Metline

Metline (Tunisian Arabic: الماتلين ‎) is a commune and town on the Mediterranean coast, in the Bizerte Governorate of northern Tunisia. As of 2004, it had a population of 7,370. It is located approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Tunis, 28 kilometres (17 mi) southeast of Bizerte and 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) northwest of Ras Jebel. The commune of Metline occupies a peninsula extending between the mountains, the sea and the forest, with a coastline of more than 6 kilometres (3.7 mi). Cap Zebib is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the northeast. The commune was created on May 3, 1967.

History

Founded in the sixteenth century, there are traces also of a Roman city, Benvenutum, as well as ninth century strongholds from the times of the Aghlabids dynasty. Metline fought against the Spanish during the 1534 and 1574 conquests. Ottoman soldiers settled in the area thereafter and may have leant the name Metline to the town as many of the soldiers were from Mytilene, Greece. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, a second wave of settlement brought Moors who were driven out of Andalusia when it was reconquered by the Catholics in 1492. A World War II battery at Metline consisted of two naval turrets.