Tunis

   / Tunisia

   The North African city of Tunis was ruled by a succession of foreign rulers, beginn ing with the ancient city of Carthage situated across from it. Carthage, including Tunis, fell in the hands of the Romans in 146 B.C . The Vandals conquered Tunis in 439 A.D . In the sixth century, Flavius Belisarius conquered Tunis and it became part of the Byzantine Empire. The seventh century saw the Arabs invading Tunis. Under the Almohade dynasty in the twelfth century and the Hafsid dynasty from 1206 till 1534, Tunis flourished and became a thriving Islamic city, with strong commercial links with Europe and the rest of the Mediterranean world. From the years 1534 to 1881, the city was in the Ottoman orbit, with temporary Spanish rule from 1553 to 1569 and from 1573 to 1574. For much of the nineteenth century, Tunis was autonomous and, in 1837, secured an alliance with Britain to balance Ottoman dominance and French ambition.

   From the 1870s, however, Tunis came increasingly under the influence of France in neighboring Algeria, a fact formally acknowledged at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Tunisia was then annexed outright by France in May 1881. Although its administration resembled that of a colony, it was officially a French protectorate. As a French dependency, the Bey had a title of Possesseur de Royaume and his administration was considered to be a sufficiently strong basis for government. A rebellion against the Bey for capitulating to the French was suppressed by French military forces. From then on, Tunis was run by French civil and military administration, and every person within Tunisia was bound by a French code. It was granted independence in 1956.

   See also <>; <>; <>.

   FURTHER READING:

    Ganiage, Jean. Les origins du protectorate français en Tunisie, 1861–1881. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1959;

    Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa. New York: Random House, 1991.

   NURFADZILAH YAHAYA