Tunisia

Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in North Africa. Tunis is its capital.

History

Before the Muslims
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. Its territory in Africa became part of the Africa Province of the Roman Empire.

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 conquered by the Arab Muslims who built a city which they called Kairouan. This 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 were Berber people and 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, but with the strong opposition of the kingdom of Italy because there was a huge Italian community in Tunisia.

World War II 
Important parts of the North African Campaign of World War II were fought in Tunisia from 1941 to 1943.

General Erwin Rommel, the German commander in Africa, wished to defeat the Allies in Tunisia, as the Germans had done in the Battle of France when the Allies were inexperienced against the German Blitzkrieg.  On February 19, 1943, Rommel launched an attack against the U.S. Forces, with his German and Italian troops, in the western area of Tunisia.  That was a disaster for the United States.

After that, the Allies understood the importance of tank warfare.  With better supplies than the Germans, they easily broke into the German lines in southern Tunisia on March 20, 1943.  In May 11, 1943 the last German troops surrendered, followed two days later by the Italian troops.

Independence and revolution 
Tunisia became independent in 1956 with the former Bey of Tunis as King.  Prime Minister Habib Bourguiba became the first president in 1957 when it became a republic.  Bourguiba focused on education and economic development.  He was 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 Tunisia 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

Tunisia is divided into 24 governorates. They are:

Cities

The largest cities in Tunisia are:

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.

References

Notes

Other websites

Government
 Tunisia Government official site 
 Tunisia Chamber of Deputies official site

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 
 Tunisia Today 
 Tunisian Community Center (the Organization of Tunisian-Americans)
 Tunisia Postcards
 Tunisia -Citizendium

 
Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
1956 establishments in Africa