50 Fun Facts About Tunisia

Tunisia is named after its capital city. What is it?

Until the 1940s English speakers often called the whole country 'Tunis' too. The city sits on a lake of the same name near the ruins of Carthage.

Tunisia is bordered by Libya and which other country?

The Algerian border runs 965 km on the west; Libya's is 459 km in the south-east. The Mediterranean covers the rest.

The ruins of which Phoenician-founded ancient city lie just outside the Tunisian capital?

Legend credits Queen Dido of Tyre with founding it in 814 BC. Utica, further north, was an even earlier Phoenician settlement.

Which Carthaginian general led an invasion of Italy in the Second Punic War?

After the war ended in 202 BC Carthage limped on as a Roman client until it was destroyed in 146 BC and its land became the province of Africa.

In which year did Rome finally destroy its great rival at the end of the Third Punic War?

The Romans then ruled Tunisia for most of the next 800 years and named the whole province 'Africa', a name that spread to the continent.

The huge Roman amphitheatre at El Jem stood in which ancient city?

It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979 and stood in for the Colosseum in the film 'Gladiator'.

Which Germanic people ruled a kingdom in Tunisia from 430 to 533 AD before Belisarius reconquered it?

Justinian's general took the region back in barely a year, opening 165 years of Byzantine rule.

Which Tunisian city, founded around 670 AD, has the world's oldest standing minaret?

The Mosque of Uqba was the first Islamic city in north-west Africa and pioneered the horseshoe arch in Islamic architecture.

Which Ottoman corsair captured Tunis in 1534, though the Ottomans did not hold it permanently until 1574?

Spain seized it back the next year. Uluç Ali finally took it for good in 1574, and the beys ruled until the French arrived in 1881.

In 1881 France made Tunisia a protectorate under a document signed at which palace near Tunis?

France used a Tunisian raid into Algeria as its pretext and invaded with 36,000 troops, over Italy's objections. Italians outnumbered French settlers for years.

In which year did Tunisia gain independence from France?

Independence Day is 20 March. The monarchy was abolished a year later and Habib Bourguiba became the first president.

Who was Tunisia's first president, known as the 'Supreme Combatant', ruling from 1957 to 1987?

His Code of Personal Status banned polygamy and gave women rights unmatched in the Arab world. Doctors declared him unfit and he was ousted in a bloodless coup.

Which president fled Tunisia on 14 January 2011 after 23 years in power?

He took refuge in Saudi Arabia. His wife's Trabelsi family had controlled much of the economy, and two nephews were accused of stealing yachts from a French marina.

The 2011 revolution was sparked when street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in which town?

A municipal official had confiscated his produce cart. His death on 4 January 2011 ignited the wider Arab Spring.

The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize went to which Tunisian body of four civil-society groups?

The labour union, employers' federation, human rights league and bar association steered the country back from crisis after two assassinations in 2013.

Which president suspended Tunisia's parliament and dismissed the prime minister on 25 July 2021?

A constitutional law professor elected in 2019, he won a second term in 2024 with over 90% on a 28.8% turnout after jailing his main opponents.

In 2015 terrorists attacked tourists at a Sousse beach and at which institution in Tunis?

Twenty-two died at the Bardo, home to the world's finest collection of Roman mosaics, and 38 at Sousse, most of them British holidaymakers.

Tunisia's crescent-and-star flag was created after which 1827 battle?

Bey Hussein II wanted a distinct ensign after the Ottoman fleet's destruction. The design was formally adopted in 1831 and confirmed by the republic in 1959.

Tunisia's currency, the dinar, is unusually divided into how many millimes?

Locals still colloquially call the millime a 'franc'. Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq also split their dinars into thousandths.

Cape Angela in Tunisia holds what geographic distinction?

Its tip, Ras Ben Sakka near Bizerte, took the title from nearby Cape Blanc in 2014 after remeasurement.

What is Tunisia's highest mountain?

It rises 1,544 metres near Kasserine on the Algerian border, at the eastern end of the Atlas range.

Tunisia's lowest point, Chott el Djerid, is what kind of feature?

It lies 17 metres below sea level at the northern edge of the Sahara and doubled as a Star Wars filming location.

George Lucas named Luke Skywalker's home planet after which town in southern Tunisia?

Its name means 'water springs' in Berber. Five Star Wars films shot in Tunisia between 1977 and 2005, using Matmata's underground homes for Luke's house.

Harissa, the hot chilli paste on UNESCO's heritage list, comes from which country?

Chillies arrived with the Spanish occupation of the 16th century. Nabeul on Cape Bon is the centre of production and Tunisia is the top exporter.

The clifftop village of Sidi Bou Said near Tunis is famous for buildings painted in which two colours?

Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger popularised the scheme in the 1920s from his palace, now a museum of Arab music.

The El Ghriba synagogue, one of the world's oldest in continuous use, is on which Tunisian island?

