Tunis

Tunis (Arabic: تونس‎, Tūnis) is the capital of the Republic of Tunisia and also the Tunis Governorate, with a population of 1,200,000 in 2008 and over 3,980,500 in the municipal area. It is Tunisia's largest city.

Situated on a large Mediterranean gulf, (the Gulf of Tunis), behind the Lake of Tunis and the port of La Goulette (Halq al Wadi), the city extends along the coastal plain and the hills that surround it. At the centre of more modern development (colonial era and post) lies the old medina. Beyond this section lie the suburbs of Carthage, La Marsa, and Sidi Bou Said.

The medina is found at the centre of the city: a dense agglomeration of alleys and covered passages, full of intense scents and colours, boisterous and active trade, a surfeit of goods on offer ranging from leather to plastic, tin to the finest filigree, tourist souvenirs to the works of tiny crafts-shops.

Just through the Sea Gate (also known as the Bab el Bahr and the Porte de France), begins the modern city, or Ville Nouvelle, transversed by the grand Avenue Bourguiba (considered by many to be the Tunisian Champs-Élysées), where the colonial-era buildings provide a clear contrast to smaller older structures. As the capital city of the country Tunis is the center of Tunisian commercial activity, as well as focus of political and administrative life in the country. The expansion of the Tunisian economy in the last decades is reflected in the booming development of the outer city where one can see clearly the social challenges brought about by rapid modernization in Tunisia.

Etymology

Tunis is the transcription of the Arabic name تونس which can be pronounced as "Tūnus‎", "Tūnas", or "Tūnis". The three variations were mentioned by the Arab geographer al-Rumi Yaqout in his Mu'jam al-Bûldan (The Dictionary of Countries).

Different explanations exist for the origin of the name Tunis. Some scholars relate it to the Phoenician goddess Tanith (aka. Tanit, Tanut), as many ancient cities were named after the names of the deities. Some Arab Scholars proposed that the name derives from Arabic roots or identified it with the original town of Tarshish. Others claim that it originated from Tynes which was mentioned by Diodoros and Polybius along descriptions that were very close to the present day Al-Kasba; one of Tunis suburbs.

Another possibility is that it was derived from the Berber verbal root ens which means "to lie down" or "to pass the night". Given the variations of the precise meaning over time and space, the term Tunis can possibly mean "camp at night," "camp", or "stop". In Tunisia there are also some inscribed references in ancient Roman sources mentioning the names of nearby towns, such as Tuniza (currently El Kala), Thunusuda (currently Sidi Meskine), Thinissut (currently Bouregba Bir), Thunisa (currently Ras Jebel), etc. As all of these Berber villages were situated on Roman roads, they undoubtedly served as a rest point or stop.

History

Carthage

The historical study of Carthage is problematic. Because its culture and records were destroyed by the Romans at the end of the Third Punic War, very few Carthaginian primary historical sources survive. While there are a few ancient translations of Punic texts into Greek and Latin, as well as inscriptions on monuments and buildings discovered in North Africa, the main sources are Greek and Roman historians, including Livy, Polybius, Appian, Cornelius Nepos, Silius Italicus, Plutarch, Dio Cassius, and Herodotus. These writers belonged to peoples in competition, and often in conflict, with Carthage. Greek cities contested with Carthage for Sicily, and the Romans fought three wars against Carthage. Not surprisingly, their accounts of Carthage are extremely hostile; while there are a few Greek authors who took a favorable view, these works have been lost.

Recent excavation has brought much more primary material to light. Some of these finds contradict aspects of the traditional picture of Carthage, and much of the material is still ambiguous.

