Live Tunisia
Places
Tunis is located in north-eastern Tunisia on the Lake of Tunis, connected to the Gulf of Tunis and the Mediterranean sea by a channel which terminates at the port of La Goulette - Halq al Wadi.
The city, as the capital of Tunisia, has great historical connections with the ancient city of nearby Carthage, located
just along the coast to the north.
The Greater Tunis area is said to consist of some 300,000 hectares, 10% of which is urbanized, the rest being shared
between bodies of water (lakes or lagoons) and agricultural or natural land.
However, urban growth, which is estimated to be increasing by 500 hectares per year, is gradually changing the landscape with urban sprawl.
Since the early 1950’s, suburbs have rapidly increased on the outskirts of Tunis, and these now form a large percentage of the population of the Tunis metropolitan area.
Part Two: Tunis, Making of a
Modern City
Tunis has a warm Mediterranean climate in the summer, characterized by a hot, dry
season and a cool, rainy season. The local climate is also affected by the moderating
influence of the Mediterranean and the terrain of the hills. Winter is the wettest season of the year, with more than a third of the annual rainfall during this period. The sun may still increase the temperature from 7°C in the morning to 16°C in the afternoon even during the winter months. In spring, rainfall reduceses by half. In March temperatures may vary between 8° and 18°C, to between 13° and 24°C in May, often with 10 hours of daily sunshine. However it is common for temperatures to soar even as early as April with record temperatures reaching 40°C.
Tunis has been the capital of Tunisia since 1159. Under Articles 43 and 24 of the
Constitution of 1959, Tunis and its suburbs host the national institutions; President of the Tunisian Republic in the presidential palace, the Chamber of Deputies and the House of Councillors and parliament, the Constitutional Council and the main judicial institutions, the Bardo National Museum and various other government departments and public bodies.
The city of Tunis and its surrounding areas, whose size has increased significantly
during the second half of the twentieth century, now extends over parts of the surrounding governorates of Ben Arous, Ariana and Manouba.
Since the early years following independence, the population of the metropolitan area
has continued to grow, and even though decolonization led to the exodus of some
minorities, the gaps created by their departure have been more than filled by Tunisians
emigrating to Tunis from other parts of the country.
To the east of this original nucleus, much of the modern city was built while under the control of the French
protectorate at the end of the nineteenth century, on open land between the city and the lake.
The axis to the structure of this part of the city is the Avenue Habib
Bourguiba, designed by the French to be a Tunisian form of the Champs-Elysees in Paris with its cafes, hotels, shops and cultural venues.
In these early years of the twenty-first century, the population of the city of Tunis now
exceeds some 2,000,000 inhabitants, almost 20% of the entire population of the
country.
Tunis is at the heartland of the Tunisian economy and is the industrial and economic
hub of the country, home to one third of Tunisian companies and producing one third of
national gross domestic product. Traditional products include textiles, carpets, and olive oil, while tourism also provides a significant portion of the city's income.
The city is the largest financial centre in the country hosting the headquarters of 70% of financial companies, and while the industrial sectors are gradually declining in
importance in and around the centre of the city, there is still a trend towards the spread of specialized industrial zones in the suburbs.
Agriculture, however, is also still very much active in the specialized agricultural areas of the suburbs, particularly in the wine and olive oil industries. This is due to a generally flat terrain and the two main rivers in Tunisia, the Medjerda to the north and the Milian to the south, providing perfect fertile soils. The area around Tunis has several large plains, the most productive are in Ariana and La Soukra (north), the plain of Manouba (west) and the plain of Mornag (south). There is much diversification in the municipality of Tunis, with Durum grown in Manouba, olives and olive oil production in Ariana and Mornag, wine in Mornag, plus fruit and vegetablesw grown in all regions.
Back in the city itself, the Médina, built on a gentle hill slope on the way down to the Tunis Lake, is the historical heart of the city and home to many monuments, including palaces, such as the Dar Ben Abdallah and Dar Hussein, the mausoleum of Tourbet El Bey and the Zitouna Mosque. Some of the original fortifications have now largely disappeared around it, and it is flanked by the two suburbs of Bab Souika to the north and Bab El Jazira to the south.
In summer, there is no rain, sunlight is at a maximum, and the average temperatures in June, July, and August, are very high. Sea breezes can mitigate the heat, but sometimes the sirocco winds reverse the trend.
Autumn tends to bring rain, often in short bursts, which can sometimes create floods in some parts of the city. November marks a break in general heat with temperatures lowering to an average between 12° and 20°C.
On both sides of the tree lines avenue, north and south, the city was extended in various districts, with the northern end housing residential and business districts while the south consisting of mainly industrial districts.
North of the Bourguiba Avenue is the district of La Fayette, which is still home to the Great Synagogue of Tunis and the Habib Thameur Gardens, built on the site of the ancient Jewish cemetery which lies outside the walls. Southeast, the district of La Petite Sicile (Little Sicily) is adjacent to the old port area and takes its name from its original population of workers from Italy. North of it, is the long avenue Mohamed V, which leads to the Boulevard 7 November through the neighbourhood of the big banks, large hotels and Abu Nawas Lake. This leads to the Belvedere area, with it’s park,
the largest in the city, zoo, and the Pasteur Institute. Just to the north are the most exclusive neighbourhoods of Mutuelleville, the Sheraton Hotel and some embassies.
North of Belvedere Park are the districts of El Menzah and El Manar nearing the peaks of the hills overlooking the north of the town. To the west of the park lies the district of El Omrane which holds the main Muslim cemetery in the capital. Heading east is the
Tunis-Carthage International Airportand the district of Montplaisir.
Beyond that, several kilometers north-east, on the road to La Marsa, the Berges du Lac was built on land reclaimed from the north shore of the lake near to the airport, and houses offices of Tunisian and foreign companies, embassies and a shopping district. Southwest of the Medina, on the crest of the hills across the Isthmus of Tunis, is the Montfleury district then on down to the foothills of Séjoumi, and the neighbourhood of Mellassine. North of the National Route 3 leading to the west, is the town of Ezzouhour (formerly El Kharrouba), which spans more than three kilometers and is still surrounded with farmland which supply many of the souks in the region.
The south of Tunis is made up of poorer neighbourhoods, such as Jebel Jelloud with its concentration of heavy industry, cement production, treatment plants, etc. The
main cemetery in Tunis, the Djellaz Cemetery dominates this part of town, perched on the slopes of a rocky outcrop.
Places - See Also
