Tunisia TravelAfricaExperts.com

GENERAL INFORMATION

TRAVEL IDEAS

THINGS YOU WILL PROBABLY SEE, DO AND EXPERIENCE IN TUNISIA.

  • Beautiful Mediterranean Beaches
  • Palm beach umbrellas
  • The blue and white houses of Sidi Bou Said
  • The ruins of Carthage
  • Roman aqueducts & water cisterns
  • Sheep on the streets of Tunis
  • The best ancient mosaics museum in the world
  • Water pipe smokers
  • Jasmine flowers
  • Tunisian cuisine
  • People praying
  • The call to Prayer
  • Roman Amphitheatre
  • Trogladite homes
  • Star Wars locations and sets
  • Camel Herds
  • Belly Dancers and Snake Charmers
  • Berber Horsemen
  • Carpets
  • Spices
  • Nomads
  • Sahara Dunes
  • Donkey carts
  • Salt Lakes
  • Goats
  • Mountain Oasis
  • Desert Oasis
  • Coastal Oasis
  • Date plantations
  • Amazing land formations
  • Ride a camel
  • Cactus fences
  • Chameleon sellers
  • Outdoor butcher shops
  • Fruits, vegetables, dates
  • Ancient war sites
  • Modern (WWII) war sites
  • Olive trees
  • Music
  • Modern cities
  • Souk markets
  • Magnificent medinas
  • Ancient Ribats
  • French cuisine
  • Unique modern hotels
  • Amazing weather

Tunisia Short History & World Heritage Sites

HISTORY OF TUNIS

2 millennium BCE: Founded by the Libyans, and possibly named Tunes.

9th Century: Surrendered the coast to the Phoenicians of Tyre, who then founded Carthage.

146: Destroyed together with Carthage by the Romans, during the 3rd Punic War. Tunis would flourish during the Roman reign.

7th Century: Comes under Arab Muslim control.

9th Century: The Aghlabids have several great buildings added to Tunis, like the Great Mosque (Zitouna).

894: The Aghlabids make Tunis the capital of their new state.

909: Fall of the Aghlabids. The new rulers, the Fatimids make Mahdia their new capital.

1535: Roman Emperor Charles V conquers Tunis.

1539: Falls to the Ottomans.

1573: Conquered by the Spanish.

1574: The Spanish are forced to return Tunis to the Ottomans.

1881: Passes to the French, and becomes the capital of the French protectorate.

1942: Occupied by the Germans.

1943: Reconquered by British and Allied Troops.

1956: Tunisia gains its independence, and Tunis becomes capital of the new state.

WORLD HERITAGE SITES

Amphitheatre of El Jem
The impressive ruins of the largest colosseum in North Africa, a huge amphitheatre which could hold up to 35,000 spectators, are found in the small village of El Jem. This 3rd-century monument illustrates the grandeur and extent of Imperial Rome.

Site of Carthage
Carthage was founded in the 9th century B.C. on the Gulf of Tunis. From the 6th century onwards, it developed into a great trading empire covering much of the Mediterranean and was home to a brilliant civilization. In the course of the long Punic wars, Carthage occupied territories belonging to Rome, which finally destroyed its rival in 146 B.C. A second - Roman - Carthage was then established on the ruins of the first.

Medina of Tunis
Under the Almohads and the Hafsids, from the 12th to the 16th century, Tunis was considered one of the greatest and wealthiest cities in the Islamic world. Some 700 monuments, including palaces, mosques, mausoleums, madrasas and fountains, testify to this remarkable past.

Ichkeul National Park
The Ichkeul lake and wetland are a major stopover point for hundreds of thousands of migrating birds, such as ducks, geese, storks and pink flamingoes, who come to feed and nest there. Ichkeul is the last remaining lake in a chain that once extended across North Africa.

Punic Town of Kerkuane and its Necropolis
This Phoenician city was probably abandoned during the First Punic War (c. 250 B.C.) and as a result was not rebuilt by the Romans. The remains constitute the only example of a Phoenicio-Punic city to have survived. The houses were built to a standard plan in accordance with a sophisticated notion of town planning.

Kairouan
Founded in 670, Kairouan flourished under the Aghlabid dynasty in the 9th century. Despite the transfer of the political capital to Tunis in the 12th century, Kairouan remained the Maghreb's principal holy city. Its rich architectural heritage includes the Great Mosque, with its marble and porphyry columns, and the 9th-century Mosque of the Three Gates.

Medina of Sousse
Sousse was an important commercial and military port during the Aghlabid period (800-909) and is a typical example of a town dating from the first centuries of Islam. With its kasbah, ramparts, medina (with the Great Mosque), Bu Ftata Mosque and typical ribat (both a fort and a religious building), Sousse was part of a coastal defence system.

Dougga/Thugga
Before the Roman annexation of Numidia, the town of Thugga, built on an elevated site overlooking a fertile plain, was the capital of an important Libyco-Punic state. It flourished under Roman and Byzantine rule, but declined in the Islamic period. The impressive ruins that are visible today give some idea of the resources of a small Roman town on the fringes of the empire.