Bled el Djerid
The Bled el Djerid ( Arabic بلاد الجريد, DMG bilād al-ǧarīd 'Land of the Date Palms') is a region in southern Tunisia on the northwestern edge of the Chott el Djerid salt lake . The main towns of Bled el Djerid are the cities of Tozeur and Nefta . The region's livelihood has always been the oasis economy . The approximately 50,000 inhabitants of Bled el Djerid are made up of Arabs or Arabized Berbers and Haratins , descendants of black slaves .
history
Bled el Djerid was already inhabited in Numidian times. The Romans built border fortresses on the southern border of their province of Africa to protect against nomadic desert tribes. In early Christian times, Bled el Djerid was a stronghold of Christianity with bishoprics in Thusurus (Tozeur) and Nepte (Nefta). After a brief period of rule by the Vandals and Byzantines , Bled el Djerid, like the rest of Tunisia, was conquered in the 7th century by the Arabs who introduced Islam . In the Middle Ages, the cities of Bled el Djerid experienced an economic boom due to the caravan trade between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean, which also brought many black slaves to the region. During the Turkish period, revolts against high taxation and nomadic incursions led to the decline of the region.
economy
The Bled el Djerid is with its 1.6 million palm trees the most productive oasis area in Tunisia. The eponymous date palms provide over half of the country's annual date harvest. Despite extreme climatic conditions (maximum temperatures of up to 50 ° C, annual precipitation between 80 and 120 mm), the oases are very fertile because they are fed by fossil water supplies. Artesian wells are traditionally used for irrigation , and more recently drilled wells are also used. The water is routed through a complex system of small canals according to a distribution system established as early as the 13th century. The land is very unevenly distributed between a few large landowners and numerous small tenants, each with only a few palm trees.
The increased drilling of wells, the population growth in the region and, last but not least, the rise of tourism are leading to the exploitation of fossil water supplies. The sinking of the groundwater level endangers the livelihoods of the oasis farmers.
Web links
Coordinates: 33 ° 54 '58.3 " N , 8 ° 0'24.3" E