Trincomalee. A seaport town and magnificent harbor on the northeast coast of Ceylon. It is a place of great antiquity; it was here that the Malabar invaders of Ceylon built one of their most sacred shrines,—the “Temple of a Thousand Columns,” which was demolished by the Portuguese, who fortified the heights with the materials derived from its destruction, 1622. It was next held by the Dutch; but in 1672, during the rupture between Louis XIV. and the United Provinces, the French took Trincomalee, which was abandoned by the Dutch in a panic. In 1782, the French admiral Suffrein, in the absence of the British commander, took possession of the fort, and the English garrison retired to Madras. It was restored to the Dutch in the following year, and they retained it till the capture of Ceylon by the British in 1795. It was finally ceded to Great Britain, by the treaty of Amiens, in 1802.
Trinidad. An island belonging to Great Britain, and the most southerly of the West India Islands. It is separated from the mainland (Venezuela) by the Gulf of Paria. Trinidad was discovered by Columbus in 1498; and first colonized by the Spaniards, in 1588. In 1676, the French possessed it for a short time, but it was speedily restored to Spain; and in 1797, it was captured by the British, who have retained it ever since.
Trinobantes. A British tribe, which occupied Middlesex and Essex, and joined in opposing the invasion of Julius Cæsar, 54 B.C.; but they soon came to terms with the Romans.
Trinomalee. A town and fortress of India, in the Carnatic, where Col. Smith greatly distinguished himself against the united forces of Hyder Ali and Nizam Ali, subahdars of the Deccan, with an army of 43,000 horse and 28,000 foot; while the British commander had only 10,000 foot and 1000 horse. The result of this victory was that the Nizam detached himself from Hyder, and in February, 1768, concluded a treaty with the British.
Triparted. In heraldry, parted in three pieces; having three parts or pieces; as, a cross triparted.
Tripartite. Being of three parts, or three parties being concerned; hence, tripartite alliance, or treaty.
Triple Alliance. The name by which two different treaties are known in history, viz.: (1) A treaty concluded in 1668 at the Hague, between England, Holland, and Sweden, having for its object the protection of the Spanish Netherlands, and the checking of the conquests of Louis XIV. (2) An alliance concluded in 1717 between Britain, France, and Holland, against Spain, which included among its stipulations that the Pretender should quit France, and that the treaty of Utrecht should be carried into effect as regards the demolition of Dunkirk. The Protestant succession was guaranteed by this treaty in England, and that of the Duke of Orleans in France.
Tripoli, or Tripolis (in its modern Arabic form, Tarabulus). A seaport and one of the chief commercial towns of Syria, near the coast of the Mediterranean, on both sides of the river Kadisha. On the left side stands the castle built by Count Raymond of Toulouse, in the 12th century, when the city was taken by the Crusaders. It was conquered by the Egyptians in 1832; restored to the Porte, 1835, and it surrendered to the British in 1841.
Tripoli. A regency of the Ottoman empire, and the most easterly of the Barbary States, North Africa. The governor-general has the title, rank, and authority of a pasha of the Ottoman empire. The military force of the country consists of a body of Turkish soldiers, some 10,000 in number, whose business is to keep down insurrections, but who were formerly wont to vary it by creating them. In ancient times, Tripoli seems to have been tributary to the Cyrenæans, from whom, however, it was wrested by the Carthaginians. It next passed to the Romans. Like the rest of Northern Africa, it was conquered by the Arabs, and the feeble Christianity of the natives was supplanted by a vigorous and fanatical Mohammedanism. In 1552 (1551), the Turks got possession of it, and have ever since been the rulers of the country, though the authority of the sultan, up till 1835, had been virtually at zero for more than a century. In that year, however, an expedition was dispatched from Constantinople; the ruling dey, Karamanli, was overthrown and imprisoned; a new Turkish pasha, with viceregal powers, was appointed, and the state made an eyalet of the Ottoman empire. Several rebellions have since taken place (notably in 1842 and 1844), but they have always been suppressed.
Tripolitza (“three cities”). A town of Greece under the Turkish rule, 39 miles southwest from Corinth. In 1821 it was stormed by the Greek insurgents; and in 1828 razed to the ground by the troops of Ibrahim Pasha; it has since, however, been rebuilt.