Early history

The existence of the town is attested by sources dating from the fourth century BC. In the 2nd millennium BC a town, originally named Tunes, was founded by Berbers and also over time occupied by Numidians. In 146 BC, the Romans destroyed Tunis (along with Carthage). However, the city was subsequently rebuilt under the rule of Augustus and became an important town under Roman control and the center of a booming agricultural industry. Situated on a hill, Tunis served as an excellent point from which the comings and goings of naval and caravan traffic to and from Carthage could be observed. Tunis was one of the first towns in the region to fall under Carthaginian control, and in the centuries that followed Tunis was mentioned in the military histories associated with Carthage. Thus, during Agathocles’ expedition, which landed at Cape Bon in 310 BC, Tunis changed hands on various occasions.

During the Mercenary War, it is possible that Tunis served as a center for the native population of the area, and that its population was mainly composed of peasants, fishermen, and craftsmen. Compared to the ancient ruins of Carthage, the ruins of ancient Tunis are not as large. According to Strabo, it was destroyed by the Romans during the Third Punic War. Both Tunis and Carthage were destroyed; Tunis, however, was rebuilt first. The city is mentioned in the Tabula Peutingeriana as Thuni. In the system of Roman roads for the Roman province of Africa, Tunis had the title of mutatio (“way station, resting place”). Tunis, increasingly Romanized, was also eventually Christianized and became the seat of a bishop. However, Tunis remained modestly sized compared to Carthage during this time. In the 9th century BC, the city was taken over by Phoenicians from Carthage. The Berbers took control of Tunis in 395 BC but it was soon lost when Agathocles invaded Africa and established his headquarters there. When Agathocles left Africa, the Carthaginians took control of the city once again.

Islamic conquest

It was not until the 7th century, after the final destruction of Carthage, that the city achieved its own importance under the control of Arab Muslims. It was at this time that the medina of Tunis was first built. During the 7th century the region was conquered by Arab troops led by the Ghassanid general Hassan Ibn Numan. In effect, the city was blessed with a privileged position at the back of the gulf and at the crossroads of commercial routes with the hinterlands of Europe. Early on, Tunis played a military role—the Arabs chose it for this role because from then on it was the only important city in the vicinity of the Strait of Sicily. From the earliest years of the 8th century, Tunis was the chef-lieu of this area, and saw itself strengthening its military role: it became the Arabs' naval base in the western Mediterranean Sea, and took on considerable military importance. Under the reign of the Aghlabids, the people of Tunis revolted numerous times, but Tunis profited from economic improvements and quickly became the second-most important city of the kingdom. It became the national capital at the end of the reign of Ibrahim II (902) and remained so until 909, (the date at which the Shi'ite Berbers took over Ifriqiya and founded the Fatimid Caliphate), then becoming the area's chef-lieu again. The opposition against the authorities intensified, from September 945, when the Kharijite insurgents occupied Tunis and allowed it to be pillaged. With the advent of the Zirid dynasty, Tunis gained importance, but the Sunni population tolerated less and less the Shi'ite rule, and carried out massacres against the Shi'ite community. That is why, in 1048, the Zirid ruler Al-Muizz ibn Badis rejected his city's obedience to the Fatimids and re-established the Sunni rites throughout all of Ifriqiya. This decision infuriated the Shi'ite caliph Al-Mustansir Billah. To punish the Zirids, he unleashed the Banu Hilal Arab tribe on Ifriqaya; a large part of Ifriqiya was put to fire, the Zirid capital Kairouan was razed in 1057, and only several coastal villages, including Tunis and Mahdia, escaped destruction. Nevertheless, exposed to the violence of the hostile tribes that settled around the city, the population of Tunis, which no longer recognized the authority of the Zirids, swore allegiance to the Hammadid prince El Nacer ibn Alennas, based in Béjaïa, in 1059. The governor named for Béjaïa, having reestablished order in the country, didn't hesitate to free himself from the Hammadids and found the Khourassanid dynasty with Tunis as its capital. This small independent kingdom picked up the threads of trade and commerce with other nations, and brought the nation back to peace and prosperity.

