Tunisia: Political System
According to CANCERMATTERS.NET, Tunisia is a presidential republic with Islam as the state religion and a president as the head of state. The parliament, the national assembly (Assemblée Nationale) is a unicameral system and has 182 members. 34 seats are reserved for the respective opposition. The election takes place every 5 years, as does the direct election of the head of state by the council. See AbbreviationFinder for more information about Tunisia politics, and acronyms as well.
The official name of the country is:
| El Djumhuriya El TunisiyaRépublique tunisienne
Tunisian Republic |
National anthem
Humata l-hima is the national anthem of Tunisia. The text was written by the Egyptian Mustafa Sadik el-Rafii. It served as the revolutionary anthem for a long time before becoming the country’s national anthem in 1987. The country’s previous national anthem was Ala Khallidi (Oh Eternal Legacy).
The English translation
| Defender of the Fatherland, Defender of the Fatherland!Well on, well on, for the glory of time,
the blood is already screaming in your veins, let us die, let us die so that the fatherland may live!Let the heavens roar with thunder, Let thunderbolts rain with fire! Out of love for Tunisia and its fame. You men and young people from Tunisia, stand up for the strength and glory of your fatherland.No one lives in Tunisia who betrays the country,And nobody lives there who does not defend it. We live and die faithfully to Tunisia, a dignified life and a glorious death!If one day the people decide to live Then fate must bow The night must give way And the fetters will be broken |
National flag
The national flag (country flag) of Tunisia was first introduced in 1835 and has only been slightly modified since then. Based on flag descriptions by Countryaah.com, after independence from France on March 20, 1956 and the abolition of the monarchy on July 25, 1957, the flag became the national flag of Tunisia.
- Check top-mba-universities for public holidays, sports events, UNESCO world heritage sites and major places to visit in Tunisia.
The crescent moon with the star in the red flag are symbols of Islam. Both symbols are also a reference to Tunisia’s past as a province of the Ottoman Empire, with red being a symbol of rule in the Ottoman Empire.
Tunisia: Known People
Ahmad I al-Husain (d. 1855)
Ahmad I al-Husain, who ruled as the Bey of Tunis from 1837 to 1855, led his country into the modern age by concentrating first the army and then the navy. He continued to abolish slavery and all restrictions on Jews in 1846.
Muhammad III al-Husain (1814-1882)
Muhammad III. al-Husain was known as Sadok Bey and ruled his country from 1859 to 1882 as Bey of Tunis. Under him a modern Arab constitution was established, but there was also considerable national debt.
Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali (born 1936)
From 1987 to 2011, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was the President of the Republic of Tunisia. Previously he was head of security and interior minister under Bourguiba. In 2002, Ben Ali had the constitution changed in order to remain in office. In the opinion of many election observers, the elections did not meet the requirements of democracy. In the 2004 elections, for example, which were often referred to as a farce, Ben Ali was supposedly able to unite 95% of the votes. In Europe, he is accused of violating human rights and denying democracy. Mass protests broke out in 2011, which eventually toppled Ben Ali. He left the country for Saudi Arabia. An international arrest warrant has now been issued against him, his wife Leila Trabelsi and other family members.
Mohamed Bouazizi (1984-2011)
Born in 1984 in Sidi Bouzid, the Tunisian greengrocer became famous for his self-immolation on December 17th, 2010 in the city of Sidi Bouzid. With this act of desperation, he triggered the revolution in Tunisia, which in 2011 should lead to the overthrow of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
Habib Bourguiba (1902 – 2000)
The first President of the Tunisian Republic ruled the country from 1957 to 1987. Before that, he was involved in the founding of the Independence Party (Néo Destour Party). His policy was oriented towards the West. In 1981 opposition parties were admitted for the first time. The splendid boulevard in the new town of Tunis was named after him.
Beji Caid el Sebsi (born 1926)
el Sebsi has been Prime Minister of Tunisia since February 27, 2011. His predecessor Mohamed Ghannouchi had resigned due to the ongoing protests.
Mohamed Ghannouchi (born 1941) In
1999, this Tunisian politician was appointed Prime Minister of the country. Previously, he was Minister of Finance, Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister for International Cooperation and International Investment. Hamilkar (? To 229 BC) The victorious Carthaginian general during the First Punic War conquered from 237 BC. The east and south of Spain.
Hannibal (247 to 183 BC)
As one of the most important commanders of antiquity, the Carthaginian, who grew up in Spain, almost defeated the Roman Empire in the Second Punic War after he had crossed the Alps with his army and 37 war elephants.
Ibn Chaldun (1332-1406)
Ibn Chaldun, born in Tunis in 1332, was a famous Islamic politician and historian who was well known for his monumental work al-Muqaddima. With his way of looking at and assessing social changes and tensions, Ibn Khaldun became a forerunner of sociological thought.
