Algeria, Egypt, Libyan, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and South Sudan, Somalia, Tunisia, Western Sahara

North Africa Tunisian flag

Official name Al-Jumhūriyyah al-Tūnisiyyah (Tunisian Republic)

Form of governmentmultiparty republic with one legislative body (Assembly of the Representatives of the People [217])

Head of state President: Beji Caid Sebsi

Head of government Prime Minister: Habib Essid

Capital Tunis

Official language Arabic

Official religion Islam

Monetary unit dinar (TND)

Population(2014 est.) 11,005,000

Total area (sq mi) 63,170

Total area (sq km) 163,610

Urban-rural populationUrban: (2012) 68.1%Rural: (2012) 31.9%

Life expectancy at birthMale: (2012) 73.2 yearsFemale: (2012) 77.4 years

Literacy: percentage of population age 15 and over literate

Male: (2008) 86.4%Female: (2008) 71%

GNI per capita (U.S.$) (2013) 4,360

Culturl indentities

The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara regions speak various dialects of Berber and Arabic and almost exclusively follow Islam. The Arabic and Berber groups of languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afro-Asiatic family. The Sahara dialects are notably more conservative than those of coastal cities

The diverse peoples of the Sahara are usually categorized along ethno-linguistic lines. In the Maghreb, where Arab and Berber identities are often integrated, these lines can be blurred. Some Berber-speaking North Africans may identify as "Arab" depending on the social and political circumstances, although substantial numbers of Berbers (or Imazighen) have retained a distinct cultural identity which in the 20th century has been expressed as a clear ethnic identification with Berber history and language

History identities

Phoenica, Semitic peoples from the Levant, as the birthplace of the alphabet, stating that it was brought to Greece by the Phoenician Kadmus (sometime before the 8th century BCE) and that, prior to that, the Greeks had no alphabet. The Phoenician alphabet is the basis for most western languages written today and their city of Gebal (called by the Greeks 'Byblos’)

The city-states of Phoenicia flourished through maritime trade between c. 1500-322 BCE when the major cities were conquered by Alexander the Great

Indigenous peoples of North Africa

The Berbers lived in North Africa long before the arrival of the Arabs, and their culture probably dates back more than 4,000 years. Berber states known as Mauritania and Numidia existed in classical times.

Between the 11th and 13th centuries, two great Berber dynasties – the Almoravids and the Almohads – controlled large parts of Spain, as well as north-west Africa.

Growing demands for the recognition of Berbers—in theory as the original inhabitants of North Africa and in practice as distinct components of its society

It was the Arabs, who had enlisted Berber warriors for the conquest of Spain, who nevertheless gave those peoples a single name, turning barbarian (speakers of a language other than Greek and Latin) into Barbar, the name of a race descended from

Noah. While unifying the indigenous groups under one rubric, the Arabs began their Islamization

Education/Adult education

In 859 a young princess named Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez, Morocco.

Prior to 1958 education only available to a privileged minority (14%)

extremely high priority and accounts for 6% of G.N.P.

A basic education has been compulsory for both boys and girls

between the ages of 6 and 16 since 1991.

A three-day conference on adult education and building a knowledge society in the Arab world opened in Gammarth, Tunisia. Titled "Investing in adult learning: Building knowledge and learning societies in the Arab region", it is one of five preparatory regional conferences for Unesco's Sixth International Conference on Adult Education-- http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090108191130620

19 to 25 - AdultThere are "162 institutions of higher education, among them 22 Higher Institutes of Technological Studies (ISET), and 6 Higher Institutes of Teachers Training (ISFM)".

A voluntary policy to promote adult education has served to increase literacy and pave the way to a "lifelong" education.

