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TUNIS

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 393 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TUNIS , See also:

capital of See also:Tunisia, the largest See also:city in See also:North See also:Africa outside See also:Egypt, in 36° 48' N., 10 12' E. Tunis is situated on an See also:isthmus between two See also:salt lakes, the marshy' Sebkha-el-Sejumi to the See also:south-See also:west, and the shallow el-Bahira (little See also:sea), or See also:Lake of Tunis, to the north-See also:east. An artificially deepened channel through the Bahira into the Gulf of Tunis has converted the city into a seaport (see below). North-west and south-west the city is commanded by hills, on which are forts, that on Sidi See also:bel See also:Hassan to the south dating from the See also:middle ages. The city, which was formerly strongly fortified, is built in the shape of an See also:amphitheatre, with the kasbah, or citadel, at its highest point. The old See also:town (See also:Medina), the walls of which have in See also:great See also:part disappeared, lies between two suburbs, the Ribat-el-Sowika on the north and the Ribat Bab-el-Jezira on the south. These suburbs were also surrounded by a See also:wall, now pulled down, leaving the See also:gates of the city isolated. An See also:outer wall, however, encloses the Medina and its suburbs. Beyond the Bab-el-Bahar (sea-See also:gate), now called See also:Porte de See also:France, on the level ground by the Bahira, is the marine town, or Quartier See also:Franc, built since the See also:French occupation in 1881. No See also:attempt has been made by the French to modernize the See also:ancient city. The See also:European See also:Quarter.—From the landing See also:stage a See also:short See also:street leads into the broad See also:Avenue Jules See also:Ferry or de la Marine See also:running east to west and ending in the See also:Place de la See also:Residence, on the north See also:side of which is the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:cathedral and on the south side the See also:palace of the French See also:resident-See also:general, with a large See also:garden. The See also:main thoroughfare is continued west-wards by the Avenue de France, which leads to the Porte de France.

Beyond the gate is the small Place de la See also:

Bourse, in which is the See also:British consulate. From the Porte electric trams run to the See also:harbour and also in a circle See also:round the native city. From the Place de la Residence See also:cross-roads run northand south. The See also:northern road, the See also:Rue de See also:Rome, led to the Gare du See also:Nord, the station for See also:Carthage, See also:Goletta and La Marsa. This See also:line was replaced in 1908 by an electric See also:tramway built along the northern See also:bank of the See also:canal connecting Tunis and Goletta. The See also:southern road, the Rue-es-Sadikia, leads to the Gare du Sud, the station for See also:Susa; See also:Kairawan, &c., and also for See also:Algiers. The Avenue Jules Ferry is intersected by a north-to south street running in a straight line over two See also:miles. The northern See also:section is called the Avenue de See also:Paris; the southern Avenue de Carthage. By these avenues, served by electric trams, See also:access is gained to the suburbs of the city. In the Avenue de France or Avenue Jules Ferry are the See also:chief hotels and cafes, the See also:casino-See also:theatre, the See also:principal See also:banks and the finest shops. In the Rue d'Italie, running south from the Avenue de France, are the See also:post See also:office, See also:market buildings, and French See also:Protestant See also:church. There is an See also:English church in the Rue d'Espagne.

Behind the cathedral is a disused See also:

cemetery with a See also:chapel, where the See also:Christian slaves are supposed to have worshipped. The coffins in the vaults have been removed to the Chapel of St See also:Louis at Carthage. Among them was that of M. de See also:Lesseps, French See also:consul-general (d. 1832), See also:father of the maker of the See also:Suez Canal. Next to the cemetery is the old See also:Greek church. North of the Avenue de France is a See also:district, inhabited chiefly by Maltese, which has obtained the name of See also:Malta-es-Segheira (Little Malta). The Native Town.—To the visitor from See also:Europe the attraction of Tunis lies in the native city, where, in the Rue al Jezira, along which runs electric trams, he can see hundreds of camels in the See also:morning bearing See also:charcoal to market; where he may See also:witness the See also:motley See also:life of the bazaars, or, by the Bab-Jedid, See also:watch the snake-charmers and listen to the Moorish See also:story-tellers. Christians are forbidden to enter the mosques. From various points the traveller can look over the city, with its great citadel, its many minarets and its See also:flat-topped houses. Many of the dwellings of the richer residents are adorned with arcades, the See also:marble columns of which were taken from the ruins of Carthage. The Porte de France is the See also:threshold of the ancient city. Two narrow streets climb the See also:hill towards the citadel.

