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History of Tunisia

Tunisia throughout its history had been ruled by great empires of the Mediterranean. Each empire was leaving behind many fascinating vestiges that attract the attention of many people in the world. Tunisia was the choosen place of the mighty city-state of Carthage for six centuries. Then the country was taken over by the Roman empire where it remained at this state for about eight centuries. After that, it was opened by Arab-Islamic armies who ended Tunisia's Byzantine and Berber rule and bring the country into the Arab influence. A thousand years later, for which the last three centuries the county was at least under nominal Ottoman rule, Tunisia became a protectorate under the French influence. The country finally gained its independence in I956 when it was ruled for the next three decades by the well-known modernizer, Habib Bourguiba.

FIRST Settlement

Back to as far as the stone age, about some 200,000 years ago, first people created a primitive existence for them using their basic stone tools near the southern oasis town of Kelibia. At that time, the desert (Sahara) was like a forest with trees and savannah grasses.

However, at the end of the ice Age, about 8000 years ago, the desert (Sahara) began to dry out, Isolating Tunisia from the rest of Africa. Some people, called the Capsians, began to arrive from the east along with other people. These people were named after the city of Gafsa (ancient Capsa). Some finely sculpted stone and bone remains were found near this ancient city. These people settled in southern Tunisia until about 4500 BC. After that, migration from southern Europe continued until around 2500 BC and these varied Neolithic peoples are thought to be the ancestors of the Berbers.

THE RISE & FALL OF CARTHAGE

Carthage (in Phoenician, Kart-Hadasht; in Latin, Carthago), now a northern suburb of Tunis, was a great trading city that has risen in the 6th century BC and dominated the Western Mediterranean. Phoenicians seeking trading posts along the maritime route between their own city of Tyre (now in southern Lebanon) and the silver mines of southern Spain, were drawn to the Tunisian coast. The first place they settle in Tunisia was about 1101 BC, in Utica which is located about 35krn northwest of Tunis. Other Phoenician ports located along the North African coast also included Hadrumetum (Sousse), Hippo Diarrhytus (Bizerte) and Thrabaka (Tabarka). The city of Carthage was founded in 814 BC by the Phoenician queen Elissa (Dido), its foundation has an elaborate myth connected with it and a version of that myth appears in Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid. From that time, Carthage started to give rise to a more permanent Phoenician presence in Tunisia. It went from strength to strength, in the time that Tyre itself was suffering at the hands of the Assyrians in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. It then became the great metropolis of the Phoenician world, enjoying wealth coming from trading craft and protected by a powerful navy. By the end of the 6th century BC, Carthage reached its full power and became the prominent one in the western Mediterranean, gaining power over the North African coast from Tripolitania (western Libya) to the Atlantic, with colonies in the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Malta, Sardinia and Sicily. In the 5th and 4th centuries BC, Carthage tried to expand its land empire in Africa, gaining out territory - similar in extent to modern-day Tunisia - that stretched from Tabarka in the northwest to Sfax in the southeast, including also the fertile lands of the Cap Bon Peninsula and the Medjerda Valley which were large providers of exportable agriculture. Because Carthage had acquired regional primacy, it was evident that it will clash with the other great powers of the Mediterranean: first Greece, and then Rome. There were numerous wars broke out in 310 BC with the Greeks over Sicily, which is located about 150km. The Carthaginians finally gained control of the island in the middle of the 3rd century BC. However, at that time the clash with the Roman empire was about to manifest itself with the first of the three Punic Wars that would continue between the two powers for the next 100 years. Rome waged the first war in 263 BC with a campaign to win control of Sicily. The Roman army gained successes on land and the powerful Carthage's navy failed to defend the city against the attack. Another sharp defeat for the Carthaginians took place in 242 BC, when the Roman fledgling navy succeeded in destroying the Carthaginian fleet off Trapani (eastern Sicily). Carthage, apparently became much weaker now, was forced to accept Roman terms and abandon Sicily; and in 238 BC it gave up Sardinia and Corsica, too. Furthermore, internal troubles inside Carthage began to rise as unpaid mercenaries revolted and caused a bitter conflict that was characterized by brutality and savagery. This ruthless conflict was mentioned in Gustave Flaubert's over-the-top novel Salammbo (1862). Carthage was defeated again in the Battle of Zama in 202 BC and as a consequence it was forced to relinquish further overseas territories, among which were the losing of much of its African territory to the Numidian king Massinissa, who cavalry fought for the Romans alongside Scipio at Zama. In spite of all that, Carthage succeeded again in regaining its former fame as a commercial center for the next 50 years. This resurgence of the city however caused increasing unease in Rome and urged her to finally launched the Third Punic War with the intention of settling the matter once and for all. In 149 BC, the Roman army landed at Utica and laid siege to Carthage for three years. The city which stood the siege for three years finally fall in 146 BC. When the Romans entered the city, they showed no mercy. They destroyed Carthage completely then ceremonially cursed it, its agricultural lands symbolically sown with salt - to ensure that they would remain forever barren, while the survivors were sold into slavery. In spite of their being great merchants, the Carthaginians were ruthless rulers who had oppressed and heavily taxed the indigenous Berber peoples around them. Although the Carthaginians have taught Berbers advanced agriculture, many of the Berbers were forced to flee into the desert and mountain hinterland.

