Sahel, Tunisia
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The Tunisian Sahel (
Geography
The Sahel extends inland to the hills which protect the low plains of the coast and are covered in olive plantations; the region's low rainfall is compensated for by the atmospheric humidity.
Since antiquity, it has formed a clear geographic unity with its own unique demographic and economic characteristics. Today it consists of the governorates of Sousse, Monastir and Mahdia.
Its geographic area is quite large: about 140 km from north to south and varying between twenty and sixty kilometres east to west. The total area is around 6,600 square kilometres (2,500 sq mi), 4.02% of the total surface area of Tunisia.
History
Long inhabited, the area of the modern Tunisian Sahel seems to have been a distinct region dominated by urban settlements on the sea since antiquity; this tradition predates the region's conversion to Islam and Arabisation, but its continuity with region's Arab history is clear.
Phoenician settlement
Most of the cities of the Sahel were founded by the
Rome and Byzantium
The Sahel was the location of one of the key battles of the
Around 293 AD the Romans divided the province of Africa and the Sahel became its own province, named
Caliphates
With the arrival of
African Emirates
The city of Sousse received a shipyard which played an important role in the conquest of Sicily, which was launched from it.
The foundation of
Beylik of Tunis
In the 19th century, the Sahel was divided into two
French protectorate
After the establishment of a French protectorate, the new power established the qaidate of Jemmal (which took part of modern Monastir and Mahdia governorates) and centralised the region at Sousse which became the seat of civil government, contributing to the weakening of the other regional centres.
Modern Tunisia
After independence, the government of Neo Destour ended the Sahel's administrative union during the abolition of the qaidates and establishment of the modern system of governorates. The whole region was under the control of the governor of Sousse from 1956 to 1974, when the governorates of Monastir and Mahdia were created.
Cities
- Akouda
- Bekalta
- Bembla
- Beni Hassen
- Bennane
- Bouhjar
- Boumerdes
- Chebba
- Chorbane
- Chott Meriem
- El Bradâa
- El Jem
- El Masdour
- Enfida
- Hammam Sousse
- Hebira
- Hergla
- Jemmal
- Kalâa Kebira
- Kalâa Seghira
- Kerker
- Khniss
- Kondar
- Ksar Hellal
- Ksibet El Mediouni
- Ksour Essef
- Lamta
- Mahdia
- Malloulech
- Menzel Kamel
- Moknine
- Monastir
- M'saken
- Messaadine
- Ouardanine
- Ouled Chamekh
- Rejich
- Sahline Moôtmar
- Salakta
- Sayada
- Sidi Ameur
- Sidi Alouane
- Sidi Bou Ali
- Sidi El Hani
- Souassi
- Sousse
- Takrouna
- Téboulba
- Zaouiet Kontoch
- Zeramdine
Demographics
The Sahel has long been characterised by a large population; its three governorates contain inhabitants of 1,634,611 million peoples[7] The region is thus the Third most populous in Tunisia after North East Tunisia region and South East Tunisia.
Economy
The Sahel occupies a central position on the Mediterranean Sea and is one of the country's most important areas for bathing and tourism on account of the large number of beaches. The cities of Monastir and Sousse are key tourist centres and Mahdia has been attempting to develop its tourist industry since the 1990s. It is home to the Monastir Habib Bourguiba International Airport, which is the busiest airport in the country in terms of passenger numbers and has the most charter flights of any airport in Africa. There is a commercial port at Sousse, numerous fishing ports and two marinas (Port El Kantaoui and Cap Monastir).
The A1 crosses the region from north to south and there are two railways (national and regional).
Transport
The public transport authority for bus travel within and between the cities of the Sahel is the Société de transport du Sahel (STS), which has its headquarters at Sousse and is divided into three regional branches corresponding to the three governorates. The Sahel Metro is the regional railway line, making several trips daily between Mahdia and Sousse.
The Sahel is an important part of the Tunisian autoroute network, with a major node of the A1 at M'saken, which continues north for 140 km to Tunis and south for 98 km to Sfax. A parallel route runs along the coast.
Sport
The region's name is used by the
The region is also known for handball, the second most popular sport in Tunisia. The region is home to several handball clubs, of which the most important are the Étoile Sportive du Sahel H.C., El Makarem de Mahdia and SC Moknine.
Famous individuals
Politics
- Abdelwahab Abdallah
- Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
- Hedi Baccouche
- Habib Bourguiba
- Abdelaziz Ben Dhia
- Amor Rourou
- Mohamed Ghannouchi
- Idriss Guiga
- Hamadi Jebali
- Mohamed Jegham
- Hamed Karoui
- Habib Chatty
- Kamel Morjane
- Mohammed Mzali
- Hedi Nouira
- Rachid Sfar
- Bechir Tekkari
Sciences and letters
Sports
References
- ^ Political Risk Analysis - Sousse Attack Will Cripple Tunisia's Tourism Sector - Sept 2015
- ^ (in French) Ernest Mercier, Histoire de l'Afrique septentrionale (Berbérie) depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à la conquête français (1830), vol. I, éd. Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1888, pp. 79-80
- ^ Karen G. Strouse, The Edges of the Mediterranean, éd. iUniverse, Lincoln, 2002, p. 223
- ^ Hubert Houben, Roger II of Sicily: a ruler between East and West, éd. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, p. 13
- ^ Philip Grierson et Lucia Travaini, Medieval European Coinage, vol. XIV « South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia: With a Catalogue of the Coins in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge », partie 3, éd. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999, p. 120
- ^ (in French) Esma Harrouch, Murãbitûn : la ballade d'El M'zoughi, éd. L'Harmattan, Paris, 1999, p. 428
- ^ (in French) Census 2014 (National Institute of Statistics) Archived 2014-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
Bibliography
- Ridha Lamine, Villes et citadins du Sahel central, Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines de Sousse / L'Or du Temps, Sousse / Tunis, 2001
- Abdellatif Mrabet, Du Byzacium au Sahel, L'Or du Temps, Tunis, 1998
- Xavier Thyssen, Des manières d'habiter dans le Sahel tunisien, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris, 1983