That to the right, the Rue de la Kasbah, opens into a small square (Suk-el-See also:

Islam or Place de la Kasbah), on the See also:left of which is the See also:Dar-el-See also:Bey (palace of the bey), while beyond it rise the walls of the citadel. That to the left leads to the chief See also:mosque of the city, the Jamaa-al-Zeituna (mosque of the See also:Olive See also:Tree), founded in A.D. 698. It has many domes and a spacious See also:cloister, and its central See also:court can be seen from the neighbouring streets. Attached to the mosque is a See also:college attended' by several hundreds of Moslem youths. The Dar-el-Bey contains numerous rooms beautifully decorated in the Moorish See also:style of the 18th See also:century; and the See also:judgment See also:hall has a domed roof adorned with the delicate See also:arabesque See also:plaster-See also:work known as Nuksh hadida. The kasbah, which forms the western side of the Suk-el-Islam, includes within the See also:circuit of its walls a mosque built about A.D. 1232 by See also:Abu Zakariya the Hafsite. Of the ancient kasbah nothing but the walls remain, the old buildings having been demolished to make way for See also:barracks for the French troops. Besides being a fortress the kasbah formerly contained a palace of the beys, barracks for See also:janissaries and bagnios for the Christian slaves. When in See also:July 1535 the Spaniards under See also:Charles V. attacked Tunis, the Christians in the kasbah, said to number 1o,000, See also:rose against their keepers and helped to secure the victory of the See also:emperor. The Spaniards during their occupancy of Tunis strengthened the kasbah and built an See also:aqueduct to See also:supply it with See also:water.

Immediately north of the kasbah are the buildings of the Sadiki College, and north of the college is the Palais de See also:

Justice, a See also:building completed in 1901. It stands between the line of the ancient wall and the See also:enceinte. Its walls are decorated with See also:faience taken from an ancient Tunisian palace. North-east of the Palais de Justice, which like the Sadiki College is built in the Moorish style, rises the great See also:dome, surrounded by smaller cupolas, of the largest mosque" in the city, that named after Sidi Mahrez, a renowned See also:saint of the 5th century of the See also:Mahommedan era, whose See also:tomb makes it a See also:sanctuary for debtors. East of the mosque, which See also:dates from the 17th century, and just without the inner city walls, here demolished, is the Protestant cemetery of St See also:George, used during the 17th, 18th and the greater part of the 19th centuries. Here are buried several British consuls. Here also was the See also:grave of See also:Jahn See also:Howard See also:Payne, author of " See also:Home, Sweet Home " and consul for the See also:United States, who died at Tunis in 1852. In 1883 the See also:body was disinterred and removed to See also:America, but a See also:monument has been placed on the spot similar to that erected over the new tomb at See also:Washington. The Bazaars.—The native city to the north of the Rue de la Kasbah includes the Jewish quarter and the See also:synagogue. The See also:Jews of Tunis adopt a See also:special See also:costume, the See also:women wearing gaily coloured vests and See also:close-fitting See also:white See also:trousers. Beyond the Jewish quarter, in the Ribat-el-Soweika, is the Place el Halfa-Ouine, a favourite See also:rendezvous of the poorer Moslem See also:population, wherein are many native cafes. South of the Rue de la Kasbah is the See also:bazaar quarter.

Here the streets are very narrow and tortuous, some being vaulted and many covered in with planking. They are known as suks (markets), and each suk is devoted to one particular See also:

trade. Beyond paving the streets the French have made no alteration in the suks, which retain their See also:original See also:character unimpaired. The shops consist of small cubes, open in the front, in which the trader squats cross-legged amidst his wares. The principal suks are el-Attarin (market of the perfumers), el-Farashin (carpets and cloths), el-Serajin (See also:saddlery) and el-Birka (See also:jewelry). The suk el-Birka was formerly the slave market. Near by are the See also:green-tiled domes and walls enriched with rose-coloured See also:marbles of the See also:mausoleum of the beys. Public Institutions, £sc.—Tunis is furnished with well-equipped hospitals and a large See also:asylum for aged See also:people kept by the Little Sisters of the Poor. The principal educational establishments, besides that of the mosque of the Olive Tree, are the Sadiki College, founded in 1875, for See also:free instruction in Arabic and European subjects, the Lycee See also:Carnot in the Avenue de Paris, formerly the College of St Charles (founded by See also:Cardinal See also:Lavigerie), open to Christians and Moslems alike, and the normal school, founded in 1884 by the reigning bey, for the training of teachers in the French See also:language and European ideas. The Dames de See also:Sion have a large See also:establishment for the teaching of small See also:children of both sexes, and there is a secondary school for girls. All the See also:schools are well attended. About a mile and a See also:half north of the centre of the European quarter, on the slopes of a hill rising 270 ft., is the See also:Pare du See also:Belvedere covering some 240 acres and commanding extensive views.

