Tarabulus Governorate was one of the governorates (muhafazah)

Governorates of Libya

The governorates of Libya were a tenfold top-level administrative division of Libya from 1963 until 1983.They came into being on 27 April 1963...

 of Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

 from 1963 to 1983. It was also known as Tripoli Governorate because it contained the city of Tripoli

Tripoli

Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

, which was also its administrative capital. Tarabulus was an older name for Tripoli, and was sometimes applied to the entire province of Tripolitania

Tripolitania

Tripolitania or Tripolitana is a historic region and former province of Libya.Tripolitania was a separate Italian colony from 1927 to 1934...

.

The governorate's population was 379,925 in 1964 and had risen to 544,842 by 1972.
Although Tarabulus Governorate constituted less than 1% of the land area in Libya, more than 25% of the population lived there, with a density about five times greater than the mean of the other governorates.