Husain I. ibn Ali (d. 1735)
The Husainid dynasty was in power in Tunisia until 1957. It was established by Husain I ibn Ali, who ruled the country from 1705 to 1735 as the Bey of Tunis. Husain pacified the country and expanded the administration. The resulting upper class became an important power base for him.
Fouad Mebazaâ (born 1933)
The Tunisian politician, who was born in Tunis in 1933, has been the fourth President of Tunisia since January 15, 2011. He replaced President Ben Ali, who was on the run in Saudi Arabia. Mebazaâ only acts as interim president, who is supposed to prepare new elections, among other things.
Albert Memmi (born 1920 in Tunis)
Memmi is a Tunisian-French writer and sociologist who examined the decolonization, racism and emigration of Tunisians in his books. He also described the feelings of alienation and uprooting of those affected.
Tunisia: animals
Mammals
The most common sight in Tunisia’s desert regions are undoubtedly the camels and dromedaries, which are mostly used as work animals. Camel tours through the desert are also offered, which can then take several days.
Other typical desert animals are the gerbils, the fennec and the caracal. This belongs to the cat family and has a lynx-like appearance with its pointed and brushed ears, which has earned it the nickname “desert lynx”. The black and white drawing of the face and the black colored back of the ears are characteristic. The coat color varies between ocher yellow and reddish tones. It is not only common in deserts, but also in semi-deserts, steppes and dry forests throughout Africa, Arabia and Western Asia. The nocturnal big cat hunts rabbits, rodents, birds and dwarf antelopes. The longer rear legs make it a powerful jumper, which is not only an enormous advantage when hunting birds.
The atlas deer, which are reddish-brown in summer and rather gray-brown in winter, have become very rare in the north-western forests. They like to live isolated, so the chance of meeting them is rather low.
Wild boars and porcupines also live in the forests.
There are a few gazelles – and Reharten and antelope and wild sheep in Bou HEDNA National Park. The latter are very shy animals and are also known as European wild sheep. They reach a size of 65 to 90 cm and live on average 8 to 10 years. Typical are the gray to yellowish colored saddle spots on the brown fur and the horns of the males, which grow throughout life and can reach a length of 0.45 m. The horns of the females are much shorter or nonexistent. The mouflons have a well-developed sense of hearing and smell, but the sense of sight is best developed. Their diet includes grasses, herbs and woody plants, but also mushrooms and fruits.
The water buffalo in Ichkeul National Park are a rare and unusual sight. Mountain gazelles and striped hyenas also live here.
Reptiles (without snakes)
In the deserts, semi-deserts and savannahs, it can happen that one encounters the desert monitor, which is a subspecies of the Komodo dragon. The European pond turtle is widespread. It has a shell length of less than 25 cm, rarely 30 cm. Her belly armor has a transverse joint, which enables her to fold this armor in front and rear in case of danger and thus protect herself from predators. Their habitat is limited to standing or flowing water with dense bank vegetation. Their diet consists mainly of animal food such as tadpoles, small frogs, newts, water snails, crabs, dead or dying fish.
In addition to Tunisia, it is also represented in Algeria, Morocco, the Iberian Peninsula, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy, France, Sicily, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, northern Iran, Cyprus, Israel and northern Lebanon. But despite this widespread distribution, the number of European pond turtles is in decline.
Poisonous animals
Snakes
Poisonous snakes are mainly found in the south of the country, including:
Atlas otter
The Atlas otter (Daboia mauritanica) belongs to the genus of the oriental vipers (Daboia) in the subfamily of the real vipers (Viperinae) in the family of the vipers (Viperidae).
The snake reaches a size between 100 to 150 cm.
The animals are light gray to reddish gray in color and have a drawing on their back made of a wavy band that can dissolve into individual spots. The belly is gray with a black mottling. A dark band of temples extends over the eyes and extends to the corners of the mouth, while a second band extends vertically from the eyes to the mouth. You can find the snake in the south of the Atlas Mountains on sunny mountain slopes with stones and vegetation up to a height of over 2,000 m.
The snake is found in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and western Libya.
A detailed description of the Atlas otters can be found here >>>
Avicennaviper
In English the Avicennaviper (Cerastes viper) is called Sahara Sand Viper.
The snake belongs to the genus of African horned vipers in the subfamily of real vipers (Viperinae) in the family of vipers (Viperidae). Despite its generic name (Ceraste) and in contrast to the other species of the Cerastes genus, it usually has no horns above the eyes. The snake reaches a length of 35 to a maximum of 50 cm. It has a potent hemotoxic poison.
