Tunisia

## Republic of Tunisia

الجمهورية التونسية (Arabic)
République Tunisienne (French)

* Flag
* Coat of Arms
* FlagMap
* Outline Border

**Tunisia** (French: Tunisie; Arabic: تونس), officially the **Republic of Tunisia** (French: République Tunisienne; Arabic: الجمهورية التونسية) is a country in North Africa. In TSIGPIGS, they're both female in the mapping and object style, and compete in the team of Maghrebia. During the selection process Tunisia was officially selected as a single candidate/contestant, and were not forced to join a union during the "lower cast mandate for MS".

## Geography

### Political Geography

Tunisia is a country in the Maghreb/North African Region, and is surrounded by Algeria to the West, and Libya to the South-East, with a Mediterranean Coast in the North and North-East part.

The country is divided into 24 governorates, each one of them being named after their capital city. Whereas, the capital and the largest city of the country is Tunis. After Tunis, in the contrary, the 2nd and 3rd largest cities would be *Sfax*, just a bit further South, and *Sousse*, located between Sfax and Tunis.

Tunisia also actually has the northernmost point of the entire African continent, "Cape Anegla", or "*Ras Ben Sakka*". It is very jaggy and is a cliffy area as well. Tunisia actually also has the northernmost point in Africa called the "*Galite* Islands*", a.k.a. "Ils de Chiens" or "Dog Islands". The islands are 12 miles (19 km) in the Mediterranean.*
Tunisia also has quite a few random island around their coast, the largest of which (largest also in all of North Africa) would be *Djerba*, which is connected to the mainland by a 4 mile (6.5 km) causeway bridge).

#### Landmarks

Tunisia actually has loads all of monuments from their historical eras meshed into their civil environment.

In the contrary, the top landmarks in Tunisia include:

* Mosque of *Kairouan* (The Oldest Muslim and Arab Base and Mosque in the Maghreb)
* *Medina* of Tunis (UNESCO / The Oldest Part of the City)
* *Zituna* University (737 AD / Built as a *Madrasa*, or an Educational Building, and Obviously as a University, which is supposedly the oldest in the world)
* *Bardo* Museum (2nd Largest in Africa)
* *Kebili* Oasis (Known for Prehistoric Sites)
* *Djerba*/*Ghriba* Synagogue (The Largest and Oldest Synagogue in Africa)
* Dougga/Carthage Ruins
* *Zaghouan* Water Temple
* *Hanaya* Aqueducts
* *Matmata* (Subterranean Living Units)
* El Jem (UNESCO/Largest Roman Coliseum in Africa)

### Physical Geography

Tunisia has a livable segment in its coastal areas. These beach-type land is also found in the coasts of other Maghreb countries, especially in Morocco (due to them suffering a disastrous drought recently). However, the further inland or South of these countries are plain desert.

Tunisia actually lies right on the convergence of the Eurasian plate in the coastal half, and the African plate in the desert part. Within this plate system, they're wedged between the *Maghrebine* Front Fault Line, and the South Atlas Front Fault. These are the fault lines that essentially create the entire Atlas Mountain chain; stretching from Morocco to the Cape Bon Peninsula of Tunisia. The tallest mountain peak of Tunisia, Mt. *Jebel Chambi* actually lies in these mountain chains.

From the South, meanwhile, the Eastern Erg contrasts a vast proportion of the land. The land consists of sand dunes, and also contains the Jebel National Park, shielded by the *Kasour* Mountains from the East. Essentially, this mountainous region is juxtaposed to the human Mediterranean acts, as like a shield capturing all the moisture arriving. This is turn creates a rain shadow effect that causes everything past the mountains to become dry and arid, hence the Sahara. Due to this, the coastal area is perished with forestry, greenery, and mountains that can even foster snow caps in the winter, and the Southern part becomes more rocky and dry, and the temperatures obviously rise.

From the mountains, the rivers flow mostly in the North, including the longest one, the *Medjerda* River, which empties out into the Mediterranean. In regards to the largest inland body of water, however, it depends on an individual's classification stands upon, i.e., if one is talking about the largest permanent lake (that is not a lagoon connected to the ocean), many might claim Lake *Ichkeula* fits the bill, and is also a UNESCO heritage site. However, if one's talking about seasonal lakes that dry up in the dry season, then we've to got to *Chottel El Djerid*, which translates to "Palm Land Lagoon"; this massive salt pan is the largest one in the Sahara, and also fills up enough to ride boats in the winter months, when the water tributaries empty into it. When the salt pan dries back up, a thick salt crust covers the lake bed so much to the point where walking and even driving is possible.

In any case, Tunisia has a wide range of landscapes, however, they do put a huge emphasis on maritime culture. Despite being a relatively dry nation, water is a kind of theme in their identity.

## Transportation

### Via Land

Hitting around is actually easy for the northern half of the country, as they've rail lines that extend all the way inland to *Tozeur*, and along the coast of *Dougga*. However, in the South, the rail and the road network are rather more sparse. Eventually, however, there's only one, partially unpaved, road sticking around, the C211, which goes all the way down towards Tunisia's tripoint border with Algeria and Libya.

### Via Air

Tunis holds the largest and busiest airport, Tunis-Carthage International [IATA: TUN]. The 2ndlargest airport is actually *Enfidha*-*Hammamet* International [IATA: NBE], close to Sousse, and due to high tourism demand, *Djerba*-*Zarzis* International ranks 3rd.

### Via Sea

Tunis also holds the biggest and busiest shipping port of the country, the Port of Tunis, which is also famous for its elongated "*Goulette*", which is also the source of Lake Tunis, with Fort *Santiago* of *Chikly*, and ancient Roman citadel cite, that is only accessible by and incredibly long narrow jetty, which is unfortunately closed off for foreign travellers/tourists.

Just north of the Port of Tunis lies the Punic Port of Carthage, where ancient ships used to dock, and is now repurposed as a landmark, plus a museum site.

## Trivia

* Due to having close historical symbolisation from the Europeans (specifically the French), Tunisia is the only Muslim country where wine is allowed to drink by citizens, unlike other Arab and Muslim Countries.
* The entire continent of Africa actually gets its name from what Tunisia used to be called in Roman times, as "Afrika".
* Tunisia is actually as old as the Tricarthaginians and the Phoenicians, and is much older than the most respected ROman Empire.
* Interestingly, the monument for the northernmost point, *Ayman Boujlida*, is on the westernmost peninsula of Cpae Angela; however, if you geolocate the monument's coordinates, it is in an unnamed middle peninsula, just a few meters North to the western one.
* Some say the Mosque of Kairouan is the 4th holiest site in Islam, but *Imam Ali* in Iraq and *Ummayad* in Syria can be considered so as well.
* After the destruction of Carthage, the Romans actually tried to put salt on the land, so that nothing would grow[!].
	+ Ironical enough, Tunisia exports one of the best olive oil in the world.
* *Matmata* was also the site of Tatooine, as "non-canonically" displayed in the real Star Wars Franchise.
	+ Not only that, but the entire planet of Tatooine is actually named after the governorate of *Tataouine* in Tunisia.
		- Tatooine is a desert-biome planet. However, not all of Tunisia is unsurprisingly covered in deserted landscapes.
		- It is also the lowermost governorate in Tunisia, and the place where C211 also lies in majorly.
* Due to fostered snow in the mountains in Northern Tunisia, Tunisia actually does have ski resorts.