Tunisia
,
country
of
North Africa
. Tunisia’s accessible
Mediterranean Sea
coastline and strategic location have attracted conquerors and visitors through the ages, and its ready access to the
Sahara
has brought its people into contact with inhabitants of the African interior.
Country Facts
Audio File:
National anthem of Tunisia
- Head Of Government:
- Prime Minister: Ahmed Hachani
- Capital:
- Tunis
- Population:
- (2024 est.) 11,965,000
- Form Of Government:
- republic with two legislative houses
1
(Assembly of the People’s Representatives [154
2
]; National Assembly of Regions and Districts [vacant
3
])
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
. Although the story is certainly
apocryphal
, Carthage nonetheless grew into one of the great cities and preeminent powers of antiquity, and its colonies and entrepots were scattered throughout the western Mediterranean region. Carthage fought a series of wars with its rival, Rome. Rome prevailed in the mid-2nd century
bce
, razed Carthage, and ruled the region for the following 500 years. In the 7th century
Arab
conquerors converted the native
Berber
(Amazigh) population of North Africa to
Islam
. The area was ruled by a succession of Islamic
dynasties
and empires until coming under French colonial rule in the late 19th century. After achieving independence in 1956, Tunisia pursued a progressive social agenda and sought to modernize its economy under two long-serving presidents,
Habib Bourguiba
and
Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali
. However, Tunisia remained an
authoritarian
state with an all-powerful ruling party and no significant institutions of representative government. (For a discussion of political changes in Tunisia in 2011,
see
Jasmine Revolution
.)
Tunisia’s
culture
is highly
diverse
, in part because of long periods of
Ottoman
and then
French
rule but also because populations of Jews and Christians have lived among a Muslim majority for centuries. 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. Other cities include
Sfax
(?af?qis),
Sousse
(S?sah), and
Gabes
(Q?bis) on the fertile coast and
Kairouan
(Al-Qayraw?n) and
El-Kef
(Al-K?f) in the arid interior.
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
:
Britannica Quiz
The Country Quiz
We shared the ground floor of a shapeless old building, a sort of two-room apartment. The kitchen, half of it roofed over and the rest an open courtyard, was a long vertical passage toward the light. 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. At night, each locked himself in his room, but in the morning, life was always communal.
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.
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Land
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.
Relief
Tunisia is
characterized
by moderate relief. The Tunisian Dorsale, or
High Tell, a southwest-northeast?trending mountain range that is an extension of the
Saharan Atlas
(Atlas Saharien) of Algeria, tapers off in the direction of the
Shar?k
(Cape Bon) Peninsula in the northeast, south of the Gulf of Tunis. The highest mountain,
Mount Chambi
(Al-Sha?nab?), located near the centre of the Algerian border, rises to 5,066 feet (1,544 metres), while
Mount Zaghw?n
(Zaghouan), about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Tunis, reaches 4,249 feet (1,295 metres). 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. This valley was once the granary of
ancient Rome
and has remained to this day the richest grain-producing region of Tunisia.
To the south of the Tunisian Dorsale lies a hilly region known as the Haute Steppe (
High Steppes
) in the west and the Basse Steppe (Low Steppes) in the east. These have elevations ranging from about 600 to 1,500 feet (180 to 460 metres) and are crossed by secondary ranges trending north-south. Farther south there is a series of
chott
(or
sha??
; salty lake) depressions. Large plains border the eastern coasts; south of Sousse lies
Al-S??il
(Sahel) and south of Gabes is
Al-Jif?rah
(Gefara) Plain. The extreme south is largely sandy
desert
, much of it part of the Great Eastern Erg of the
Sahara
.
Drainage
The major drainage feature of the north is the Majardah River, the country’s only perennially flowing stream, which cuts the Majardah valley before emptying into the Gulf of Tunis, near the site of ancient
Carthage
. Farther south, streams are
intermittent
and largely localized in the form of wadis, which are subject to seasonal flooding and terminate inland in
chott
s. In the country’s most southerly regions, within the Sahara, even these seasonal streams are rare. As in other countries of this arid region, access to water is a major concern. During the 1990s the government sponsored the construction of a number of dams to control flooding, preserve runoff, and recharge the
water table
.
Soils
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. Aside from these and from the plains of the Haute Steppe region, where some clay soils of medium fertility may be found, soils in the rest of the country tend to be rocky or sandy. In the dry south, moreover, they are often also saline because of excessive evaporation. The humid coastal
plain
in the east, running between the Gulf of
Hammamet
and the
Gulf of Gabes
, where Tunisia’s
thriving
olive plantations are found, is the most agriculturally productive of these coarse-textured soil areas.
Climate
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. This changes southward to semiarid conditions on the steppes and to desert in the far south. Saharan influences give rise to the
sirocco
, a seasonal hot, blasting wind from the south that can have a serious drying effect on vegetation.
Temperatures are moderated by the sea, being less extreme at Sousse on the coast, for example, than at
Kairouan
(Al-Qayraw?n) inland. Temperatures at Sousse average 44 °F (7 °C) in January and 89 °F (32 °C) in August.
Comparable
temperatures at Kairouan are 40 °F (4 °C) in January and 99 °F (37 °C) in August. Africa’s highest temperature, about 131 °F (55 °C), was recorded in Kebili, a town in central Tunisia.
The amount of precipitation, all falling as rain, varies considerably from north to south. A mean annual rainfall of about 60 inches (1,520 mm) occurs in the Kroumirie Mountains in northwestern Tunisia, making it the wettest region in North Africa, as compared with less than 4 inches (100 mm) at
Tozeur
(Tawzar) in the southwest. 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). Amounts are also highly irregular from one year to another, and irregularity increases southward toward the desert. Harvests vary as a result, being poor in dry years.
Plant and animal life
The vegetation and animal life of the country are affected by these
erratic
climatic conditions. 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. Scorpions are found in all regions; among dangerous snakes are the horned viper and the cobra. Desert locusts sometimes damage crops in the southern part of the country.
Ichkeul National Park, in the northernmost part of the country, was named a UNESCO
World Heritage site
in 1980. It is important as a winter
sanctuary
for such birds as the
greylag goose
, coot, and wigeon.