Tunisia Under the Roman Rule

Carthage came to an end and the lands finally became under the power of the Roman Empire, however Rome expansionary priorities were lying elsewhere. Rome thus was pleased to leave most of the country to the Numidians (a Berber kingdom) who were undoubtedly happy to be left alone after centuries of Carthaginian oppression. The Numidians began to expand and gain more influence under Massinissa who established a kingdom that extended from western Algeria to Libya. The major towns included Sicca Veneria (Le Kef), Thugga (Dougga) and Vaga (Beja). Rome then decided to cut the kingdom down to size after Massinissa's death in 148 BC, dividing it up between his three sons. The kingdom was united again by the ruthless master Massinissa's grandson Jugurtha, whose carried massacre of some Roman traders caused a war that lasted from 112 to 105 BC. Jugurtha was finally betrayed by his father-in-law, King Bocchus I of Mauretania. He was then captured, paraded through the streets of Rome and then executed. Rome decided to split the foremer kingdom into a western half centred on Cirta Regia (in modern Algeria) and an eastern half based at Zama, near Siliana. Juba I was the last of Zama kings. He intervene in the struggle of power in Rome (the Roman civil war) whcih was between Julius Caesar and Pompey, however he backed the wrong side and was defeated by Julius Caesar at the Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC. Rome now decided to be in control of its African outpost and Julius Caesar re-established Carthage as a Roman city in 44 BC and made it the the capital of the expanded colony of Africa Proconsularis. Africa was the largest supplier of wheat to Rome, and the wheat-growing plains of the Medjerda Valley and the Tell Plateau alone were supplying more than 60% of the Roman Empire's grain requirements by the 1st century AD. The Berbers prospered and some Berbers were even granted Roman citizenship. However, the Punic langugages and cultures were not supplanted by the Roman civilisation. Unlike, Spain and France who ended up speaking Latin-based languages, North Africa on the contrary did not follow sutie. During this time also, north Africa supplied the wild animals used in colosseum shows, as well as slaves, gold, ivory, olive oil, ostrich plumes and garum (a fishpaste delicacy). Some cities became wealthy based on this prosperity - including Bulla Regia, Dougga, EI-Jem (Thysdrus), Haidra, Sbeitla (Sufetula) and Thuburbo Majus - these cities are now also among the main tourist attractions in Tunisia.