Tunis.com

  

Punic Wars

The main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflicts of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic

The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC

The Iberian conquest was begun by Hamilcar Barca and his other son-in-law, Hasdrubal the Fair, who ruled relatively independently of Carthage and signed the Ebro Treaty with Rome

Thus, Hannibal took the Romans by surprise a mere two years later (218 BC) by merely reviving and adapting the original Gaulo-Carthaginian invasion plan of his brother-in-law Hasdrubal.

The Second Punic War (218 BC – 201 BC) is most remembered for the Carthaginian Hannibal's crossing of the Alps. His army invaded Italy from the north and resoundingly defeated the Roman army in several battles, but never achieved the ultimate goal of causing a political break between Rome and its allies.

While fighting Hannibal in Italy, Hispania, and Sicily, Rome simultaneously fought against Macedon in the First Macedonian War. Eventually, the war was taken to Africa,

where Carthage was defeated at the Battle of Zama (201 BC) [8] by Scipio Africanus. The end of the war saw Carthage's control reduced to only the city itself.

Islam

The Islamic Civilization is in reality an amalgam of wide variety of cultures, from North Africa to the western periphery of the Pacific Ocean, and from Central Asia to sub-Saharan Africa.

A Way-Too-Brief History of Islam

The traditional beginning of the Islamic civilization is associated with the Prophet Muhammed [about AD 570-632]. In 610, Muhammad received his first revelations from God via the angel Gabriel.

By 615, a community of his followers was established in Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia. In 622, Muhammed moved his community (the movement is called the hejirae) to Medina (also in Saudi Arabia). There he formally established the Muslim community, beginning the Muslim calendar in that year, renaming it Year One of the Anno Hegirae

The first university was established in Tunis in 703

During the American Revolution, the pirates attacked American ships. But, on December 20, 1777, Morocco's Sultan Mohammed III declared that the American merchant ships would be under the protection of the sultanate and could thus enjoy safe passage into the Mediterranean and along the coast. The Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship stands as the U.S.'s oldest non-broken friendship treaty[6][7] with a foreign power. In 1778 Morocco became the first nation to recognize the new United States. [8]

Recent history

Rivalry between French and Italian interests in Tunisia culminated in a French invasion in 1881 and the creation of a protectorate. Agitation for independence in the decades following World War I was finally successful in convincing the French to recognize Tunisia as an independent state in 1956.

The country's first president, Habib BOURGUIBA, established a strict one-party state. He dominated the country for 31 years, repressing Islamic fundamentalism and establishing rights for women unmatched by any other Arab nation. In November 1987, BOURGUIBA was removed from office and replaced by Zine el Abidine BEN ALI in a bloodless coup. Street protests that began in Tunis in December 2010 over high unemployment, corruption, widespread poverty, and high food prices escalated in January 2011, culminating in rioting that led to hundreds of deaths. On 14 January 2011, the same day BEN ALI dismissed the government, he fled the country, and by late January 2011, a "national unity government" was formed. Elections for the new Constituent Assembly were held in late October 2011, and in December, it elected human rights activist Moncef MARZOUKI as interim president. The Assembly began drafting a new constitution in February 2012 and, after several iterations and a months-long political crisis that stalled the transition, ratified the document in January 2014. Parliamentary and presidential elections for a permanent government were held at the end of 2014. Beji CAID ESSEBSI was elected as the first president under the country's new constitution.

Government type:republicCapital:name: TunisAdministrative divisions:24 governorates Independence:20 March 1956 (from France)National holiday:Independence Day, 20 March (1956); Revolution and Youth Day, 14 January (2011)Constitution:several previous; latest approved by Constituent Assembly 26 January 2014, signed by president on 27 January 2014 (2015)Legal system:mixed legal system of civil law, based on the French civil code, and Islamic law; some judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court in joint session

