sh-style houses for the city's wealth families.
Two clans, the Muntasir and Adgham, dominated the political, social and economic aspects of Misrata and led the local tribes against their Turkishoverlords during various periods of tension. There were many wealthy families in the city, but the Muntasirs, who were of Arabian descent, and the Adghams, who descended from Ottoman officers who settled in the province in previous centuries, were the most prominent. They made their income from commerce and protected their wealth by cooperating with the Ottoman provincial authorities. Both had extended families and economic holdings not just in Misrata, but also the provincial capital of Tripoli as well as the eastern Cyrenican towns of Benghazi and Derna. The Aghdams had traditionally resisted efforts by the central Ottoman government in Istanbul to reestablish direct control over Tripoli Province and, under the leadership of Uthman al-Aghdam, they led a rebellion against the Ottomans and their local allies in 1835. After their eventual defeat in 1858, they were left in an inferior position to that of the Muntasirs. The Aghdams remained a powerful force nonetheless and their competition with the Muntasirs for leading positions within the local and regional government dominated Misratan politics. Misrata's urban residents did not contribute much to the political scene and avoided contact with the Ottoman authorities out of concern of conscription into the army and provincial tax collection. In contrast, the rural areas of Misrata were populated mostly by fellahin (peasantry) and former Bedouins who had retained their tribal affiliations and loyalties and thus involved themselves in competition for political influence.
Up until 1908, the Muntasirs, led by Umar al-Muntasir, controlled the upper echelons of the newly organized bureaucracy in Tripoli Province and were largely accepted by the local notables as the administrators of Misrata along with Sirte, Gharyan
