By about 8,000 BC human beings lived in what is now Tunisia by hunting and gathering. Scorpions are found in all regions; among dangerous snakes are the horned viper and the cobra. We'll give it a try. A single major city, Tunis, dominated the countryside both politically and culturally. Agricultural communities in the humid coastal plains of central Tunisia then were ancestors of today's Berber tribes. Tunisia’s people are renowned for their conviviality and easygoing approach to daily life, qualities that Albert Memmi captured in his 1955 autobiographical novel Pillar of Salt: We shared the ground floor of a shapeless old building, a sort of two-room apartment. Dec 15, 2015 - Lamine Bey, first king and last bey of Tunisia. Tunisia to͞onē´zhə, tyo͞o– [key], Fr. Independence under the Neo-Destour Party (1956–2011), Factional tension, compromise, and a new constitution, Dissatisfaction with the political establishment and the election of Kais Saied, Central Intelligence Agency - The World Factbook - Tunisia, Tunisia - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Tunisia - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). This warmth, joined with the country’s renowned hospitality and cuisine, has contributed greatly to Tunisia’s growing popularity as a destination for tourists from throughout Europe and the Americas. Land. Tunisia’s accessible Mediterranean Sea coastline and strategic location have attracted conquerors and visitors throughout the ages, and its ready access to the Sahara has brought its people into contact with the inhabitants of the African interior. The Romans ruled and settled in North Africa until the 5th century, when the Roman Empire fell and... From Arab Center to French Protectorate. Now a well-heeled northern suburb... Roman Rebirth. After about 5,000 BC they began farming although they still used stone tools. A small state with limited resources, Tunisia nonetheless managed to retain considerable autonomy within the framework of the larger empires that frequently ruled it from afar. The amount of precipitation, all falling as rain, varies considerably from north to south. Omissions? Travel. Tunisia was called Ifrīqiyyah in the early centuries of the Islamic period. For a more detailed treatment of earlier periods and of the country in its regional context, see North Africa. Farther south there is a series of chott (or shaṭṭ; salty lake) depressions. Kenneth Perkins's new edition of A History of Modern Tunisia carries the history of this country from 2004 to the present, with particular emphasis on the Tunisian revolution of 2011 - the first critical event of … Tunisia is briefly taken in 1534 by the most famous corsair of them all, Khair ed-Din (known to the Europeans as Barbarossa). Desert locusts sometimes damage crops in the southern part of the country. List of beys of Tunis. Saved by Emperor Reynard IV. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The climate can be divided into two major areas, the north, influenced by the Mediterranean, and the south, influenced by the Saharan desert. Carthage fought a series of wars with its rival, Rome. QUICK ADD. This is a whole app is very easy to use. Popular pages. The kitchen, half of it roofed over and the rest an open courtyard, was a long vertical passage toward the light. Rome prevailed in the mid-2nd century bce, razed Carthage, and ruled the region for the following 500 years. When the principal minister, Muṣṭafā Khaznadār (who had served from the earliest days of Aḥmad Bey’s reign), attempted to squeeze more taxes out of the hard-pressed peasants, the countryside rose in a revolt (1864). Then from about 1100 BC the Phoeniciansfrom what is now Lebanon settled and traded in the area. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Tunisia is bounded by Algeria to the west and southwest, by Libya to the southeast, and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east and north. Similarly, the capital, Tunis, blends ancient Arab souks and mosques and modern-style office buildings into one of the most handsome and lively cities in the region. Harvests vary as a result, being poor in dry years. At night, each locked himself in his room, but in the morning, life was always communal. Soils. During the 8th and 9th centuries BC, the Phoenicians became the first of the many civilizations to leave their mark on Tunisia. He did, in 1861, proclaim the first constitution (dustūr; also destour) in the Arabic-speaking world, but this step toward representative government was cut short by runaway debt, a problem exacerbated by the government’s practice of securing loans from European bankers at exorbitant rates. The emerging Roman Empire was not happy with these events, and 128 years of Punic Wars ensued. For a more detailed treatment of earlier periods and of the country in its regional context, see North Africa. Please select which sections you would like to print: Corrections? Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. See if your geographic knowledge points north or south in this journey through Africa. Tunisia was called IfrÄ«qiyyah in the early centuries of the Islamic period. Following the decline of Rome, the region was ruled briefly by the Vandals and then the Byzantine Empire before being conquered by the Arabs in 647 ce. Independence under the Neo-Destour Party (1956–2011), Factional tension, compromise, and a new constitution, Dissatisfaction with the political establishment and the election of Kais Saied. This great ethnic diversity is still seen in the variety of Tunisian family names. Saved from en.wikipedia.org. Although the story is certainly apocryphal, Carthage nonetheless grew into one of the great cities and preeminent powers of antiquity, and its colonies and entrepôts were scattered throughout the western Mediterranean region. The summer is hot and dry in the north, and the winter is mild and consists of frequent rains. Most visited articles. One name looms above all in Tunisia's history: Carthage. Other cities include Sfax (Ṣafāqis), Sousse (Sūsah), and Gabès (Qābis) on the fertile coast and Kairouan (Al-Qayrawān) and El-Kef (Al-Kāf) in the arid interior. Grid View Grid. