50 free Tunisia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Tunisia is where Africa reaches furthest north, where Carthage rose and fell, and where the Arab Spring began, and this quiz covers all of it: Dido and the Phoenicians, Hannibal and three Punic Wars, Roman Africa and the amphitheatre at El Jem, the Vandals and Belisarius, Kairouan's Great Mosque, the Aghlabids and Hafsids, Barbarossa and the beys, the French protectorate of 1881, Bourguiba's republic, Ben Ali's 23 years and the street vendor whose death in Sidi Bouzid toppled him. Easy questions ask for the capital, the neighbours, the sea and the desert; the harder ones want the goddess on the film festival prize, the highest peak, the salt lake below sea level, the island with a 2,600-year-old Jewish community, the beach town that inspired Luke Skywalker's home planet and the four groups that shared the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize. There is also harissa, brik and couscous, Sidi Bou Said's blue doors, the Eagles of Carthage, Oussama Mellouli's golds and Ons Jabeur's Wimbledon finals. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the country, its cities and its history, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Tunisia is named after its capital city. What is it?
Tunis
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.
Q 02Tunisia is bordered by Libya and which other country?
Algeria
The Algerian border runs 965 km on the west; Libya's is 459 km in the south-east. The Mediterranean covers the rest.
Q 03The ruins of which Phoenician-founded ancient city lie just outside the Tunisian capital?
Carthage
Legend credits Queen Dido of Tyre with founding it in 814 BC. Utica, further north, was an even earlier Phoenician settlement.
Q 04Which Carthaginian general led an invasion of Italy in the Second Punic War?
Hannibal
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.
Q 05In which year did Rome finally destroy its great rival at the end of the Third Punic War?
146 BC
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.
Q 06The huge Roman amphitheatre at El Jem stood in which ancient city?
Thysdrus
It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979 and stood in for the Colosseum in the film 'Gladiator'.
Q 07Which Germanic people ruled a kingdom in Tunisia from 430 to 533 AD before Belisarius reconquered it?
The Vandals
Justinian's general took the region back in barely a year, opening 165 years of Byzantine rule.
Q 08Which Tunisian city, founded around 670 AD, has the world's oldest standing minaret?
Kairouan
The Mosque of Uqba was the first Islamic city in north-west Africa and pioneered the horseshoe arch in Islamic architecture.
Q 09Which Ottoman corsair captured Tunis in 1534, though the Ottomans did not hold it permanently until 1574?
Barbarossa Hayreddin
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.
Q 10In 1881 France made Tunisia a protectorate under a document signed at which palace near Tunis?
Bardo
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.
Q 11In which year did Tunisia gain independence from France?
1956
Independence Day is 20 March. The monarchy was abolished a year later and Habib Bourguiba became the first president.
Q 12Who was Tunisia's first president, known as the 'Supreme Combatant', ruling from 1957 to 1987?
Habib Bourguiba
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.
Q 13Which president fled Tunisia on 14 January 2011 after 23 years in power?
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
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.
Q 21What is Tunisia's highest mountain?
Jebel ech Chambi
It rises 1,544 metres near Kasserine on the Algerian border, at the eastern end of the Atlas range.
Q 22Tunisia's lowest point, Chott el Djerid, is what kind of feature?
A salt lake
It lies 17 metres below sea level at the northern edge of the Sahara and doubled as a Star Wars filming location.
Q 23George Lucas named Luke Skywalker's home planet after which town in southern Tunisia?
Tataouine
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.
Q 14The 2011 revolution was sparked when street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in which town?
Sidi Bouzid
A municipal official had confiscated his produce cart. His death on 4 January 2011 ignited the wider Arab Spring.
Q 15The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize went to which Tunisian body of four civil-society groups?
The National Dialogue Quartet
The labour union, employers' federation, human rights league and bar association steered the country back from crisis after two assassinations in 2013.
Q 16Which president suspended Tunisia's parliament and dismissed the prime minister on 25 July 2021?
Kais Saied
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.
Q 17In 2015 terrorists attacked tourists at a Sousse beach and at which institution in Tunis?
The Bardo Museum
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.
Q 18Tunisia's crescent-and-star flag was created after which 1827 battle?
Navarino
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.
Q 19Tunisia's currency, the dinar, is unusually divided into how many millimes?
1,000
Locals still colloquially call the millime a 'franc'. Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq also split their dinars into thousandths.
Q 20Cape Angela in Tunisia holds what geographic distinction?
Africa's northernmost point
Its tip, Ras Ben Sakka near Bizerte, took the title from nearby Cape Blanc in 2014 after remeasurement.
Q 24Harissa, the hot chilli paste on UNESCO's heritage list, comes from which country?
Tunisia
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.
Q 25The clifftop village of Sidi Bou Said near Tunis is famous for buildings painted in which two colours?
Blue and white
Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger popularised the scheme in the 1920s from his palace, now a museum of Arab music.
Q 26The El Ghriba synagogue, one of the world's oldest in continuous use, is on which Tunisian island?
Djerba
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.
Q 27The grand prize at Tunisia's biennial film festival, the Tanit d'or, is named after what?
A Carthaginian goddess
Tanit's symbol, a figure with raised arms, is stamped on the trophy. The festival, founded in 1966, alternates yearly with a theatre festival.
Q 28Tunisia's national football team is nicknamed 'The Eagles of' which ancient city?
Carthage
The Eagles of Carthage won the Africa Cup of Nations as hosts in 2004 and have reached six World Cups.
Q 29In which year did Tunisia win its only Africa Cup of Nations, on home soil?
2004
They beat Morocco 2-1 in the final in Radès. Espérance and Étoile du Sahel are the country's biggest clubs.
Q 30Swimmer Oussama Mellouli won Olympic gold in 2008 in the 1500m freestyle and in 2012 in which event?
The 10 km marathon swim
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.