El Hamma
El Hamma
الحامة | |
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UTC1 (CET ) |
El Hamma (
Etymology
The Arabic name ( حامة ) comes from the word for "hot water" ( الماء الحام ), an reference to the thermal springs that are widespread in the region. The similar names Hamma or Hammamet (the spas) are given to other towns and villages across North Africa.
Geography
Located along the
A small mountain range 220 meters above sea level separates El Hamma from the Gabès.
History
The town is in the ancestral lands of the Beni Zid tribe and their neighbors the Matmata tribes.
The
"It evokes the extremely hot spring that flows a mile and a half from the city and forms the stream that runs through the city in its middle in wide canals."[1]
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El Hamma
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El Hamma in 1886
The English explorer Dr. Thomas Shaw who, as early as 1743, spoke of the city in these terms:
"The city of El Hamma is four leagues west of Gabes: the Tunisians have a small fort and a garrison because it is one of their border places [...] There are several baths, which each have a roof covered with straw, and in their basins, which are about twelve feet square and four deep, there is, for the convenience of those who bathe, stone benches a little to below the surface of the water."[2]
At the end of the 19th century, André Martel,[4] estimated Beni Zid tribe had nearly 19,000 inhabitants, a quarter of whom permanently reside in the oasis of El Hamma. today a majority most of the Beni Zid are settled permanently in the Oasis.
On 29 March 1943, New Zealand and British forced defeated the Germans at the Battle of the Mareth Line and entered El Hamma.
The completion of several deep bore holes to supply water to the Gabès cement plant in the 1980s and 1990s, saw a drying up of several hot springs including Aïn Echoffa, and a degradation of the palm grove farms.
In 2023, the
Economy
Agriculture has long been the main economic sector of activity in Hammah, the city's economy has diversified in recent years and the industry employs more than a third of the towns assets.[6]
The hotel and tourism sector is also experiencing particularly significant growth thanks to a rehabilitation program co-financed by the World Bank.[7][8]
Trivia
The Swiss singer-songwriter Mani Matter (1936 – 1972) has brought the town of El Hamma to the knowledge of most German-speaking Swiss. After spending his holidays there, he wrote a song about a man called Sidi Abdel Assar who allegedly lived there, unhappily fell in love with a beautiful woman whose dowry he could not afford, and then settling for another woman who was affordable, less beautiful – but intelligent.[9] In 2008, presenter Mona Vetsch of the SRF Swiss TV searched for the real person behind the song, but finding no-one.[10]
References
- ^ Léon l'Africain, De l'Afrique, impr. de L. Cordier, Paris, 1830, tome II, livre 5, p. 67-68
- ^ "Thomas Shaw, Voyages de M. Shaw dans plusieurs provinces de la Barbarie et du Levant, éd. Jean Neaume, La Haye, 1743, tome I, chap. 5, p. 276-277.
- ^ Victor Guérin, Voyage archéologique dans la régence de Tunis, éd. Plon, Paris, 1862, p. 235.
- ^ André Martel, Les confins saharo-tripolitains de la Tunisie (1811–1911), éd. Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1965
- ^ https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2023/10/22/israel-hamas-en-tunisie-un-mausolee-juif-vandalise-une-communaute-inquiete-et-un-pouvoir-silencieux_6195999_3212.html
- ^ Sources: National Institute of Statistics (2004 census)
- ^ "Réhabilitation géothermique : La renaissance d'El Hamma !". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ http://archives.lapresse.tn/index.php?opt=15&categ=1&news=52699[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Dr Sidi Abdel Assar vo el Hama". YouTube.
- ^ "Suche nach Mani Matters Sidi Abdel Assar in el Hamma". YouTube.