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Africa’s highest temperature, about 131 °F (55 °C), was recorded in Kebili, a town in central Tunisia. Tunisia’s geographic and historical legacy helped prepare it for the shocks it received in the 19th century as a land caught between an expanding Europe and a declining Ottoman Empire. The history of early Tunisia and its indigenous inhabitants, the Berbers, is obscure prior to the founding of Carthage by seafaring Phoenicians from Tyre (in present-day Lebanon) in the 9th century BC .A great mercantile state developed at Carthage (near modern-day Tunis), which proceeded to dominate the western Mediterranean world. Farming methods reached the Nile Valley from the Fertile Crescent region about 5000 BC, and spread to the Maghreb by about 4000 BC. From north to south, the cork oak forest of the Kroumirie Mountains, with its fern undergrowth sheltering wild boars, gives way to scrub and steppes covered with esparto grass and populated with small game and to the desert, where hunting is forbidden so as to preserve the remaining gazelles. Register Military. The population of Tunisia is essentially Arab Berber. Tunisia’s most fertile soils are found in the well-watered intermontane valleys in the north, where rich sandy clay soils formed from alluvium or soils high in lime content cover the valley bottoms and plains. Although the Arabs initially unified North Africa, by 1230 a separate Tunisian dynasty had been established by the Ḥafṣids. Because the principal military threat had long come from neighbouring Algeria, the reigning bey of Tunisia, Ḥusayn, cautiously went along with assurances from the French that they had no intention of colonizing Tunisia. However they came into conflict with Rome. The following discussion offers a brief summary of Tunisia’s early history but mainly focuses on Tunisia since about 1800. Aḥmad abolished slavery and took other modernizing steps intended to bring Tunisia more in line with Europe, but he also exposed his country to Europe’s infinitely greater economic and political power. Friday, January 14, 2011, became a new date and a specialchapter in the periodization of the history of Tunisia since independence,just like March 20, 1956 (Independence Day), or April 9, 1938.¹ This key1. This uprising almost overthrew the regime, but the government ultimately suppressed it through a combination of guile and brutality. According to Greek legend, Dido, a princess of Tyre, was the first outsider to settle among the native tribes of what is now Tunisia when she founded the city of Carthage in the 9th century bce. That name, in turn, comes from the Roman word for Africa and the name also given by the Romans to their … This book examines the history of Tunisia from the mid-nineteenth century to the present with an emphasis on political, social, economic and cultural developments. Kairouan. March 20, 1956, is Independence Day, when Tunisia gained its independence fromFrance. Throughout its recorded history, the physical features and environment of the land of Tunisia have remained fairly constant, although during ancient times more abundant forests grew in the north, and earlier in prehistory the Sahara to the south was not an arid desert. Tunisia's geographical location has meant that many different peoples have entered and dominated the country. Tunisia - History 3; Refine by. Search This wiki This wiki All wikis | Sign In Don't have an account? By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Though sympathetic to the need for reforms, Muḥammad was too weak either to control his own government or to keep the European powers at bay. The most notable immigration was that of the Spanish Moors (Muslims), which began after the fall of Sevilla (Seville), Spain, as a result of the Reconquista in 1248 and which turned into a veritable exodus in the early 17th century. Farther south, streams are intermittent and largely localized in the form of wadis, which are subject to seasonal flooding and terminate inland in chotts. This valley was once the granary of ancient Rome and has remained to this day the richest grain-producing region of Tunisia. However, enemies from within and European intrigues from without conspired to force him from office. But before reaching this square of pure blue sky, it received, from a multitude of windows, all the smoke, the smells, and the gossip of our neighbours. A Brief History of Tunisia Muslim Conquest. Between the limestone peaks of the central Tunisian Dorsale and the mountains of the Northern Tell—which include the sandstone ridges of the Kroumirie Mountains in the northwest that reach elevations of 3,000 feet (900 metres)—and the Mogods, a mountain range running along the deeply indented coastline to the north, lies the Majardah (Medjerda) River valley, formed by a series of ancient lake basins covered with alluvium. Generally, from mid-autumn to mid-spring, when three-fourths of the annual total occurs, northern Tunisia receives more than 16 inches of rainfall, and the steppe region receives from 4 to 16 inches (100 to 400 mm). It is important as a winter sanctuary for such birds as the greylag goose, coot, and wigeon. After the death of Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq, his successor, ʿAlī, was forced to introduce administrative, judicial, and financial reforms that the French government considered useful. The area was ruled by a succession of Islamic dynasties and empires until coming under French colonial rule in the late 19th century. Tunis itself was located near the site of the ancient city-state of Carthage. Occupying the eastern portion of the great bulge of North Africa, Tunisia is bounded on Berber, the earlier language of the Maghrib, survived in Tunisia in only a few pockets, mainly in the extreme south. Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, University of Tunis. Kenneth Perkins' book traces the history of Tunisia from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Like much of North Africa, Tunisia's history is one littered with conquests that completely changed the country's path. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. The following discussion offers a brief summary of Tunisia’s early history but mainly focuses on Tunisia since about 1800. Tunisie, officially Republic of Tunisia, republic (2015 est. Tunisia’s security was directly threatened in 1835, when the Ottoman Empire deposed the ruling dynasty in Libya and reestablished direct Ottoman rule. 278,252 Pages. Drainage. However, throughout the centuries Tunisia has received various waves of immigration that have included Phoenicians, sub-Saharan Africans, Jews, Romans, Vandals, and Arabs; Muslim refugees from Sicily settled in Al-Sāḥil after their homeland was captured by the Normans in 1091. In the country’s most southerly regions, within the Sahara, even these seasonal streams are rare. Its coastline on the Mediterranean Sea made it the subject of many empires throughout history. In time the Carthaginians built an empire in the Mediterranean. Tunisia became a French protectorate in 1881 and remained under French rule until March 1956 when it gained independence, followed by the promulgation of a new constitution on 1 June 1959. Tunisia. Tunisia is bounded by Algeria to the west and southwest, by Libya to the southeast, and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east and north. It was the Phoenicians that first founded Tunisia’s most famous city of Carthage, which would eventually rival Rome as the most dominant city on the Mediterranean Sea. Roman Africa, for example, was the most intensively Christianized portion of North Africa, and Ifrīqiyyah was later more quickly and more thoroughly Islamicized. This agreement, known as the Convention of Al-Marsa, was signed in 1883 and solidified French control over Tunisia. Dec 15, 2015 - Lamine Bey, first king and last bey of Tunisia. The Glory Days of Carthage. Conscription was also introduced, to the great dismay of the peasantry. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Ichkeul National Park, in the northernmost part of the country, was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980. Culture of Tunisia - Wikipedia In 1956, … Ḥusayn Bey even accepted the idea that Tunisian princes would rule the cities of Constantine and Oran. Brief History of Tunisia: Tunisia is the northern point of Africa. It can be argued that Tunisia’s location is strategic because … Tunisia is situated in the warm temperate zone between latitudes 37° and 30° N. In the north the climate is Mediterranean, characterized by mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers with no marked intervening seasons. On the pretext that Tunisians had encroached on Algerian territory, France invaded Tunisia in 1881 and imposed the Treaty of Bardo, which sanctioned French military occupation of Tunisia, transferred to France the bey’s authority over finance and foreign relations, and provided for the appointment of a French resident minister as intermediary in all matters of common interest. Prices. Amounts are also highly irregular from one year to another, and irregularity increases southward toward the desert. History Tunisia was settled by the Phoenicians in the 12th century B.C. The final blow to Tunisia’s sovereignty came at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, when Britain acquiesced to France’s control of Tunisia. Large plains border the eastern coasts; south of Sousse lies Al-Sāḥil (Sahel) and south of Gabès is Al-Jifārah (Gefara) Plain. Travel Destinations. Explore. (For a discussion of political changes in Tunisia in 2011, see Jasmine Revolution.). After initially examining the years of French colonial rule from 1881 to 1956, when the Tunisians achieved independence, he describes the subsequent process of state-building, including the design of political and economic structures and the promotion of a social and cultural agenda. Tunisia is one of the … Ruins of the ancient baths at Carthage, Tunisia. During the 1990s the government sponsored the construction of a number of dams to control flooding, preserve runoff, and recharge the water table. It was a … The vast majority of the population was Muslim, with a small Jewish minority. Stone-age to the modern age in two and a half minutes? The extreme south is largely sandy desert, much of it part of the Great Eastern Erg of the Sahara. . This changes southward to semiarid conditions on the steppes and to desert in the far south. $5 - $10; $10 - $25; $25 - $50; Over $50; Formats. The app cover whole Tunisia history from Mesolithic era to Parliamentary system. Aḥmad Bey, who ruled from 1837 to 1855, was an avowed modernizer and reformer. Eugene Roe; Project maintenance. More easily controlled from within than any other Maghrib country, Tunisia was also more open to the influence of people and ideas from abroad. On the political level the successful conclusion of the Tunisia Campaign left one Allied problem unsolved: factionalism among the French. This status was achieved, for example, under the ʿAbbāsids in the 9th century and later under the Ottomans. From that time until the establishment of the French protectorate in 1881, Tunisian rulers had to placate the larger powers while working to strengthen the state from within. Beach at Al-Marsā, on the Gulf of Tunis, northeastern Tunisia. Piracy remains the chief purpose and main source of income of all these Turkish settlements along the Barbary coast.