burned its territory and returned to the coastal countries.الأنطاكي، يحيى بن سعيد (1990)، تاريخ الأنطاكي، طرابُلس، لُبنان، ص. 124 - 126.

Fatimid era After the year 969 AD, the Fatimid state in Egypt succeeded the Ikhshidid state and extended its rule over Lebanon.ابن الأثير، عزُّ الدين أبي الحسن عليّ بن أبي الكرم مُحمَّد الشِّيباني؛ تحقيق: أبو الفداء عبدُ الله القاضي (1407هـ - 1987م)، الكامل في التاريخ، الجزء السَّابع (ط. الأولى)، بيروت - لُبنان: دار الكُتب العلميَّة، ص. 333. In 975, the forces of the Byzantine emperor Tzimiskes took Tripoli from the forces of the Turkic anti-Fatimid military general Aftakin.Romane, Julian (2015). Byzantium Triumphant. Pen and Sword Books, p. 73. The Byzantine general Bardas Phocas left Homs in the direction of the Beqaa to reach and invade Tripoli in 983 AD. In 996 and 997 AD the military forces of the Byzantine general Dalassenos raided the environs of Tripoli, and in December of 999, the Byzantine emperor Basil II also led a failed siege against Tripoli in the same month.

Among the most prominent industries of the Fatimids that spread in Lebanon was the manufacture of brocade clothes and the manufacture of the Tunfusah (طُنْفُسَةٌ). The city of Tripoli was famous for making paper for writing. The ports of the Lebanese coast were a popular market for all agricultural and industrial products, as well as a center for their export to the cities of the Mediterranean Basin.جحا، شفيق؛ البعلبكي، مُنير؛ عُثمان، بهيج (1992م)، المُصوَّر في التاريخ (ط. التاسعة)، بيروت، لُبنان: دار العلم للملايين.

11th century Tripoli During a visit by the traveler Nasir-i-Khusrau in 1047, he estimated the size of the population in Tripoli to be around 20,000 and the whole population were Shia Muslims. And according to Nasir Khusraw, the Fatimid Sultan raised a mighty army from Tripoli to defend it against Byzantine, Frankish, Andalusian and Moroccan invasions and raids.

Tripoli was ruled by qadis that were appointed by the Fatimids from Cairo until the death of the qadi Mukhtar al-Dawla ibn Bazzal around 1170. Then Amin al-Dawla Abu Talib al-Hasan ibn Ammar from the Banu Ammar family became qadi and declared the town independent. The Banu Ammar ruled the city until 1109. Under Amin al-Dawla the city remained a commercial center and became an intellectual center of Shiism having a library of 100,000 volumes. After Amin al-Dawla's death in 1072 his nephew Jalal al-Mulk Ali ibn Muhammad succeeded him until his death in 1099 when he was succeeded by his brother Fakhr al-Mulk. Under Fakhr al-Mulk Frankish troops of the First Crusade under Raymond de Saint-Gilles started the siege of Tripoli in . In al-Mulk left Tripoli for Damascus and Baghdad to ask the Sunni rulers there for help against the crusaders.

Crusader period