THE VANDALS & THE BYZANTINES

The roman empire declined by the beginning of the 5th century AD. At that time, the Vandal king Gaiseric (or Genseric), who had been occupied by battles in southern Spain, decided to gain the Roman North African colonies. In AD 429, he set off across the Straits of Gibraltar and brought about 80,000 men, women and children with him in one of history's most astonishing invasions. Within 10 years, the Vandals had succeeded to pave their way to Carthage and made it the capital of a short-lived empire. The Vandals - who were avid Arian Christians - built no monuments and their cultural and archaeological traces are few (except for some churches of their rule). North African economy began to decline, although Gaiseric in AD 455, infamously, went on to plunder Rome. At that time, the Byzantine emperor Justinian, based in Constantinople (Istanbul today), had revived the eastern half of the now-Christianised Roman Empire and had intended to do the same for its western territories. His general Flavius Belisarius defeated the Vandals in AD 533 In two battles near Carthage, thus secured about 150 years of Byzantine rule. The Byzantines however lived in a state of instability and constant siege, and Berber chieftains were in control of the bulk of the country. However, Byzantines also built many monuments, churches and fortifications which are still in existence in many of Tunisia's Roman sites.

THE ARRIVAL OF ISLAM & THE ARABS

The History of early Islamic Tunisia begins with the arrival of the Arabs who brought their language and the religion of Islam. In the mid-7th century AD, the armies of the new religion of Islam permanently changed the face of North Africa. Islam entered Egypt by AD 640 - just eight years after Prophet Mohammed's death - and soon after, Tripoli was in Muslim hands. After nearly 30 years, Islamic rule was secured in Tunisia. For three years, beginning in AD 669, Okba ibn Nafaa al-Fihri swept across North Africa, stopping on the way to establish Qayrawan (Kairouan), a city that is considered by many Sunni Muslims to be Islam's fourth holiest city (after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem). The Arabs then defeated the Byzantines' Tunisian armies and the Berbers eventually converted to Islam, and fundamental elements of Islamic civilization were established. Although accepting Islam, many Berbers nonetheless resisted Arab rule. In AD 683, after Okba was defeated and killed by a combined Berber-Byzantine army. the Arabs abandon North Africa for a while. The leader of the victors was the Berber chieftain Qusayla who then founded his own Islamic kingdom at Kairouan. The Arabs then regrouped and succeeded in retaking Kairouan in AD 689 and further dismissed the Byzantines from Carthage in AD 698. Berbers however continued their resistance. They were rallying behind the legendary princess AI-Kahina who succeeded in defeating the Arabs at Tebessa (Algeria) in AD 696, however she was finally defeated and killed after a legendary last stand at EI-Jem in AD 701, and thus North Africa became a province of the expanding Islamic state under Umayyad caliphs, based in Damascus. The Berbers made another rebellion because of some tyrannical actions of Arab militia along with other inflaming matters like the Berbers' affinity for the teachings of the Kharijites who were divided into a variety of feuding factions and their beliefs which were contrasting sharply with that of the Umayyads.

