Tataouine
| Tataouine تطاوين ⵜⵉⵟⵟⴰⵡⵉⵏ |
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| Country |
 Tunisia
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| Governorate | Tataouine Governorate | ||
| Post Code | 3200 | ||
| Demographics | |||
| population | 59,346 pop (2004) | ||
| Population density | 1413 inhabitants / km² | ||
| geography | |||
| height | 245 m | ||
| surface | 42 km² | ||
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| Coordinates | 32 ° 56 ' N , 10 ° 27' E | ||
Tataouine ( Arabic تطاوين, DMG Taṭāwīn , Central Atlas Tamazight ⵜⵉⵟⵟⴰⵡⵉⵏ Tiṭṭawin ; formerly Foum Tataouine ) is the capital of the southern Tunisian governorate of Tataouine and the seat of two delegations . Around 65,000 people live in the city of Tataouine, and around 100,000 in the two delegations Tataouine Sud and Tataouine Nord . The name Tataouine means "water springs" in the Berber language ; the French nickname of the place was la porte du désert ("the gateway to the desert").
geography
location
Tataouine lies at an altitude of approx. 245 m above sea level. d. M. and is about 535 kilometers south of the Tunisian capital Tunis . Nearby cities are Medenine (50 km north) and Gabès (approx. 140 km north).
climate
The summer day temperatures can easily reach 40 ° C and more; at night it cools down to around 5 ° C when the sky is clear. In winter the daytime temperatures are between 10 and 20 ° C; Night frosts are rare. Rain actually only falls in the winter months; the long-term average rainfall is around 140 mm per year.
Residents
Approx. 63% of the residents of Tataouine are Berber and about 37% are of Arab descent. Most of them only immigrated from the surrounding regions in the second half of the 20th century; others have given up their (semi) nomadic life on the edge of the desert and settled down.
history
The Tataouine oasis was important for the trade route from Gabès to Fezzan and Sudan . It was inhabited in the Neolithic period. Some of the finds are now in the Musée d'archéologie nationale in Saint-Germain-en-Laye .
Since the middle of the Roman Empire there was a chain of small forts and watchtowers along the Limes Tripolitanus, which was pushed up to the edge of the Sahara . The hinterland near the border in the Dahar mountains was also secured with barriers on the pass roads and other garrison locations to the rear - such as the larger Talalati fort ( Ras El Aïn Tlalet ) near the Roman road to the ancient coastal town of Gigthis . From Talalati the road continued south to the Tillibari ( Remada ) fort .
In 1903 Jules Toutain suggested identifying the ancient garrison town of Tabalati with Tataouine, but there is no corresponding archaeological evidence. Tabalati / Talalati, where propugnacula (defensive structures) were built between 355 and 360 by order of the Comes et Praeses of Tripolitania, Flavius Archontius Nilus, was only identified with Tlalet ( Ras el-Ain ) because of the similarity of the name .
Apparently, large quantities of grain and other food were stored in the numerous ksour of the region, at the latest under the Hafsides , for which the large storage facilities ( ghorfas ) that still exist today were used, of which well over 1,000 still exist in southern Tunisia. Ksar Haddada is 29 km from Tataouine, Ksar Ouled Soltane 20 km and Remada about 75 km.
The city in the European sense was founded at the beginning of the French protectorate to control the local population. For this purpose, the military post from Douiret was moved here, which was directed primarily against the Ouderna . They lived around the centers of Béni Barka, which was important as a market, and the tomb of the marabout of Sidi Abdallah Boujlida. This place was venerated by the entire Ouerghemma Federation. In 1888 a hospital with 40 beds was built next to the military post. A French penal colony was located here until 1938 .
Approx. 500 m from the military post, a souk was built in 1892 with more than 50 shops, which were also supplied from Djerba . In 1898 a mosque was built, the minaret of which was completed in 1903. In 1911 a city slaughterhouse was added, in 1913 a post office, in 1916 a primary school and a court of law. A church and a synagogue were built during the First World War . A bath for prisoners and soldiers existed until 1938, which became a barracks after independence.