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

Nationality:noun: Tunisian(s)adjective: TunisianEthnic groups:Arab 98%, European 1%, Jewish and other 1%Languages:Arabic (official, one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce), Berber (Tamazight)note: despite having no official status, French plays a major role in the country and is spoken by about two-thirds of the populationReligions:Muslim (official; Sunni) 99.1%, other (includes Christian, Jewish, Shia Muslim, and Baha'i) 1%religious affiliation: Population:11,037,225 (July 2015 est.)Major urban areas - population:TUNIS (capital) 1.993 million (2015)Education expenditures:6.2% of GDP (2012)country comparison to the world: 38Literacy:definition: age 15 and over can read and writetotal population: 81.8%male: 89.6%female: 74.2% (2015 est.)Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:total: 37.6%male: 35.7%female: 41.8% (2012 est.)Economy - overview:Tunisia's diverse, market-oriented economy has long been cited as a success story in Africa and the Middle East, but it faces an array of challenges following the 2011 revolution. Following an ill-fated experiment with socialist economic policies in the 1960s, Tunisia embarked on a successful strategy focused on bolstering exports, foreign investment, and tourism, all of which have become central to the country's economy. Key exports now include textiles and apparel, food products, petroleum products, chemicals, and phosphates, with about 80% of exports bound for Tunisia's main economic partner, the European Union. Tunisia's liberal strategy, coupled with investments in education and infrastructure, fueled decades of 4-5% annual GDP growth and

improving living standards. Former President (1987-2011) Zine el Abidine BEN ALI continued these policies, but as his reign wore on cronyism and corruption stymied economic performance and unemployment rose among the country's growing ranks of university graduates

Education/Adult education

In 859 a young princess named Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez, Morocco.

Prior to 1958 education in Tunisia was only available to a privileged minority (14%). It is now given an extremely high priority and accounts for 6% of G.N.P. A basic education has been compulsory for both boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 16 since 1991.

A three-day conference on adult education and building a knowledge society in the Arab world opened on Monday in Gammarth, Tunisia. Titled "Investing in adult learning: Building knowledge and learning societies in the Arab region", it is one of five preparatory regional conferences for Unesco's Sixth International Conference on Adult Education-- http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090108191130620

19 to 25 - AdultThere are "162 institutions of higher education, among them 22 Higher Institutes of Technological Studies (ISET), and 6 Higher Institutes of Teachers Training (ISFM)". A voluntary policy to promote adult education has served to increase literacy and pave the way to a "lifelong" education.

Tunis.com

SurgeryAround the year 1,000, the celebrated doctor Al Zahrawipublished a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of surgery that was used in Europe as a medical reference for the next 500 years. Among his many inventions, Zahrawi discovered the use of dissolving cat gut to stitch wounds -- beforehand a second surgery had to be performed to remove sutures. He also reportedly performed the first caesarean operation and created the first pair of forceps.2. CoffeeNow the Western world's drink du jour, coffee was first brewed in Yemen around the 9th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped Sufis stay up during late nights of devotion. Later brought to Cairo by a group of students, the coffee buzz soon caught on around the empire. By the 13th century it reached Turkey, but not until the 16th century did the beans start boiling in Europe, brought to Italy by a Venetian trader.3. Flying machine"Abbas ibn Firnas was the first person to make a real attempt to construct a flying machine and fly," said Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a winged apparatus, roughly resembling a bird costume. In his most

