Bizerte
| Bizerte |
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| administration | |||
| Country |
 Tunisia
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| Governorate | Bizerte | ||
| Post Code | 7000 | ||
| Website | www.commune-bizerte.gov.tn | ||
| Demographics | |||
| population | 114,371 pop (2004) | ||
| geography | |||
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| Coordinates | 37 ° 16 ' N , 9 ° 52' E | ||
Bizerte or traditionally German Biserta ( Arabic بنزرت, Binzart , French Bizerte , Italian Biserta ) is a port city on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Tunisia .
The city has been an important maritime and trading center for almost two millennia . In the urban area there is an outer harbor and two inner harbors , which are connected by a canal. The city is the center of the Tunisian oil industry .
Bizerte is also the capital of the Bizerte Governorate and the northernmost city in Africa.
history
Antiquity
The city was founded around 1100 BC. Founded by the Phoenicians as a trading post. During the Punic Wars it came under the influence of the Carthaginians , but after the last conflict between the great powers it fell to the Romans . They called the city Hippo Zarytus ; The Greek name Hippo Diarrhytus has also been handed down as the titular bishopric .
This event ended nine centuries of Punic rule in one fell swoop. The territory of the destroyed city fell to Utica , who fought on the side of Rome. It took a long time for the area to be repopulated by the Romans.
middle Ages
In the course of the Islamic expansion , the city was taken by Arab troops and got its current name. From 1050 the influx of the Banū Hilāl favored the collapse of the Zirid Empire . As a result, a large number of small, independent principalities emerged, including Bizerte. 1155–1160 the Almohads conquered what is now Tunisia. About twenty years later, Ifrīqiya received the status of an autonomous province.
Modern times
Until the 19th century, the city was an important base for the Tunisian corsairs . In 1881 it was occupied by France and developed into an important military base. From December 1920 to October 1924 the so-called Russian Squadron , the rest of the Imperial Russian Black Sea Fleet , which had sided with General Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel's White Army during the Russian Civil War , was interned in Bizerte . During the Second World War , during the Tunisian campaign (1943), there was fierce fighting between German and US troops over Bizerte. Even after Tunisia's independence, the military base initially remained in French ownership. In July 1961 President Habib Bourguiba demanded the withdrawal of the French and had the naval base surrounded by Tunisian troops. The French President Charles de Gaulle then sent units that occupied the entire city area in three days of fighting (over 600 dead, 95% Tunisians) (so-called Bizerte crisis ). A Tunisian-French agreement was reached at the end of September, but it was not until October 15, 1963 that the last French soldier left the city.
Today the city is turning to tourism, despite the heavy military presence . Bizerte are the largest military airfield of the Air Force and the Headquarters of the Marine .
population
According to a 2004 census , Bizerte has around 115,000 inhabitants.
Town twinning
Trivia
Africa's only transporter ferry was in Bizerte , built in 1898. It was dismantled by the French and rebuilt in 1909 in the naval port of Brest . There it was almost completely destroyed in the Second World War.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Christian Debias (* 1946), French racing car driver
- Michel Seurat (1947–1986), French sociologist and Arabist
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Résultats du Recensement 2004: Population, ménages et logements par unité administrative ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Bizerte. In: Structurae