Legend says it was built with stones from Solomon's Temple. The island's Jewish community goes back some 2,600 years and hosts an annual pilgrimage.

The grand prize at Tunisia's biennial film festival, the Tanit d'or, is named after what?

Tanit's symbol, a figure with raised arms, is stamped on the trophy. The festival, founded in 1966, alternates yearly with a theatre festival.

Tunisia's national football team is nicknamed 'The Eagles of' which ancient city?

The Eagles of Carthage won the Africa Cup of Nations as hosts in 2004 and have reached six World Cups.

In which year did Tunisia win its only Africa Cup of Nations, on home soil?

They beat Morocco 2-1 in the final in Radès. Espérance and Étoile du Sahel are the country's biggest clubs.

Swimmer Oussama Mellouli won Olympic gold in 2008 in the 1500m freestyle and in 2012 in which event?

He also took bronze in the 1500m in London, becoming the first swimmer to win Olympic medals in both pool and open water at one Games.

What career-high WTA singles ranking did Ons Jabeur reach?

She lost three Grand Slam finals, two of them at Wimbledon, and won the 2022 Madrid Open.

How many African men's handball championships had Tunisia won by the end of 2024?

They finished fourth at the 2005 world championship in Tunis, where Wissem Hmam was top scorer.

How many governorates is Tunisia divided into?

They are called wilayas and split into 264 delegations. Tunis, Sfax and Sousse are the largest cities.

Roughly what share of Tunisians could speak French in 2022, though the language has no official status?

It is used for science teaching, business and shop signs. Arabic is the sole official language and Tunisian Arabic, 'Tounsi', the everyday speech.

Tunisian mosques of the majority Maliki tradition are recognisable by minarets of what shape?

Octagonal minarets mark the Hanafi mosques built by families of Turkish descent from Ottoman times.

In 1982 which organisation moved its headquarters to Tunis, where Israeli jets bombed it in 1985?

Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization had been expelled from Beirut. The 1985 raid killed at least 60 people.

The Axis surrender in Tunisia on 13 May 1943 marked what milestone in World War II?

Germany had occupied Vichy-run Tunisia the previous November, and SS officer Walter Rauff pursued the Holocaust there for six months.

The Sahel plain along Tunisia's eastern coast is one of the world's leading areas for growing what?

Tunisia is regularly among the top olive-oil exporters on Earth. Dates come mainly from the oases of the south, around Tozeur.

In 1995 Tunisia became the first Mediterranean country to sign what kind of deal with the European Union?

It finished dismantling industrial tariffs in 2008, the first non-EU Mediterranean state in a free-trade area with the bloc, which takes three-quarters of its exports.

According to The Economist's Democracy Index, from 2014 to 2020 Tunisia was considered the only what?

Freedom House downgraded it to a hybrid regime in 2022 and by 2025 said it no longer held free and fair elections.

Which Arab dynasty ruled 800-909 and built the water systems that made Tunisia's olive farms flourish?

Their great cisterns still stand outside Kairouan. The Fatimids succeeded them and later left for Cairo, handing Tunisia to the Zirids.

Which unlikely European kingdom briefly held Tunisia's main cities in the 12th century?

The Almohads drove them out in 1159-60. Sicily and Tunisia had been intertwined for 1,200 years since Carthage.

The 1705 Hussein dynasty of beys ruled Tunisia under nominal Ottoman suzerainty until which year?

The last bey, Muhammad VIII al-Amin, was deposed when Bourguiba proclaimed the republic on 25 July 1957.

How many Moriscos, Muslims expelled from Spain, are estimated to have settled in Tunisia?

Most settled around Tunis, which still has a quarter called Andalusia Alley. Later waves brought Italians, Maltese and French.

In 2011 which formerly banned Islamist party won the most seats in Tunisia's first free election?

It took 89 of 217 seats and then declined to push for sharia in the constitution. Its leader Rached Ghannouchi was jailed in 2023.

Tunisia's population is closest to which figure?

A long-running family planning programme has held growth to about 1% a year, unusual for the region.

The Carnival of Awussu in Sousse each 24 July descends from which Roman festival of the sea god?

The name may even be a corruption of Oceanus. Floats and bands parade by Boujaafar beach on the eve of August's heatwave.

Victor 'Young' Perez, world flyweight boxing champion in 1931-32, belonged to which of Tunisia's minorities?

Born in Tunis's Jewish quarter, he was later deported to Auschwitz and died on a death march in 1945.

The ELMED cable project, funded in 2023, links Tunisia's power grid to which country?

The World Bank lent $268.4 million in 2023 for the 600 MW interconnection, which lands in Sicily.

Which resort town did the New York Times describe as Tunisia's night-life-driven city?

A new airport at Enfidha opened in 2011 mainly to serve Hammamet and the resort of Port El Kantaoui.