ISLAMIC DYNASTIES

Because of the relatively distant location of Tunisia, like the case in the rest of North Africa, from the center of Islamic power, Damascus, Baghdad and later Istanbul, Tunisia was most of the time not ruled directly by the Islamic Caliphates. There used to be a fighting between rival Muslim groups both Berber and Arab which finally gave rise to a succession of local Islamic dynasties. After Abbasid dynasty took over the Caliphate overthrowing the Umayyads in AD 750, the ruling Abbasid Caliph appointed Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab as governor of the province of Ifriqiyya (the Arabic name for Africa) with Kairouan as its capital In AD 797. Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab soon succeeded in established effective control of Tunisia, eastern Algeria and the Libyan province of Tripolitania. His efforts were rewarded by Harun aI-Rashid, the Abbasid Caliph at that time, who appointed him as hereditary emir, thus establishing the Aghlabid dynasty, which ruled Tunisia - nominally as vassals of the Abbasids - for over one century. The Aghlabids actually has enriched the country with its most endur¬ing Islamic architectural legacies among which are: The Great Mosque in Kairouan, the ribats (forts) at Sousse and Monastir. The next dynasty that came to power after the Aghlabids is the Fatimids (named after Fatima, Prophet Mohammed's daughter). Some Berber Shiites from the Kabylie region of central Algeria went on to depose the religiously illegitimate, as they thought it to be, Abbasid caliphate and declare their leader, Obeid Allah, as caliph. The Fatimids succeeded quickly in conquering North Africa and defeated the Aghlabids in AD 909, and after one year from that date Obeid Allah was declared the 'true caliph' at Raqqada, south of Kairouan. The Fatimids then built a new capital called Mahdia on a small, easily defended coastal headland because they were worrying about potential reprisals, and then they start planning the conquest of Egypt. They took over Egypt In AD 969 and founded another new capital which is Cairo. A new dynasty, the Zirids, arose in 1045 in Ifriqiyya and claimed the return to the Sunni mainstream in defiance of the Cairo-based Fatimids. The Fatimid reaction was devastating: two nomadic tribes of Upper Egypt, Bani Hilal and Bani Sulaim invaded the Maghreb en masse, and for a the following century, North Africa was slowly reduced to ruins. Even in a time in the mid-l100s the Normans, those Vikings who invaded England in 1066, held parts of the Tunisian coast. The state of power vacuum eventually came to an end by the puritanical Almohads. They came to power at the beginning of the 12th century in Morocco and proceeded to the conquest of North Africa with the capture of Mahdia in 1160; however, their empire was a short-lived one and almost began to crumble. The Maghreb finally was divided into three parts: Ifriqiyya (Tunisia) came under the Hafsids; Algeria came under the Banu Abd aI-Wad; and Morocco came under the Merenids. This division remained, to a great extent, till today. During the time of the Crusades, crusaders chose Tunis as their first target because they thought it would be the ground which may later facilitate the invasion of Egypt. However, In 1270 The French King Louis IX, died of the plague at Tunis during his leading of the ill-fated Eighth Crusade.

THE OTTOMAN TURKS

As the Ottoman Turks were fighting for control of the Mediterranean, another regional conflict came from Muslim corsairs, or pirates, the most famous of whom are the Barbarossa brothers, Aruj and Khair ed-Din, who took control of the island of Jerba. Aruj captured Algiers from the Spanish however, when was later killed when they regained the city in 1518. Khair ed-Din sought help from the Turks, who exploited the chance to get involved. They gave him the Turkish title of beylerbey (governor) and supplied him with troops. Tunis came under the Ottoman rule when Sinan Pasha finally claimed it for the Turks in 1574, arresting the last of the Hafsids into exile. In 1598 Othman Dey seized power, reducing the Ottoman pasha to a mere figurehead. The war and struggle for power went on until the early 18th century, when Hussein ben Ali founded the Hussei¬nite line of beys, who ruled Tunisia at least in title - until the country became a republic in 1957, although the Arab world's first constitution (destour) was announced in Tunisia in 1861.

THE FRENCH PROTECTORATE

In 1810s, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France and the United States dispatched naval vessels to North Africa to stop the pirates based in the Barbary States (Tripoli, Tunis and Algiers) which resulted in Tunisia banning piracy in 1816. In 1846 the Bey of Tunis abolished slavery, which although being a reform, it, like the end of highly profitable raids by Tunisian corsairs, caused a heavy weight on the country's treasury and necessitated heavy borrowing from European banks. By 1869 the country's control of its fi¬nances was handed over to an international commission to manage the payment of the loans to the creditors. In 1881, about 30,000 French troops were sent into Tunisia on the pretext of stopping border raids by Tunisian tribesmen into French-occupied Algeria. However, these troops stayed in Tunisia and although the Bey was allowed to remain as Tunisia's titular head, he was forced to sign the Treaty of Kassar Said, which granted real power to the French resident-general. Braitain, which was at that time France's great colonial rival, accepted French domination of Tunisia in exchange for French acceptance for the British occupation of Cyprus. Two justice systems were established by the 1883 Convention of La Marsa in which Europeans were judged under French law and local Tuni¬sians under a modified form of Islamic law. The French were able to get their hands on the best fertile land without confiscating property from individuals by taking over large tracts of the Cap Bon Peninsula and the Medjerda Valley that had previously been controlled by the bey or used by nomads for grazing. On the other hand, the south was largely abandoned because it was difficult for agriculture, until the beginning of the 20th century when phosphate was discovered in the hills west of Gafsa where the French carried on massive mining operations.

