Q 01/05

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

A) Tunis

B) Kairouan

C) Sousse

D) Sfax

Answer · why

A) 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 02/05

Tunisia is bordered by Libya and which other country?

A) Niger

B) Egypt

C) Algeria

D) Morocco

Answer · why

C) 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 03/05

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

A) Utica

B) Cyrene

C) Leptis Magna

D) Carthage

Answer · why

D) Carthage

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

Q 04/05

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

A) Hasdrubal

B) Hannibal

C) Masinissa

D) Hamilcar

Answer · why

B) 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 05/05

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

A) 44 BC

B) 146 BC

C) 120 BC

D) 100 BC

Answer · why

B) 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.