History
Located at the narrow mid-point of the Mediterranean, only 90 km from Italy, Tunisia is strategically located. This fact was recognized early on as Phoenicians, Romans, Genovese, Turks, the French and Nazi Germany all tried in turn to control Tunisia and the narrow straits separating the eastern and western halves of the Mediterranean.
Phoenician trading posts were established as early as 1200 BC, thought the founding of Carthage in the 8th Century BC is considered by most as the beginning of Tunisian history. The Carthagenians were worshippers of Baal and Tanit. [Pagan Foundation]
Hamilcar and his son Hannibal developed Carthage into a mighty military and naval power. The Punic wars, in which Carthage and Rome struggled for supremacy and control of the Mediterranean, ended in 146 BC with the fall of Carthage. Rome used Tunisia and neighboring Libya for growing wheat, and the prosperity of the province is demonstrated by the many lavish Roman villas and mosaics that dot the countryside.
Throughout these attempts at colonization, the local Berber tribes maintained their own culture. Many also integrated into the Carthagenian and Roman settlements. In fact many prominent early church leaders in Carthage, including Augustine, were Berber.
When occupying powers became too oppressive, the Berber simply retreated into the hills, or enthusiastically joined in revolts.
In the mid-7th century AD the Arab conquest of North Africa reached Tunisia. The Arab conquest effectively incorporated the Berber through intermarriage and conversion to Islam. Today's "Tunisian Arab" is the descendent of these Berber and Arab forefathers, though culturally Arab. Very small pockets of unassimilated Berber remain on the edges of the Sahara and on the island of Jerba.
Ottoman Turkey governed Tunisia from 1574 to 1881, though their impact on Tunisian daily life and culture was negligible. The French took Tunisia as a protectorate in 1881.
French Tunisia was developed as an agricultural and military resource for France. The vast network of railroads, schools, churches, and clinics built by the French were not accessible to the Tunisian populace, and little improvement in their welfare was made in the 75 years of French occupation.
The French granted Tunisia independence in 1956 after over 30 years of courageous activism by the Destour and later Neo-Destour political parties. Habib Bourguiba, the first president of the Republic of Tunisia, was the leader of these independence movements.
The new republic made tremendous advances in education, women's rights and health care during Bourguiba's reign as president. Due to his advancing age and a serious deterioration in his ability to govern wisely, Bourguiba was declared unfit to rule on 7 November, 1987 by a team of five government doctors. He was replaced, as provided by the constitution, by the then Prime Minister Zine El-Abedine Ben Ali. [Government]