From the 12th century to the 16th century, the old city was controlled by the Almohad and the Hafsid Berber dynasties. During this time, Tunis was one of the richest and grandest cities in the Islamic world, with a population of about 100,000.

New Capital of Tunisia

In 1159, the Almohad 'Abd al-Mumin took Tunis, overthrew the last Khourassanide leader and installed in its place a new government in the kasbah of Tunis. The Almohad conquest marked a new period in the history of Tunis, particularly with the beginning of the dominance of the city in Tunisia. The early settlement which had previously played a minor role behind Kairouan and Mahdia, was promoted to the rank of provincial capital. In 1228, Governor Abû Zakariya Yahyâ seized power and a year later, took the title of Emir and founded the Hafsids dynasty. With the advent of this dynasty, the city became the capital of a kingdom stretching towards Tripoli and Fez. In addition city walls were built to protect the emerging town of the kingdom including a wall surrounding the Medina, the Kasbah and the new suburbs of Tunis. In 1270, Tunis was taken by briefly by Louis IX of France, who was hoping to convert the Hafsid sovereign to Christianity. Louis IX easily captured Carthage, but his army was quickly victim of an outbreak of dysentery. Louis IX himself died before the walls of the capital and the army was forced out. At the same time, driven by the reconquest of Spain, the first Andalusian Muslims and Jews arrived in Tunis and would become of fundamental importance to the economic prosperity and development of intellectual life in the Hafsid capital.

Middle ages

The Ottoman Empire took nominal control of the city in 1534 when Barbarossa Hayreddin captured it from the Hafsid Sultan, Mulai Hassan. Mulai Hassan fled to the court of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor King of Spain. Charles, who suffered at the hands of the corsairs operating out of Djerba, Tunis and Algiers, agreed to reinstate Mulai-Hassan in exchange for an acceptance of Spanish suzerainty by Mulai-Hassan. A naval expedition led by Charles himself was dispatched in 1535 and the city was quickly recaptured. The victory against the corsairs is recorded in a tapestry at the Royal Palace of Madrid. The resulting protectorate lasted until the Ottomans retook Tunis in 1574. After 1591, the Ottoman governors (Beys) were relatively independent and piracy and trade continued to flourish.

In April 1655, English Admiral Robert Blake was sent to the Mediterranean to extract compensation from states that had been attacking English shipping. Only the Bey of Tunis refused to comply, with the result that Blake's 15 ships attacked the Bey's arsenal at Porto Farina (Ghar el Melh), destroying nine Algerian ships and two shore batteries, the first time in naval warfare that shore batteries had been taken out without landing men ashore.

In the sixteenth century, Tunis was one of the principal theatres of confrontation between the Spanish monarchy and Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman troops, under the leadership of Hayreddin Barbarossa, appeared before the Bab El Jazira on 18 August 1534 pillaged the city. Charles V, called to the rescue by European leaders menaced by the Ottoman advance in the Mediterranean, retook the city on 6 August 1535, and restored the Hafsid sovereignty.

Confronting the difficulties previously encountered, the Ottoman Uluç Ali Reis, at the head of an army of janissaries and Kabyles retook Tunis in 1569. However, following the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Spanish succeeded in retaking the city and re-establishing the Hafsid sovereign. Following these conflicts, the city finally fell into Ottoman hands in August 1574. Having become an Ottoman province governed by a Pasha appointed by the Ottoman Sultan based in Istanbul, the country was not slow to attain a certain autonomy (1591). Under the rule of deys and Moorish beys, the capital sprang into new life. Its population grew by additions from various ethnicities, among which were the Moors hounded from Spain, and economic activities diversified. To traditional industry and trade with distant lands was added the activity of the Barbary pirates, then in their golden age.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Tunisia entered into a new period in its history, with the advent of the Husseinites dynasty. In this context, numerous successive rulers in power made a great progression in developing the city and its buildings. During this period, the city prospered as a center of commerce but was also threatened by. During the nineteenth century, the population is estimated, according to various sources, to range from 90,000 to 110,000 inhabitants. Taking advantage of divisions within the dynasty, Algerians captured Tunis in 1756 and put the country under supervision. At the beginning of the 19th century, Hammouda Bey faced the bombing of the Venetian fleet and the city experienced a rebellion in 1811. Under the reign of Hussein Bey II , the English naval victories (1826) and French (1827) saw the French become increasingly active in the city and in the economy.

