Tunisia

Tunisian Republic الجمهورية التونسية al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: حرية، نظام، عدالة "Ḥurriyyah, Niẓām, ‘Adālah" "Liberty, Order, Justice"
Anthem: "Humat al-Hima" "Defenders of the Homeland"
Capital and largest city		Tunis 36°50′N 10°9′E
Official languages		Arabic
Demonym		Tunisian
Government		Unitary Semi- Presidential Republic
-	President	Beji Caid Essebsi
-	Head of Government	Youssef Chahed
Independence
-	from France	March 20, 1956
Area
-	Total	163,610 km2 (92nd) 63,170 sq mi
-	Water (%)	5.0
Population
-	Apr 2, 2011 estimate	10,432,500 (79th)
-	2011 census	11,245,284
-	Density	63/km2 (133rd (2005)) 163/sq mi
Gini (2000)		39.8 medium
HDI (2011)		0.698 medium · 94th
Currency		Tunisian dinar (TND)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+1)
Drives on the		right
Calling code		216
Internet TLD		.tn .تونس‎

Tunisia (or formally, the Republic of Tunisia) is a country in North Africa. Tunis is its capital.

History

The early History

Since history has been recorded, there were Berber tribes living in what is now Tunisia. Most of them built little towns and ports along the coastline so they could trade with different travellers from everywhere in the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the travellers that used to pass by Tunisia were Phoenicians who started to settle on the Tunisian coast during the 10th Century BC. Later, in the 8th Century BC, Carthage was built by some settlers that came from Phoenicia and regions abroad. After many wars against Greece in 6th Century BC, Carthage dominated the Mediterranean Sea.

During the Second Punic War, Carthage invaded Italy with an army led by Hannibal. The series of wars between the Roman Empire and Carthage ended with the destruction of Carthage in the 2nd Century BC. After the destruction of the Carthaginian civilization, the region became under the Roman Empire control.

When the Roman Empire became weak, the Vandals occupied that region. This was in the 5th Century AD, and one hundred years after that, it became under the control of the Byzantine emperor Justinian.

Beginning of Islam

In the 7th Century, it was re-conquered by the Arab Muslims who built a city which they called Kairouan. Kairouan was the first Arab Muslim city in Tunisia. Many Muslim dynasties (monarchies) ruled Tunisia. One of the best known dynasties was the Zirids dynasty. The Zirids was a Berber dynasty that followed the rules of the Fatimides, a bigger dynasty in Cairo. When the Zirids angered the Fatimides, the Fatimides sent some tribes known as Banu Hilal who ravaged (destroyed and vandalized) Tunisia.

After a brief occupation of Tunisia by the Normans of Sicily in the 12th Century, the Almohad re-conquered it. After that came the Hafsids. In the last years of their reign, the Hafsids became weak and Spain took control of many cities on the coast until they were finally occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

In 1705, Tunisia became virtually independent during the Hussein dynasty, but still had to follow orders from the Ottoman Empire.

French Occupation

Some controversial financial decisions (money-lending) taken by the Bey in mid-1800s in an attempt to repair the country led Tunisia to become under the control of France. Tunisia became officially a French protectorate in on May 12, 1881.

World War II

Major operations during the second world war took place in Tunisia.

General Rommel, the German leader in Africa, wished to defeat the allies in Tunisia, as the Germans had done in the Battle of France. As the allies were inexperienced before the Battle of Tunisia against the German Blitzkrieg and were a bit slow to recover after other attacks, this battle was to be a major test.

On February 19, 1943, General Rommel launched an attack against the U.S. Forces. That was a disaster for the United States. The area where the attacks had been, in the western area of Tunisia, became the site of many US war graves .

After that, the Allies understood the importance of tank warfare, and they easily broke into the German lines in southern Tunisia on March 20, 1943.

Independence and revolution

Tunisia became independent in 1956 and Habib Bourguiba became the first president. In 1957 it became a republic. Bourguiba focused on education and economic development. He was quite supportive of women's rights. However, he had a cult of personality around him and most of the power in the country was held by Bourguiba.

In 1987, Bourguiba was removed from power by Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Ben Ali ruled as dictator of the country until 2011, when he was overthrown in a revolution. The revolution was the first major revolution of the Arab Spring. Tunisia began becoming more democratic, and in 2014, the country held its first free presidential election. The election was won by Beji Caid Essebsi, a secular, liberal candidate.

Geography

Tunisia is in the northern part of Africa. The Mediterranean Sea joins Tunisia in the north and east; the coastline of Tunisia on the Mediterranean Sea is about 1,300 km. Tunisia is also bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the south-east.

The Sahara Desert covers 40% of Tunisia. The other 60% is a fertile area.

Demographics

Standard Arabic is the official language by the Tunisian constitution. But Tunisians speak Tunisian Arabic. Tunisian Arabic is a mix of many languages of people that live or lived in Tunisia. It is called Darija or Tunsi.

A small number of people living in Tunisia still speak a Berber dialect, known as Shelha.

Most people now living Tunisian are Maghrebin Arab. However, small groups of Berbers and Jews live in Tunisia.

The constitution says that Islam is the official state religion. It also requires the President to be Muslim.

Governorates

Governorates of Tunisia

Tunisia is divided into 24 governorates. They are:

Ariana Béja Ben Arous Bizerte Gabès Gafsa Jendouba Kairouan Kasserine Kebili Kef Mahdia

Manouba Medenine Monastir Nabeul Sfax Sidi Bou Zid Siliana Sousse Tataouine Tozeur Tunis Zaghouan

Cities

Tunis, Capital of Tunisia

Sfax City Centre

The largest cities in Tunisia are:

Nr.	City	Population	Governatorate
1	Tunis	983,861	Tunis
2	Sfax	855,256	Sfax
3	Kairouan	546,209	Kairouan
4	Sousse	544,413	Sousse
5	Ettadhamen	422,246	Ariana
6	Gabès	342,630	Gabès
7	Bizerte	114,371	Bizerte
8	Aryanah	97,687	Ariana
9	Gafsa	84,676	Gafsa
10	El Mourouj	81,986	Ben Arous

Economy

Tunisia's economy has many sectors: agriculture (fruit, vegetable oil and vegetables), tourism (when people come from other countries to visit), mining (extracting goods from under the ground), and petroleum (fuel and gas oil). The government used to control the economy, but now it has sold some public companies. This is called privatization.

Tunisia was also the first Mediterranean country to make an agreement with the European Union. This association agreement was signed on March 1, 1995.

Tunisia has plans for two nuclear power stations, to be working by 2019.

Other websites

Government

• Tunisia Government official site (French)
• Tunisia Chamber of Deputies official site (Arabic)

News

• The North Africa Journal business news
• Tunisia Media Online government-sourced
• News and Views of the Maghreb
• AllAfrica.com—Tunisia news headline links

Overviews

• BBC News Country Profile—Tunisia
• Encyclopedia Britannica, Tunisia—Country Page
• Tunisia on arab.net
• CIA World Factbook—Tunisia
• Open Directory Project—Tunisia directory category
• country info & who's who

Other

• Tunisland The Biggest Video Website For Everything Tunisian
• Everything about Tunisia
• Nawaat
• Tunisian online demonstration as protest against dictatorship
• For the liberation of Political Prisoners in Tunisia
• TunisiaOnline
• The Tunisian law from Jurispedia
• Tunisia Daily
• List of catholic marriages in Tunisia 1801–1949 (French)
• Tunisia Today (French)
• Tunisian Community Center (the Organization of Tunisian-Americans)
• Tunisia Postcards