Sfax

Sfax is a major port city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate, and a Mediterranean port. Sfax has a population of 341,999. Its main industries include phosphate, olive and nut processing, fishing and international trade. The city is the second-most populous in the country after the capital, Tunis.

History

Carthaginian and Aghlabid eras

Present-day Sfax was founded by the Aghlabids in AD849 on the site of the town of Taparura. The modern city has also grown to cover some other ancient settlements, most notably Thenae in its southern suburb of Thyna.

Almohad era

By the end of the 10th century, Sfax had become an independent city-state. The city was conquered by Roger II of Sicily in 1148 and occupied until it was liberated in 1156 after a revolt and taken by the Almohads, and was briefly occupied by European forces again, this time by the Spanish, in the 16th century, before falling into Ottoman hands. Sfax became an integral base of the Barbary piracy, prompting an unsuccessful invasion by Venice in 1185.
Al-Idrisi, in the 12th century, described Sfax as:

The city of Sfax is an ancient and thriving city with many markets and extensive buildings. It is surrounded by a stone wall with fortified iron-plated gates. Along its walls, there are well-constructed watchtowers for guarding. Its markets are lively, and its people drink from cisterns. Fine fruits of astonishing variety are brought to it from the city of Gabès in sufficient quantities, making them abundant and inexpensive. A significant amount of fish is caught there, large in size and plentiful in number, mostly captured using enclosures set up in stagnant waters through various clever methods. Its main agricultural products are olives and olive oil, which are of a unique quality not found elsewhere. The city has a harbor in stagnant waters. In summary, it is one of the most distinguished cities, and its inhabitants possess pride and dignity. The great King Roger conquered it in the year 543 AH . It remains inhabited today, though not as prosperous in architecture, markets, and trade as it was in ancient times.

Hafsid era

Abou Yahya Abou Bekr finally re-established Hafsid unity and recaptured Kerkennah from the Christians in 1335. The peace returned to the country was only disturbed by rare episodes, the most lasting of which began with the price of Sfax by the dissident brothers, Ahmed and Abdelmalèk ben Makki.
Towards 1370, following the arrival of Caliph Abdul-Abbas, Sfax returned under the Hafsid era.
After more than three centuries, which had seen the preponderance of the Hafsids, the conflict between the Turks and the Spaniards precipitated the fall of their dynasty. In 1534, the privateer Barberousse entered Tunis, proclaimed the decline of the Hafsids and effortlessly reunited the towns of the coast, among them the town of Sfax.

Husseinid era

The founder of the new dynasty, Hussein, gave the country unquestionable economic prosperity. In Sfax, the mosque is enlarged, which regains its original extent; the new mihrâb is dated 1758, the work was completed in 1783.
The ramparts were restored and two large reservoirs were built to supplement the Nasriah cisterns. In 1776, the southern suburb of the city, the Frankish quarter, was built, reserved for Jews and Christians, a major place of maritime trade, but which was also to serve as a buffer against sea attacks, which were still to be feared. The eventuality was not long in coming, the Venetians bombarding Sfax four times in the space of two years. A large fort was built during the siege to flank Borj Ennar; it was demolished after the last war.
Around 1830, the Frankish quarter was surrounded by a wall and in 1860 the city had a post office and telegraph. In 1876, the telegraph clerk made a plan of the city and told us about a signal tower built a century earlier and of which we have lost track.

French era

When the Bey of Tunis signed the Bardo Treaty, in 1881, making Tunisia a protectorate, an insurrection broke out in Sfax. Six ironclads were dispatched from Toulon to join the French Navy ships in Tunisian waters. In Sfax, three ironclads from the Division of the Levant were already present, together with four cannon boats. Sfax was bombarded, and on 16 July the city was taken by the French after hard fighting, with seven dead and 32 wounded for the French.

World War II

During World War II, the Axis powers used the city as a major base until British forces took it on 10 April 1943. After World War II, Tunisia was returned to France, but gained independence in 1956.

