Sousse

Sousse (Arabic سوسة Susa; (140 km south of Tunis), is situated on the east coast of Tunisia and is the most important junction for overland communications in Tunisia. The economical base for Sousse is transport equipment, processed food, olive oil, textiles and tourism.

Sousse is at less than two hours from the capital by road. The road leading to Sousse is more than just a transit route; it is a real itinerary of discovery, offering a succession of different and captivating landscapes that are the reflexion of the country's diversity itself: vineyards of Grombalia, orchards of Hammamet, farming land and olive groves of the Sahel. This part of the littoral stretches from the southern gulf of Hammamet to the confines of the town of Mahdia, with the sea and its succession of seaside resorts reminding of the brilliant success of the tourist industry in Tunisia.

History

In the 11th century B.C., the Phoenicians, astute traders who were on their way to becoming Carthaginians, sensed the possibilities of a port city south of present-day Tunis and founded Hadrumetum. The city allied itself with Rome during the Punic Wars, thereby escaping damage or ruin and entered a relatively peaceful 700-year stint under Pax Romana. Livy tells us that Hadrumentum was the landing place of the Roman army under Scipio Africanus in the first Punic War.

After the fall of Rome, the Vandals, and later the Byzantines, took over the town, renaming it, respectively, Hunerikopolis and Justinianopolis.

But all of this naming and renaming, affiliating and disaffiliating was just prelude to the main event in Sousse's long existence. In the 7th century A.D., a new religion burst from the Arabian Peninsula and swept westward across North Africa. Islam, the third of the great monotheisms, rapidly spread Arab culture across what has been a thoroughly Romanized and Christianized landscape. The Arabs seized the city, which in the aftermath of Rome's fall was a moldering remnant of its former self. They renamed the city Sûsa and within a few decades elevated it to the status of main seaport of the Aghlabid Dynasty.

When the Aghlabids invaded Sicily in 827, Sûsa was their main staging ground.

In the centuries that followed, as Europe gained technological ascendancy and began pushing back at Islam, Sûsa was briefly occupied by the Normans in the 12th century, was later more substantially occupied by the Spanish, and in the 18th century was the target of bombardments by the Venetians and the French. The French renamed the city Sousse.

Despite the turmoil around it, Sousse's character had retained the solidly Arabian look and feel it had assumed in the centuries after Islam's wars of conquest. Today it is considered one of the best examples of seaward-facing fortifications built by the Arabs. Its ribat, a soaring structure that combined the purposes of a minaret and a watch tower, is in outstanding condition and draws visitors from around the world.

These days, Sousse, with a population of more than 430,000, retains a medieval heart of narrow, twisted streets, a kasbah and medina, its ribat fortress and long wall on the Mediterranean. Surrounding it is a modern city of long, straight roads and more widely spaced buildings.

Historical names

• Hadrumetum (Punic)
• Colonia Concordia Ulpia Trajana Augusta Frugifera Hadrumetina (Roman)
• Hunerikopolis (Vandal)
• Justinianopolis (Byzantine)
• Susa (Arabic)

City assets

Third city of the country after Tunis and Sfax, Sousse owes its status uncontested capital of the region to a certain number of assets :

• An olive grove stretching over more than 2,500 square kilometres, constituting one of its main richesses since Antiquity.

• A bustling port, open to the town centre and giving a touch of gaiety to its activity.

• A medina charged with history, draped in its fortifications and which continues to live at its own rhythm, harmoniously contrasting with the modern city of typically Mediterranean charm.

• A seaside resort stretching to the north, making up together with the integrated complex of Port El-Kantaoui one of the most complete and most diversified tourist zones of the Mediterranean, at only 20 km from the international airport of Monastir. As a sea town, Sousse benefits from a moderate and mild climate promoting all possible pleasures relating to evasion and recreation and making it to an all-season resort.

Tourism

Sousse is home to many resorts and fine sand beaches, backed by orchards and olive groves. It has the further advantages of a pleasant Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and gentle warm, wet winters, a strategic geographic location and a skilled population.

Although Sousse is associated with olive oil making, this is far from being the only industry in the city. Tourism has become a central activity, with some 1,200,000 visitors every year coming to enjoy its fine hotels and restaurants, trendy nightclubs and casinos, beaches and sports facilities, museums and the Medina (the old city).

A strip of 120 hotels with a capacity of 40,000 beds, runs from about 20 km north of town, south to a traditional downtown, and bazaar with wares directed mainly to tourists.

Statistics

• Population: 546.413 (2004)

• Altitude: 2 m

• Humidity: 69%

• Number of hospitals: (private and public) 15

• Temperatures moyennes: (mean temperatures from May to August for the last 30 years)
  • Min: 19.7 °C
  • Max: 29.1 °C
  • Average: 24.4 °C

• Rainfall average: May: 19.3 mm
  • June: 4 mm
  • July: 1.7 mm
  • August: 10.3 mm

Sights

UNESCO declared the medina of Sousse a World Heritage Site in 1988, citing among other things its almost complete intactness.

Sports

The football team of Etoile Sportive du Sahel, from Sousse, is one of the greatest clubs in Africa for having won many continental cups.

External links

• Wikitravel: Sousse
• Sousse Beach Pictures