THE FUNDUK

Funduk, trade hostels, were the alpha and omega of trading in Tripoli in the Ottoman era, and hence the good economic health of the city. They were used to host traders in transit and to store their goods from Europe or Africa, before negotiating the resale prices without having attempted to raise them by storing goods as long as possible between two entries, the number of buyers exceeding the number of sellers. The richest funduk were in the Baladiya district, the wealthy traders'quarter, adjacent to Tripoli Castle. The Tripoli funduk have two superimposed ordres around an open courtyard. The rooms of the passage and travellers were on the floor. Funduk also had stables for their horses. As in the rest of the shopping cities in the Maghreb, Tripoli's funduk were directed either to traders of the same geographical origin or to merchants of the same type of product, such as Funduk El-Zaher, former auberge's inn. The funduk Ben Zakry is the oldest in Tripoli.