Water is supplied to the city, with its numerous fountains, from See also:

Jebel Zaghwan (vide infra) by the Roman aqueduct repaired, at a cost of half a million See also:sterling, by the bey Mahommed al-Sadik (d. 1882). The See also:Port.—The canal which traverses the shallow Bahira, and connects Tunis with the Mediterranean, is nearly seven miles See also:long. By means of breakwaters it is continued beyond the See also:coast-line and is at its mouth 328 ft. wide. It has a See also:uniform See also:depth of 21i ft., but its width within the lake is reduced to 98 ft. In the centre, however, the canal is widened to .147 ft. to allow vessels to pass. There is a harbour at the entrance (see GOLETTA). That at the Tunis end of the canal is 1312 ft. long by 984 ft. broad, and is of the same depth as the canal. The canal was begun in 1885 and was opened to See also:navigation in See also:June 1893. An additional See also:basin, south-east of the main harbour, was opened in 1905 and is used for the exportation of See also:phosphates. Of the See also:ships using the harbour more than half are French, and one-third See also:Italian, British vessels coming next. British goods, however, are largely carried in French bottoms, and next to France the United See also:Kingdom and Malta take most of the trade of the port.

The exports are chiefly phosphates and other minerals, cereals, olive oil, See also:

cattle, hides, See also:sponges and See also:wax. The imports are See also:cotton goods, See also:flour, hardware, See also:coal, See also:sugar, See also:tea, See also:coffee, &c. The figures of trade and See also:shipping are included in those of the trade of the regency (see TuNIsIA), of which Tunis and Goletta take about a third. Population.—The population of the city at the See also:census of 1906 was returned at 227,519. The " natives "--See also:Arabs, See also:Berbers, " See also:Moors," See also:Turks and negroes—were estimated at 100,000, Tunisian Jews at 50,000, French 18,000, Italians 52,000, Maltese 6000, Greeks 500 and Levantines r000. The French language is predominant in the European quarter. Environs: The Bardo Palace, Zaghwan, &c.—The environs of Tunis are picturesque and afford many beautiful views, the finest being from the hill on the south-See also:cast, crowned by a French fort, and from the Belvedere already mentioned. About a mile and a quarter from the Bub Bu Saadun, the north-west gate of the city, is the ancient palace called the Barrio, remarkable for the " See also:lion court," a ten-See also:ace to which access is gained by a See also:flight of steps guarded by marble lions, and for some apartments in the Moorish style. The finest of these apartments, containing beautiful arabesqueplaster work, formed the old See also:Harem, and are now part of the Mus6e Alaoui, which occupies a considerable portion of the Bardo. In this museum M. See also:Paul Gauckler, the director of the See also:department of See also:art and antiquities in the Tunisian See also:government, has formed a magnificent collection of Carthaginian and Roman antiquities, especially Roman mosaics. In the Musee Arabe, which occupies an adjacent small palace built about 183o, are treasures illustrative of the Arab-See also:Berber or Saracenic art of Tunisia.

South-east of the city, along the valley of the See also:

Wadi Melain, are hundreds of large See also:stone See also:arches, magnificent remains of the Roman aqueduct from Zaghwan to Carthage. At Zaghwan (38 m. by See also:rail from Tunis), over the spot whence the See also:spring which supplies the aqueduct issues from the hill, are the ruins of a beautiful See also:Temple of the See also:Waters. The spring is now diverted See also:direct into the aqueduct and is not visible at the See also:surface. Between Zaghwan and Tunis, , and accessible by the same railway, is Wadna, the Roman Uthina, where, besides numerous other ruins, are the fairly preserved arches of a large amphitheatre. The ruins of Carthage (q.v.) See also:lie a few miles north of Goletta. See also:History.—Tunis is probably of greater antiquity than Carthage, of which city however it became a dependency, being repeatedly mentioned in the history of the Punic See also:Wars. See also:Strabo speaks of its hot See also:baths and quarries. The importance of Tunis dates from the Arab See also:conquest, when, as Carthage sank, Tunis took its place commercially and politically. It became the usual port for those going from the sacred city of Kairawan to See also:Spain, and was one of the residences of the Aghlabite See also:dynasty (800-9o9). In the loth century it suffered severely, being repeatedly pillaged in the wars of the Fatimite caliphs Al-Qaim and Abu Tahir See also:Ismail el Mansur with the Sunnite See also:leader Abu Yazid and the See also:Zenata Berbers. For its later fortunes, see TUNISIA, of which regency, since the See also:accession of the Hafsites, Tunis has been the capital.

End of Article: TUNIS

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