Boehmer’s horned viper
The Boehmer’s horned viper (Cerastes boehmei) belongs to the genus of the African horned
vipers in the subfamily of the real vipers (Viperinae) in the family of the vipers (Viperidae). The snake reaches a length of up to 40 cm. They are monochrome yellowish to sand-colored with a series of dark patterns in the middle and back. The snake got its name in honor of the German herpetologist Wolfgang Böhme (born 1944)
Desert horned viper
The desert horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) belongs to the genus of African horned vipers in the subfamily of the real vipers (Viperinae) in the family of vipers (Viperidae). The snake reaches a size of 50 to 60 cm – rarely more.
It is sand-yellow to rust-brown and has over 30 brown spots or transverse bands. The tip of the tail is dark in color, while the belly side is rather light. The two “horns above the eyes” are striking. The snake’s venom affects blood clotting.
A detailed description of the desert horned viper can be found here >>>
Sahara otter
The poisonous Sahara otter (Daboia deserti) belongs to the genus of the oriental vipers (Daboia) in the subfamily of the real vipers (Viperinae) in the family of the vipers (Viperidae). The snake reaches a maximum size of about 160 cm. Its triangular head stands out clearly from the body. It is gray to yellowish in color with up to 26 black spots that form a pattern on its back, but which gradually fades with age. The nocturnal snake can be found in the higher deserts of Libya and Tunisia and on the edge of the Atlas Mountains. She lays around 20 eggs. A well-known representative of the genus is the atlas otter (Daboia mauritanica). A detailed description of the Sahara otters can be found here >>>
Scorpions
Tunisia’s scorpions are some of the most poisonous scorpions in the world, and although rare, they should be watched out for. Worth mentioning are the Sahara scorpion and the field scorpion.
Birds
Most of the birds in Tunisia are migratory. Most of them can be seen at Lake Ichkeul. Greylag geese and shovelers
are particularly common here , but also numerous waterfowl, bee-eaters, whackes and flamingos settle at the lake.
The latter form a family of their own and are also common in parts of South America, western Asia and southern France. The up to 130 cm tall birds are immediately recognizable by their long and thin neck, by their thin legs and by their thick, downwardly curved pink beak with a black tip. This is used as a sieve when searching for food. The menu includes worms, algae and, above all, small crustaceans.
They are also responsible for the pink plumage of the flamingos. The red dye absorbed with the crabs is stored in the feathers. After all, the more crabs the birds have eaten, the more pink they are.
The famous one-legged standing is used to store heat, as one leg is hidden in the warm plumage and thus less heat loss occurs. This feat is not strenuous for the flamingos (as well as for storks).
Birds of prey such as the bearded vulture in the Atlas Mountains, the long-eared owl or the peregrine falcon in the Chaämbi National Park are also represented. The Bon Hedma National Park is home to numerous mammals as well as birds such as the golden eagle and the ostrich, which has almost been extinct in Tunisia.
One of the rarer birds is the white stork, which can occasionally be seen by Lake Ichkeul.
Tunisia: plants
Trees
Most of the forests are in the northwest of the country, especially in the Kroumirie Mountains there are numerous cork oaks, pines, juniper trees and strawberry trees. Aleppo pines can be found in the Chaambi National Park in western Tunisia, bush and umbrella acacias characterize the savannah landscapes in the south.
Other plants
In the south of Tunisia the steppe vegetation dominates with acacia bushes, prickly pear cacti, shrubs, wild grasses and esparto grass. This was discovered in the 19th century for papermaking and has thus made itself indispensable. The grass, also known as Halfagras, has 90 cm long, cylindrical and stalk-like leaves that were used for weaving paper long before the discovery of grass. Most plant species can be seen at a glance in Bon Hedma National Park. However, a permit from the forest administration is required for a visit.
Crops
The most important crops in Tunisia are olive and date trees.
The latter are mainly cultivated in the oases, as their roots are long enough to penetrate the deep water reserves. The few spices that have asserted themselves in Tunisia include lavender, thyme, mint and myrtle. There are also said to be vineyards in the north.
Medicinal plants
Lavender grows as a heavily branched and partially woody, 20 – 60 cm large shrub. The purple flowers are collected in July and August. Used internally, they have a calming effect and are often recommended for restlessness and difficulty falling asleep. Lavender also has a diuretic, gas-inducing and antispasmodic effect. Applied externally, however, it is skin-irritating. It is also said that lavender pillows are supposed to protect against moths in between washings.
Thyme supports the digestion of fatty and heavy foods, it relieves coughs and is expectorant. The essential oil is used as a disinfectant. Even the Egyptians are said to have used the plant to embalm the dead. Externally, thyme is used for inflammation of the mouth and throat mucosa.
Introduced plants
One of the most important crops, the date palm, was discovered as early as 600 BC. introduced to Tunisia.