During the later nineteenth century, Tunis became increasingly populated by Europeans, particularly the French, and the new population dramatically increased the size of the city. This resulted in the first demolition of the old city walls, from 1860, to accommodate for growth on the suburbs of the city. The city spilled outside the area of the earlier town and the banks of the lake, to accommodate these new people. Accordingly the new areas of the city became modernised with water supply (1860), light gas ( 1872), roads, and trash collection (1873) as well as communications with the nearby suburbs and city centre. In addition, the crafts and traditional trade declined somewhat, and the newcomers introduced the first modern industries and increased trade with Europe, and new forms of urban life.

Development under the Protectorate

The French occupied the city from 1881 to 1956, having established a protectorate system of administration that recognized the nominal authority of local government. In those years there were huge European colonies (like the Tunisian Italians) in Tunis. The city expanded and created new boulevards and neighborhoods.

The creation of the French protectorate in 1881 was a turning point in Tunis history, causing rapid redevelopment of the city in the span of two to three decades. The city rapidly spread out of its fortifications: it split between a traditional Arab-populated old city, and a new city populated by newcomers, with a different structure than the traditional Medina. Tunis also benefited from French construction of a water supply, natural gas and electricity networks, Public transport services and other public infrastructures.

Tunis was quiet during he First World War. After the war, the city faced new transformations as the modern city grew in importance and extended its network of boulevards and streets in all directions. In addition, a series of satellite cities emerged on the urban rim and pushed the limits of the municipality of Tunis. At an economic level, activities were expanding and diversifying as the modern industries continued to grow, while traditional industry continued to decline.

During World War II, Tunis was held by Axis forces from November 1942 to May 1943. It was their last base in Africa, as they escaped to Italy after being pushed by Allied forces from Algeria in the west and Libya in the east. Tunis fell to the Allies on 7 May 1943 at 15:30 in the afternoon, who defeated most of the German Fifth Panzer Army left guarding the city. At midday on 20 May 1943, the Allies held a victory parade on the Avenue Maréchal Galliéni and Avenue Jules Ferry to signal the end of fighting in North Africa. After the Allies successfully pushed the Axis powers out of Tunisia, they used Tunis as a base of operation to stage assaults against the island of Pantelleria, then Sicily, and finally Italy.

Following the Second World War, suburbs grew up quickly around Tunis to facilitate rapid industrialization.

Growth since independence

After independence in 1956, Tunis has consolidated its role as the capital, first with the establishment of a constitution stating that the Chamber of Deputies and the Presidency of the Republic must have their headquarters in Tunis and its suburbs. In a very short time, a rapid transforming of the colonial city proceeded. As the city has grown and native Tunisians gradually began to replace the extensive European population, conflict between the Arab city and the European city has gradually decreased with the arabization of the population.

Because of population pressure and the rate of migration to the capital, the city continued to grow, even with the creation of new districts in the suburbs. Old buildings have gradually been renovated and upgraded and new buildings have come to influence the urban landscape. At the same time, an active policy of industrialization is developing the municipal economy.

The Arab League was headquartered in Tunis from 1979 to 1990.The Arab League, which represents 22 Arab nations, transferred its headquarters to Tunis in 1979 because of Egypt's peace with Israel but has been headquartered back in Egypt since 1990.

The Palestine Liberation Organization also had its headquarters in Tunis, from 1970s to 2003. In 1985, the PLO's headquarters was bombed by the Israeli Air Force, killing approximately 60 people.

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