In March 2015, not far from the city, there was unrest and fighting between army units and ISIS militants .
economy
With the absence of tourists, jobs were lost. In 2016, 40 percent of all residents were unemployed. Some of them engage in illegal immigration or the smuggling of cigarettes and alcohol, which is prohibited in neighboring Libya.
Attractions
Tataouine has no significant historical or cultural attractions. However, the city is well suited for excursions by car or taxi to the warehouse castles ( ksour ) of Gattoufa , Ksar Haddada or Ksar Ouled Soltane or to the mountain villages of Guermessa , Chenini and Douiret .
Others
meteorite
On June 27, 1931, a meteorite , a rare achondrite , struck Tataouine . More than twelve kilograms of fragments were found in which the minerals chromite , cristobalite , hyperstene and troilite could be detected. The meteorite mainly consisted of green pyroxene crystals ( orthopyroxene ) and was therefore classified as diogenite .
Film location
The place appeared again in the world press when filmmakers discovered the region. When George Lucas , who shot the Star Wars film in various Tunisian locations, named the fictional home planet Luke Skywalker's Tatooine , the place gained fame among Star Wars fans, which sparked a certain amount of tourism. Also at the end of the movie X-Files the place came Foum Tataouine before - there is a facility for experiments was operated on extraterrestrial viruses.
Terror center
The city is referred to by the media as a "terror center", it serves as the headquarters of radicals and is the birthplace of the truck bomber Anis Amri . Tataouine is considered a stronghold of radical Islamists. The city and the surrounding region are to serve as a retreat, planning center and recruiting area for the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Institut National de la Statistique - Tataouine ( Memento of the original of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tataouine and surroundings - climate tables
- ↑ Ginette Aumassip: Le Bas-Sahara dans la Préhistoire , Paris 1986, p. 612.
- ↑ Kastell Talalati at 32 ° 59 '13.29 " N , 10 ° 20' 38.75" O
- ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le Limes tripolitanus. Du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne , Paris, 1974, pp. 105-108.
- ^ Jules Toutain: Notes et documents sur les voies stratégiques et sur l'occupation militaire du sud tunisien à l'époque romaine . In: Bulletin archéologique du comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques 1903, p. 400f. ( Digitized version )
- ↑ René Rebuffat : Au-delà des camps romains d'Afrique mineure: renseignement, contrôle, pénétration , in: (ed.) Hildegard Temporini: The Rise and Fall of the Roman world Vol 10/2, de Gruyter, Berlin 1982, p. 474-512, here: p. 481.
- ^ Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne , Paris 1974, p. 32.
- ^ Perspectives for Tunisia's warehouse castles , University of Bayreuth. In addition: Herbert Popp, Abdelfettah Kassah: Les ksour du Sud tunesien , Natural Science Society, Bayreuth 2010.
- ^ Benoît Gaumer: L'organization sanitaire en Tunisie sous le Protectorat français (1881-1956). Un bilan ambigu et contrasté , Presses de l'Université Laval, p. 200.
- ^ Tunisian town near 'Star Wars' backdrop now features in battle against ISIS. Retrieved August 24, 2014 .
- ↑ a b Tataouine, the jihadist city of Anis Amri. In: The world. Retrieved January 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Mindat - meteorite Tatahouine, Tataouine (Foum Tatahouine), Tataouine Governorate, Tunisia
- ^ "Star Wars Tourism" in Tataouine. Archived from the original on June 25, 2008 ; accessed on August 24, 2014 .
- ↑ Martin Gehlen: The desert of the extremists. In: zeit.de , December 23, 2016, accessed on January 7, 2018
- ^ Joell Bedetti: Filming location Tunisia: Star Wars and IS. In: nzz.ch , November 22, 2015, accessed on January 7, 2018
- ↑ Hanns-Georg Rodek: Tatooine and the phantom menace of Darth Vader. In: welt.de , December 21, 2016, accessed on January 7, 2018