Geography

Climate

Sfax has a hot semi-arid climate. Owing to its sheltered location relative to Mediterranean Sea winter storms, Sfax receives half the rainfall of Tunis and less even than the major cities of Libya. Summers, like all of North Africa, are hot and almost rainless, whilst winters are very pleasant with usually only light rain.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

Topography

The topography of the governorate of Sfax tilts regularly from the west to the coast and local presents small hills and mountain ranges in the form of elongated draâs.

Relief

Sfax is characterized by a monotonous, low and slightly uneven relief. The altitude rarely exceed 250 m, especially in the center-west of the governorate. Most of the study site extends over wide plains not exceeding the 150 m above sea level, including a low coastal strip about 15 km wide and having an average altitude of 20 m.

Hydrography

The monotonous character, low and not very rugged of the topography largely determined the characteristics hydrographic in the governorate of Sfax. Indeed, the rivers are numerous, shallow and rarely reach the sea. The hills and small mountain ranges of the center-west present a hydrographic hairline dense and relatively deep compared to the coastal strip. Like a few exoreic rivers, most of the Wadis are endorheic, leading to closed depressions of the sebkhas and garâas type. Depending on their morpho-structural conditions, these closed depressions take the form of basins synclinal or the form of sebkhas and garâas.

Neighborhoods

Whether in the city center or between the radial roads, there are large, popular neighborhoods in Sfax, most of which are:

Hay El Rabdh
Hay El Habib
Hay El Bahri
Hay Bourguiba
Hay El Badrani
Hay Ennasr
Hay El Maez
Hay Thyna
Politics and administration

Mayor and municipality

The current mayor of the city is Mounir Elloumi, elected in the 2018 Tunisian local elections

Party	Seats
Ennahdha	14
Nidaa Tounes	7
Democratic Current	8
Front populaire	2
Other movement	9
Independent movement	2
Total	42

Administrative division

The Governorate of Sfax has 16 municipalities:

Demographics

In 2019, the population of Sfax has reached 1,013,021 inhabitants. The urban population represents 63.7% of the population. In 2014 the Males represent 50.2% of the population structure with a population of 140,752. As to the Females, they represent 49.1% with a population of 139,814.

Architecture and urbanism

Medina

The Medina represents one of the most important quarters of Sfax. it plays a touristic and historical role of the city. It was built by Aghlabid prince Abu Abbass Muhammad between 849 and 851. The medina is home to about 113,000 residents and is dominated by the Great Mosque of Sfax.

Walls and gates

Apart from Borj Ennar and three other towers that disappeared, the walls of the medina kept the same original architecture since 1306. These are 2,750 meters long and have 34 dungeons. Their height varies between seven and eleven meters.
Originally, the medina had only two doors: Bab Jebli, also known as Bab Dhahraoui, and Bab Diwan or Bab Bahr. Yet, in the 20th century and because of the economic development and the huge increase of the population, new doors had to be created to reduce the flow from these two main doors such as Bab El Ksar and Bab Jebli Jedid.

Kasbah

Like most of the other medinas of Tunisia, Sfax has its own kasbah. It is a desert fortress, located in the southwestern corner of the medina. It was used for different purposes throughout history, first, a control tower built by the Aghlabids on the coast, then the seat of the municipal government, and then the main army barracks. Its construction was preceded by the deployment of the wall and the medina quarter. Today it is served as a museum of traditional architecture.

Mausoleums and mosques

Also here are the Sidi Amar Kammoun Mausoleum, Sidi Ali Ennouri Mausoleum, Sidi Belhassen Karray Mausoleum, El Ajouzine Mosque, Bouchouaicha Mosque, Driba Mosque and Sidi Elyes Mosque.

City hall

The city hall of Sfax is in the center of the modern city and opens on Habib Bourguiba Street in parallel with the main entrance of the historic city. The Municipal Palace draws attention to the magnificence and beauty of its exterior architecture and its interior decorations and masterpieces. This unique landmark was designed by French architect Rafael Guy, who blended the Arab-Moriscan character with the European character
The project of the construction of the Palace of the scourge began at the beginning of the twentieth century, where the municipality issued a tender for this purpose in the newspaper Adebash Svaxian on 30 June 1904 and began construction works in late 1905 and ended in 1906
In 1912, he began to expand gradually until around 1943
After the Second World War, the town hall was completed in 1955.