WORLD WAR II

In November 1942 British forces defeated Rommel at El Ala¬mein (Egypt) and American forces landed in Morocco and Algeria. In order for Germans to make an attempt at turning back the allied armies which was advancing to the country from both east and west sides, they sent their troops from Sicily to northern Tunisia. Conditions for the Allies were difficult - their supply lines were long and the weather was cold and rainy - and they found themselves in a stalemate until February 1943. The Allies - mainly Americans and British armies - finally captured Tunis and Bizerte after losing more than 15,000 men.

SEEKING INDEPENDENCE

The Dostour (Constitution) party which is the first Tunisian nationalist party was formed in as early as 1920, however Its demands for democratic government was opposed by the French who responded with troops and arrests and, for a while, managed to suspend nationalist initiatives. In 1934, a young charismatic lawyer, Habib Bour¬guiba (1903-2000), broke away from the Destour Party and founded the Neo-Destour Party. The new party quickly spread and received large Support, however the French again turned their guns on demonstrators in Tunis on ~ April 1938, killing dozens of people, furthermore the party was banned and Bourguiba was ar¬rested and deported to France. In spite of that, the French suppression this time merely increased the Neo-Destour's support. When the French forces, under Charles De Gaulle, took control of Tunisia after the German defeat in 1943, they quickly implemented uncompromising antinationalist policies. Bourguiba, who had returned to Tunisia in 1943, fled to Cairo, from where he carried out a successful propaganda campaign aimed at bringing the Neo-Destour's demands to international attention. By 1951 - the year neighboring Libya received its independence - the French showed their readiness towards making concessions. A nationalist government was set up and Bourguiba was allowed to return to Tunisia, however, the French quickly changed their minds - and exiled Bourguiba for a third time. The event caused Nationalist guerrilla violence and the country soon became in a state of chaos.

In July 1954, French premier Pierre Mendes ¬announced France's readiness for negotiations. In June 1955 an agreement was announced and Bourguiba returned to his country as a hero welcomed by the whole nation. Tunisia was formally granted full independence on 20 March 1956, with Bourguiba as prime minister, and after one year, the last bey was deposed and the country was declared a republic with Bourguiba as Tunisia's first president.

