Tunisia History

By | November 9, 2021

Tunisia. Whose official name is the Tunisian Republic, it is a country located north of the African Mediterranean coast, whose capital is Tunisia. It is the smallest country in the Maghreb, located between the eastern foothills of the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea.

Known as Carthage, it was conquered by the Roman Empire when it was defeated in the Punic Wars in the 2nd century BC. It was destroyed and the Asian and African cultural influence in present-day Tunisia was diminished by the Roman influence.

The territory of modern Tunisia was administered almost entirely under the name of the Roman province of Africa, and it became one of the granaries of Rome. In the 5th century, the Vandals under Genseric invaded the region. In the 6th century, Belisarius recovered it for the Byzantine Empire. In the 7th century it became part of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, under the name Ifriqiya. During this time the city of Kairouan was founded. Later the Berbers natives came to power with the approval of the Fatimid Caliphate, and the Aglabi dynasty was overthrown, placing the Zirid dynasty in its place. In 1045, the Ziris renounced Shi’ism, and the Fatimids sent the Banu Hilal, a Bedouin confederation, to finish off the Ziris.

At the beginning of the 16th century, Spain managed to control some coastal cities, which were quickly lost to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Ifriqiya from 1574. The Turkish rulers, the beys, obtained a certain degree of independence from Turkey.

In the 19th century the beys borrowed large sums of money from France, which began to contemplate the colonization of Tunisia. On May 12, 1881, France declared Tunisia a protectorate, after an agreement allowing the British occupation of Cyprus. However, long before that date the Tunisian Bey government had lost its autonomy.

During World War II, Tunisia was one of the French colonies loyal to the pro-German Vichy regime, and German troops settled on its territory, being cornered later. Tunisia would continue under the colonial control of France after the war and would achieve its independence in 1956. The year 1934, with the formation of the Néo-Destour (New Constitution) Party (NDP) led by Habib Bourguiba, marked the beginning of the Tunisian struggle for independence. In 1955 Tunisia achieved self-government and, in 1957, independence as a constitutional monarchy. In 1957, the monarchy was overthrown and the Republic was proclaimed, with Bourguiba as President. Despite independence, France remained present through a naval base in Bizerte until 1963, when after a naval blockade with Tunisian ships and several months of fighting, the French were forced to leave the country permanently. The government of the Destourien Socialist Party (renamed Rassemblement Constitutionel Démocratique in 1988), coexisted with the NDP, and made Bourguiba follow socialist policies in the first years of his mandate. However, during the 1970s it opened the economy to foreign investment and allowed the development of a private sector.

Present

The 14 of January of 2011 the dictator Zein El Abidin Ben Ali is ousted by the people who demanded his departure from power before the social crisis facing his country, days before the Tunisian police left lots of dead people, because This Bel Ali had no other option to flee to Saudi Arabia supported by his ally France [1] .

After the resignation of Ben Ali, Mohamed Ghanuchi assumed the leadership of the transitional government, who had announced that he would remain in power until July 15, the day the general elections were held. Despite the promises of the new government, the people continued in the streets demanding their rights, this led to Ghanuchi’s resignation at the end of February [2] .

Economic situation

As a country located in Africa according to CONSTRUCTMATERIALS, Tunisia lacks the immense natural resources of neighboring countries, but careful and successful economic management has brought reasonable prosperity. The main agricultural products are wheat, barley, olive oil and fruits, but they need to import a large quantity of other foodstuffs, particularly in years of drought that have been frequent in recent years. Arable land represents 4.9 million hectares, of which 1.6 are used for cereals, another 1.6 for olive groves and 0.4 for irrigated fields. It has phosphate, iron and zinc mines. Tunisia is a modest oil exporter. The industrial sector processes phosphate ore and works with chemical products derived from petroleum. Recent falls in the price of oil and phosphates have forced the government to abide by the IMF’s economic guidelines, accepting certain reforms in exchange for soft loans. According to the British Philip’s university atlas from 2000, Tunisia has a phosphate reserve in the central part of the country. The government has cut public spending, abolished trade control, and introduced measures to make the dinar fully convertible.

While the weight of government control over economic issues remains, it has been gradually reduced with a growth in privatization, a simplification of the tax structure and a more adequate focus on debt.

Tunisia History