Historic area of Libya around the modern-day capital (12)

I believe the answer is:

tripolitania

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'capital' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'historic area of libya around the modern-day' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'area' could be 'tripoli' (Tripoli is an example) and 'tripoli' is located in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.