Tunisia [antikvár]

Tunisia Located between the Mediterranean's two basins in the eastern part of the Maghreb in Northern Africa, Tunisia opens amply to the sea with 1300 kilometers of coastline. The sea's influence is felt both climatically as well as so- cially, favoring the interaction with other peoples. Equally subject to the effects of the Sahara Desert in the south, Tunisia remains the least desert-like of its immediate neighbors, Libya and Algeria. With one third of its area having an altitude of over 200 meters, Tunisia is a relative- ly low-lying country with a mountain chain occupying the northern half of the country near the sea; its mounts (Dje- bel) Khemir, Mogod, and Nefza have their highest point at 1212 meters above sea level. Another more important and higher chain crosses the country from the north to the western center with Mount Chaambi having its peak at 1544 meters. Dividing these chains is the Medjerda River which, nothwithstanding its irregularity, remains the only waterway in the country meriting such a name. Climate, regions, population Intense heat and drought in the summer and a certain moderation and humidity in the winter characterize a cli- mate that is subject to both the Mediterranean Sea and to the Sahara Desert. The annual median rainfall is 1000 mm. in the north and less than 200 mm in the center and south, with variations relative to the proximity to the coast. Such climatic data combined with those due to the moun- tainous zones, are at the origin of the instability that has always existed between the northerncoastal zone and the center, west and the south. The former, favorable to agri- culture, continues to concentrate the wealthier portion of the population and the more heavily populated cities such as Bizerta, Tunis, Sousse, and Sfax. The cultivation of grains is practiced in the rich flood plains of Mateur and Beja, while olives are grown in the Sahel. In the other cen- tral regions along the Algerian border and in the south, agriculture is more dependent on the variations in the fer- tility of the land and the quantity of rainfall. The reality of Tunisia's agricultural production, excluding date produc- tion in the Jerid region as well as irrigated and green- house production, runs from weak to poor. The population which numbered 8.600.000 according to the 1994 census, is still growing despite recent progress in birth control. It is a youthful population, with half under the age of 20.