Tunis, a French protectorate of North Africa, bounded on the N. and E. by the Mediterranean Sea, on the W. by Algeria, on the S. by the Sahara, and on the SE. by Tripoli. It has an area of 45,000 sq. m., and a population, mostly Bedouin Arabs and Kabyles, estimated in 1901 at 1,906,000, including 26,678 French, 63,866 Italians, and 12,732 Maltese. Numerous bays and arms of the sea indent the coast, and branches and spurs of the Atlas range penetrate the interior. The country, indeed, is mostly high ground, a large proportion of its surface being occupied by hills and, towards the south, by desert steppes, seldom visited by rain. In the east the land is low and sandy. None of the rivers are navigable, most of them disappearing in the sand before reaching the coast. There is but one considerable lake; it lies towards the north. The soil is largely fertile, producing fine grain-crops. Fruit-culture is extensively engaged in, and oranges, dates, figs, olives, grapes, pomegranates, and almonds are raised. The pasturage is good and abundant, except in the height of the dry season, supporting numerous flocks of cattle and sheep. Tunis is rich in all minerals except gold. In late years quarries of fine and very beautiful marble have been discovered and worked, the character of the stone and the traces of ancient workings making it probable that from this district came the precious 'Numidian marbles' of the Romans. Towards the west lava and other volcanic rocks are presented.
The rainy season lasts from October till March, when the precipitation is plentiful over the whole country, with the exception of the desert steppes, as previously noticed. The annual rainfall varies from 10 to 50 inches. The heaviest rains occur in December and January, accompanied by north and north-west winds. Snow falls on the higher altitudes, and the greater mountain-peaks are always snow-clad. Showers are few during the great heat, and dew is unknown except near the sea, and even there it disappears at or a little before sunrise. Although often trying for Europeans, the climate cannot be called exceptionally unhealthy, but much depends on the situation.
The trade of Tunis is gradually increasing, but the value of the imports (about £1,740,000 per annum) is still nearly £50,000 per annum above that of the exports. Three-quarters of the cargoes are carried in French bottoms, Italy ranking second and Great Britain third. Commerce is carried on principally with the following countries, arranged according to the value of the imports received from each—viz. France, Algeria, Malta, Italy, Russia, Austria, and Great Britain. The exports are sent principally to Italy, France, Algeria, Great Britain, Malta, and Austria. The articles chiefly imported are cottons and textile goods, flour, cereals, colonial wares, and wines. The exports largely consist of olive-oil, wheat, tan, alfa, barley, fruits, wool and woollen goods (including chechias, or caps of red wool), sponges, and tunny-fish (in tins and salted). There are 860 miles of railways, with over 2000 miles of telegraphs. The piastre, with an average value of about sixpence, is the standard of monetary value; but French and Italian gold and silver coins circulate freely.
For the early history, see CARTHAGE. When European powers first began to recognise the utility, if not necessity, of occupying foreign shores with the view of commanding freedom in the transport of troops and merchandise, Tunis, from the facilities which its numerous bays and ports gave to movements in the Mediterranean, seems to have particularly engaged the attention of France, and in 1270 Louis IX. invaded the country, being assisted by the king of Navarre. Although his landing was unopposed, the troops suffered much from sickness, the king and his son falling early victims to disease. Notwithstanding the invaders managed to bring their enterprise to a successful issue. In 1575 Sinan Pasha brought the country completely under the Ottoman power, giving it a new constitution. The government was invested in a Turkish pasha as governor, with a council composed of the principal officers of the Turkish troops and the commander of the Janizaries. But in a few years a military mutiny overturned matters, and a dey, with limited authority, was raised to power, the chief executive functions being retained by the council, a bey being put at the head of the revenue and taxation departments. By slow degrees this officer so extended his influence and authority that at last Murad Bey succeeded in raising himself to the hereditary sovereignty, and his family governed Tunis for a century, enlarging their borders by conquests on land and greatly increasing their own and the country's opulence by piracy, directed against the Christian powers, by sea. In the 18th century, after a series of reverses, Tunis became tributary to Algeria; but in the beginning of the 19th century the country, under Hamuda Pasha, became again virtually independent. Under its later sovereigns, generally men of an enlightened and wisely-reforming spirit, Tunis made great progress. In 1881 France invaded Tunis, under pretext of chastising the Kronmir tribes which had been making incursions into Algeria; this invasion resulted in the signing of a treaty placing the country practically under French protection, under which it has made satisfactory progress. This occupation is the most important to France of any that she has undertaken in late years, as it gives her to a large extent the command of the Mediterranean and important coastline, the use of many and secure harbours, and makes her the mistress of North Africa, besides, to a certain degree, lessening the strategic importance of Gibraltar and Malta.
See The Piratical States of Barbary (anonymous), Broadley's Tunis Past and Present, Banning's Le Partage Politique de l'Afrique, Arènes's Vingt Jours en Tunisie, Mayet's Voyage dans le Sud de la Tunisie, Lane-san's La Tunisie, Norman's Colonial France, Graham and Ashbee's Travels in Tunisia (with full bibliography, 1887; the Bibliography continued by Ashbee in 1890), Silva White's Development of Africa (1890), and Poiré, La Tunisie Française (1892).
TUNIS, the capital, is situated on a small lagoon (El Bahira), near the south-west extremity of the Lake of Tunis, and about 3 miles from the ruins of Carthage (q.v.). The streets are narrow, filthy, and unpaved, but the bazaars are well supplied with oriental goods, fruits, and some of the chief imports. The mosques are always worth visiting, and several of them are magnificently decorated, as is the bey's palace. The citadel, the old slave prison, contains a fine collection of arms and objects of antiquarian interest. A channel 81 feet broad and 11½ deep has been dredged in the lagoon from Goletta to Tunis, where harbour-works have been constructed. There are manufactures of cloth and clothing, olive-oil, tapestries, leather, soap, and wax. Good modern barracks are occupied by the French troops, who have made their surroundings healthy and, to a certain extent, pleasant to the eye, but much remains to be done in the way of sanitary improvement within the city itself. Pop. 134,000. See Lallemand, Tunis et ses Environs (1889).