famous trial near Cordoba in Spain, Firnas flew upward for a few moments, before falling to the ground and partially breaking his back. His designs would undoubtedly have been an inspiration for famed Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci's hundreds of years later, said Hassani.4. UniversityIn 859 a young princess named Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez, Morocco. Her sister Miriam founded an adjacent mosque and together the complex became the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University. Still operating almost 1,200 years later, Hassani says he hopes the center will remind people that learning is at the core of the Islamic tradition and that the story of the al-Firhi sisters will inspire young Muslim women around the world today.5. AlgebraThe word algebra comes from the title of a Persian mathematician's famous 9th century treatise "Kitab al-Jabr Wa l-Mugabala" which translates roughly as "The Book of Reasoning and Balancing." Built on the roots of Greek and Hindu systems, the new algebraic order was a unifying system for rational numbers, irrational numbers and geometrical magnitudes. The same mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi, was also the first to introduce the concept of raising a number to a power.6. Optics"Many of the most important advances in the study of optics come from the Muslim world," says Hassani. Around the year 1000 Ibn al-Haitham proved that humans see objects by light reflecting off of them and entering the eye, dismissing Euclid and Ptolemy's theories that light was emitted from the eye itself. This great Muslim physicist also discovered the camera obscura phenomenon, which explains how the eye sees images upright due to the connection between the optic nerve and the brain.7. MusicMuslim musicians have had a profound impact on Europe, dating back to Charlemagne tried to compete with the music of Baghdad and Cordoba, according to Hassani. Among many instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East are the lute and the rahab, an ancestor of the violin. Modern musical scales are also said to derive from the Arabic alphabet.8. ToothbrushAccording to Hassani, the Prophet Mohammed popularized the use of the first toothbrush in around 600. Using a twig from the Meswak tree, he cleaned his teeth and freshened his breath. Substances similar to Meswak are used in modern toothpaste.9. The crankMany of the basics of modern automatics were first put to use in the Muslim world, including the revolutionary crank-connecting rod system. By converting rotary motion to linear motion, the crank enables the lifting of heavy objects with relative ease. This technology, discovered by Al-Jazari in the 12th century, exploded across the globe, leading to everything from the bicycle to the internal combustion engine.10. Hospitals"Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt," explained Hassani. The first such medical center was the Ahmad ibn Tulun Hospital, founded in 872 in Cairo. Tulun hospital provided free care for anyone who needed it -- a policy based on the Muslim tradition of caring for all who are sick. From Cairo, such hospitals spread around the Muslim world.

Alternative title: Maghreb

Maghrib, ( Arabic: “West”) , also spelled Maghreb, region of North Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The Africa Minor of the ancients, it at one time included Moorish Spain and now comprises essentially the Atlas Mountains and the coastal plain of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The weather of the Maghrib is characterized by prevailing westerly winds,

which drop most of their moisture on the northern slopes and coastal plain, leaving little for the southern slopes, which maintain desert scrub fading into true desert in the Sahara to the south.

From the vastness of their mountain ranges, the native peoples of the Maghrib have resisted successive Punic, Roman, and Christian invasions. Not until the 7th and 8th centuries was the Maghrib conquered; the Arabs, who imposed on the native peoples the religion of Islam and Arabic, the language of the Quʾrān, thus absorbed the Maghrib into the Muslim civilization. Despite this absorption, most of the North African societies have preserved their cultural identity throughout the centuries.

The people of the Maghrib belong to both Berber and Arab ethnolinguistic groups. The Berbers are descended from the earlier inhabitants of the region and may trace their ancestry to Paleolithic times. Many other groups have invaded the area, including the Phoenicians, the Arabs, and the French. About one-sixth of the population of the Maghrib still speak one of the Berber languages (most of them in Algeria and Morocco), but most also speak some form of Arabic.

Official name Al-Jumhūriyyah al-Tūnisiyyah (Tunisian Republic)

Form of governmentmultiparty republic with one legislative body (Assembly of the Representatives of the People [217])

Head of state President: Beji Caid Sebsi

Head of government Prime Minister: Habib Essid

Capital Tunis

Official language Arabic

Official religion Islam

Monetary unit dinar (TND)

Population(2014 est.) 11,005,000

Collapse

Total area (sq mi) 63,170

Total area (sq km) 163,610

Urban-rural populationUrban: (2012) 68.1%Rural: (2012) 31.9%

Life expectancy at birthMale: (2012) 73.2 yearsFemale: (2012) 77.4 years

Literacy: percentage of population age 15 and over literate

Male: (2008) 86.4%Female: (2008) 71%

GNI per capita (U.S.$) (2013) 4,360