BOURGUIBA RULE

Habib Bourguiba supported pro¬independence forces in Algeria which caused the French aircraft In 1958 to bomb the Tunisian border village of Sakhiet Sidi Youssef (40km west of Le Kef), in pursuit of Algerian rebels, killing 62 civilians during the operation, something that caused an inter¬national outrage. In 1961, the Tunisian troops invaded the French military base at Bizerte, the last area of Tunisia still under French control. The French paratroops - flown in from Algeria - and aircraft in return launched a bloody operation in which more than 1000 Tunisians died during only 90 hours of fighting. In 1963, the French finally decided to withdrew from Bizerte. Bourguiba started to modernize both Tunisia's economy and society introducing sweeping legal and social changes. The principals of his reformation policy ware both socialist and secular with elements from westernization. The result of his fierce efforts made Tunisia a showcase for successful postcolonial development. In 1975 the National Assembly decided to grant Bourguiba the presidency for life. Bourguiba regarded religion as a force preventing the country from making much progress. He thus sought to deprive religious leaders of their effective role in shaping society by closing religious schools and abolishing Sharia (Islamic law) courts. These changes were vehemently opposed and for a time there was a resistance to them particularly in Kairouan. The 1970s witnessed a gradual rise of an Islamic opposition. The support for this opposition was further increased after the use of the military to crush a general strike in January 1978, which caused killing of dozens of people. in 1981, forced by increas¬ing pressure at home and abroad, Bourguiba called the first multiparty elections without allowing the Islamic opposition to participate in it. Bourguiba government's clashes with the Islamic militants went on during the 80s as well. During these years, the government was keen on conducting a harsh and effective clampdown against the Islamist opposition. This internal struggle however seemed to take much of the concern of Bourguiba and his government as he was seen as being increasingly not concerned about the needs of the common people. In an incident in which Bourguiba demanded that several Islamists be executed because of their plotting to overthrow the government, the prime minister Zine el-Abidine ben Ali on 7 November 1987, believing that such action would cause a popular uprising, instead seized power in a bloodless coup, as a group of appointed doctors declared the 83-year-old president physically and mentally incapable of holding to his positions' demands and duties. Bourguiba died later at the age of 96 in the year 2000, after living his last years in Monastir. Habib Bourguiba is considered the ruler who has widely shaped modern Tunisia. He is remembered not only for having led his country to independence but also for modernizing many aspects of Tunisia identity. He has advanced women's right, instituted fierce reforms that in some cases ran counter to Sharia law, increased literacy and brought tunisians a standard of living that elevated the position of Tunisia among the other countries of the developing world. There is a bronze door of Bourguiba's mausoleum in monastir on which there are the words: 'The supreme combatant, the Liberator of Women, the builder of modern Tunisia'.

BEN All RULE

Ben Ali has the similar policies to that of Bourguiba, secularist and politically repressive on the domestic side and Moderate and pro-Western on the foreign side of his policy. This politically repressive policy caused Human rights groups as well as the French government to call for greater respect for the human rights particularly in the early 1990s when an alleged Islamist coup plot was uncovered and thousands of suspected fundamentalists were imprisoned and many others fled into exile. However, this international pressure on Ben Ali's government has eased significantly after the bombings that were carried by Algerian Islamists in France in the mid¬ 1990s as well as 9/11. Ben Ali's government thus continued to restrict political parties, censor the press and the internet, limit religious freedoms and impose surveillance and harassment of intellectu¬als, opposition activists and journalists. In spite of that, some politicians see Tunisia now as something of a model of how a moderate, secular and relatively open Arab state can resist fundamentalism, at least effectively. Ben Ali was further successful in the presidential elections in 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2004. In the elections of 2004, He retained the presidency with 94.5% of the vote, his lowest vote total ever. Tunisia's economy is considered one of the most successful in the developing world, in spite of some problems holding it back like high unemployment. Large infrastructure projects were carried out in the country that helped developing the rural community and brought running water and electricity to its most remote areas. These developments allowed Tunisia in 1995 to become the first Arab state to be integrated into the European Economic Area and a signed agreement with Italy allowed Tunisians to work in its agricultural sector. Generally, the economy of Tunisia is growing steadily, helping in establishing the reputation of the Tunisians as a relatively prosperous, stable and modern nation. The foreign policy of Tunisia is reputable for its moderation and efforts to facilitate dialogue and reconciliation. From 1979 and for a decade, Tunisia was the chosen location of the headquarters of the Arab League, after the location of the organization was moved from Cairo to protest the 1978 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Tunisia also welcomed Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 1982 after Israel forced them out of Beirut, and the organization remained there till mid-1994 when most of the PLO moved to the West Bank and Gaza under the terms of the Oslo. At the same time, Tunisia established a low-level diplomatic relations with Israel, maintaining interest offices in Tel Aviv and Tunis until the outbreak of Palestinian-¬Israeli violence in October 2000. Even today, Israelis have no problem getting visas to visit Tunisia. Tunisia expressed opposition to the 1991 Gulf War led by US as well as the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Tunisian 'street' is strongly opposing the occu¬pation of lraq and seems to be anti-American (or at least anti-Bush). In spite of that, politics is not a popular (or advisable) topic of conversation in Tunisis, however generally the Tunisians are proud of their country's reputation for its relative stability and economic growth in comparison to the other neighboring countries.