HISTORIC TUNISIA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 79, 8 June 1943, Page 6

HISTORIC TUNISIA

FORMERLY THE GRANARY OF ANCIENT ROME & THE CRADLE OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY

I wonder how many, when thespeak of Tunisia, now so much, to tlie fore, associate it as. having been at. one time the granary of Rome and the cradle of Western Christianity? (writes Harold J. Shepetone). Yet such was the case. Some twelve centuries before the birth of Christ tlie Phoenicians, attracted by the wealth of the country, established trading depots along its coast and built tlie. city of Carthage which quickly became tlie capital of the great . maritime empire of tlie Phoenicians in the Western Mediterranean. "While. Persia and Greece disputed the mastery of tlie Eastern world. Carthage and Rome disputed the dominion of the West. After a stern siege Carthage fell to the. Romans, Later Rome established a colony in North Africa and Carthage was rebuilt and became a mighty city, the capital of a Roman province which soon began to outshine Italy itself in wealth, in luxury, in art, and in tlie magnificence of its palaces, temples and public building's. The new province became not merely the granary of Rome, but a breeding ground for Roman citizens, a school of art and letters, and the cradle of Western Christianity. Several of the Roman Emperors, including Septimius Seve~ cus, one of the greatest, were Afri-can-born. It was the. African bishops,, Tertullian in the first Century. Cyprian in the Second, and Augustine in the Third, who built up the. Christian Church in North Africa. For five centuries the new province was as Roman as Italy. Then in the Seventh Century fanatical hordes l'o Moslems swept across North Africa right into .southern Spain, sweeping away not only the civilisation of Rome, but the Christian Church as Ave.ll. Since then the Mohammedan religion has held universal sway» Tunisia tg>~day is some 45,000 square miles in extent, Avitli a population of 2^,720,000 — Arabs and It is a French protectorate and lias been .since 1881. There is, however, a natiA'c ruler, tjie Be3 r of Tunis. Though he exercises considerable authority it is the French avlio rule. There has al-

ways been a large Italian population numbering, when war broke out, about 95,000. * The country is divided geographically into three well-marked belts. The north is mountainous, enclosing some Ave.ll-Avatered and fertile plains. The south is desert, diversified bj- numerous oases in which the date palm yields a golden harvest. Between the mountains and the. desert lies a broad belt of rolling steppes which in its lower Ica"els along the coast is extraordinarily fertile. Wheat, barley, oats, olives, lemons, oranges and d.ates are. extensively cultivated. Tunis, the capital, and the larg,est, city in the country, with a population of just over 200,000, is built on a IoAA r neck of land hetAveen tAvo lagoons. We ha\ r e the old toAA r n dating back to Phoenician days and the new. The.. former, the native quarter, is surrounded by a wall pierced by several gates. The newer, or European quarters, boast, spacious boulevards, line public buildings, restaurants, cafes and hotels —all the amenities of the West. The Italians, a numerous colony, occupy their own quarter which has all tlie appearance of an Italian town. From the European quarter one passes through the. imposing Ro-man-like arch of tlie Porte de France into an intricate maze of narrow lanes. Here are the souks. Each craft lias, its own street, or souk, which has. been A r au;ted over like an arcade to afford a Avelcome shade from the glare of the African sun. There are the slipper makers' souk, tlie saddle makers' souk', the .jewellers' souk, the carpet and rug souk, and. the ladies' souk, Avhere exquisite silk and embroideries hidden

away in the rccesses of the. most unpromising, chirk., little caves, ofler endless scope for exploration and bargain hunting. In the Centre ot the .souks is a small quadrangle arcatled round by rows of pilars painted with barbaric colours and patterns. This was the s;avc market ol' old, anilt here, up to the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, alter a .sueccssi'lil raid, ihu corsairs displayed their captives. The arches were tho gateways to sluun-j and m : i n y many a (Christian man ail 1 woman. Almost in the centre of the city is the memorial column to John