%XY.
Tunisia, and officially: Republic of Tunisia is a country on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa.
It is the smallest and easternmost of the states that stretches along the Atlanta Mountains and borders Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast.
40% of the country is occupied by the Sahara desert and the rest includes fertile land and accessible coasts.
The geography of the country played an important role in ancient times, first with Carthage, a city of the Phoenicians, and later as an African province, as it was the granary of the Roman Empire.
From the earliest written historical sources, Tunisia was inhabited by Berber tribes, who are descendants of rural communities in the coastal plains of central Tunisia.
In ancient times it was believed that Africa was originally inhabited by the Getoules (Roman name of an ancient Berber tribe living in the region of Gethsemane) and the Libyans, both nomadic peoples.
The Phoenicians settled on its shores as early as the 10th century BC. In the 6th century BC, the power of Carthage increased greatly and became the dominant force in the Western Mediterranean after a series of wars with the colonial cities that came from Greece.
Carthage was founded in the 9th century BC. by settlers of Tire (modern-day Lebanon), who brought with them the culture and religion of the Phoenicians and Canaanites.
Legend has it that the city was founded by Queen Dido, as mentioned in the Aeneid of Virgil.
The Greek writer Timaeus the Tavromenite mentions that the city was founded in 814 BC.
During a series of wars with Rome, a Carthaginian invasion led by Hannibal during the First Carthaginian War almost prevented the rise of the Roman Empire. Carthage was finally conquered by Rome in the 2nd century BC,
a turning point that meant the passage of the ancient Mediterranean culture to the modern world through Europe instead of Africa. After the Roman invasion, the area became a granary of Rome.
It was conquered by the Vandals in the 5th century AD. and was recaptured by the Byzantines in the 6th century AD. led by Belissarius, when Justinian was emperor.
In the 7th century AD. conquered by the Arabs. They ruled successive Muslim dynasties, while there were also revolts by the Berbers.
The coasts were found for a short time under the rule of the Normans of Sicily in the 12th century AD. In 1159, Tunisia was conquered by the Almohand dynasty. They were followed by the Hafsid dynasty (1230-1574).
Spain later took control of several coastal cities, but were recaptured by the Ottoman Empire, under whose rule Tunisia gained virtual independence. The Hussein dynasty began in 1705 and lasted until 1957.