A small country at a crossroads
Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa, a strip of land between Algeria, Libya and the Mediterranean Sea. Green hills and olive groves cover the north, dry plains stretch across the middle, and in the south the land fades into the Sahara, with salt flats, oases and the island of Djerba just off the coast. Water is scarce, and droughts are becoming more common.
Because it sits in the middle of the Mediterranean, Tunisia has been ruled by one empire after another: the Phoenicians of ancient Carthage, the Romans, the Arabs, the Ottoman Turks and, for 75 years, the French. Each left something behind.
The people and their past
The first people of the land were the Amazigh, sometimes called Berbers. When Arab armies arrived in the 7th century, most of the population slowly became Muslim and began speaking Arabic. Today almost every Tunisian speaks Tunisian Arabic and sees themselves as an Arab Tunisian, even though most have Amazigh ancestors.
A few small communities still hold on to their Amazigh identity, in hill villages around Matmata, Tataouine, Gafsa, Siliana and Zaghouan, and on Djerba. Their language is close to disappearing; in many villages only older people still speak it. After independence from France in 1956, the government moved many families out of their old hilltop villages into new towns, and for decades Amazigh groups were not allowed to organise. Since the 2011 revolution there has been a small revival of Amazigh culture.
Other communities have their own long stories. Black Tunisians are mostly descendants of people brought across the Sahara as slaves; slavery ended in 1846, but many still face discrimination. A Jewish community has lived here for more than two thousand years; it once numbered about 100,000, and today about 1,500 remain, most of them on Djerba. Deaf Tunisians have their own sign language.
Newcomers
Tunisia has also become home, for a while or for good, to people from elsewhere. Large numbers of Libyans crossed the border to escape the wars in their country. Smaller numbers of Syrians and Sudanese came as refugees. Students, workers and migrants from West and Central Africa live in the cities, many hoping to reach Europe. There are also French, Italian and other European residents, many of them retirees or married to Tunisians.
Life today
About 12 million people live in Tunisia, nearly three out of four of them in towns and cities. Life is easier on the coast, around Tunis, Sousse and Sfax, than in the interior and the south, where jobs are scarce. Many young people struggle to find work, and many Tunisians, including doctors, leave to work in Europe. Families are getting smaller, and the population is growing older. Most adults can read, although women and people in rural areas are less likely to have gone to school.
Since 2021 President Kais Saied has ruled with wide powers, and critics, lawyers and journalists have been put on trial. In 2023 a speech by the president about migrants was followed by attacks on Black Africans, and many migrants have since been expelled or sent home.
Faith
Almost all Tunisians are Sunni Muslims, and Islam shapes family life, holidays and the law; the president must be a Muslim. On Djerba, a different and much older branch of Islam, the Ibadi, still survives.
Christianity has deep roots here. Some of the most famous early church leaders, among them Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine, came from this region, and North Africa once had a large Amazigh church. That church disappeared centuries ago.
The church and freedom of belief
Today about 30,000 Christians live in Tunisia, most of them foreigners, among them many African students and migrants. There are also a few thousand Tunisian Christians, many of whom have come to faith from a Muslim background. The constitution promises freedom of belief, but in practice Christians may not share their faith with Muslims, only the Catholic Church is officially recognised, and new churches cannot be built. Tunisians who leave Islam rarely face prosecution, but they can lose their families, their jobs or custody of their children, and the police keep watch on church activity.
