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Mahres المحرس Mahares, El Mahres | |
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Coordinates: 34°32′N10°30′E / 34.533°N 10.500°E | |
Country | ![]() |
Governorate | Sfax Governorate |
Area | |
• Total | 13 km2 (5 sq mi) |
Population (2014) | |
• Total | 15,878 [1] |
Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
Mahres (Tunisian Arabic: "placeforguard"), also known as Mahares or El Mahres, is a coastal town in Tunisia about thirty kilometers south of Sfax and 300 kilometers from Tunis. It had 15,878 inhabitants in 2014. [1]
Administratively attached to the governorate of Sfax, it became on April 1, 1918 a municipality and, after independence in 1956, the capital of a delegation whose area is estimated at 436 km.
In 412 , Bishop Valentinianus, representative of the Catholic town of Younga (Macomades Minores ), located south of present-day Mahres, attended the Council of Carthage. In addition, the city hosted a provincial council in 524.
The Byzantine fortress of Younga is the only archaeological site of its kind in the region. Its construction dates back to the 6th century. Mahrès was a coastal trading post in the Phoenician period. It played an important role in the conversion of the Berbers to Christianity during the Roman and Byzantine periods. It then experienced a brilliant Arab-Muslim period during the reign of the Aghlabids which made it a powerful bulwark against foreign invasions, in particular to prevent a possible attack from Kairouan. In the middle of the 9th century, it was the Aghlabid cadi of Sfax, Ali ibn Salem Al-Bekri appointed to his post by Imam Sahnoun, who built a new fortress in the northern part of Mahres and changed the Roman name of the city to Mahres Ali ( محرس علي ). In turn, this name was later changed to that of Al Mahrès Al Jadid ( المحرس الجديد ) and simplified to Mahrès.
The Aghlabid fortress stood For eleven centuries before being transformed in 1937, at the time of the French protectorate, by the construction of the Great Mosque of Mahres which occupies the interior while using walls of the fortress, modified in their turn, as surrounding walls.
The economy is based on the cultivation of the olive tree, the extraction of olive oil, fishing, dairy production, the agro-food industry, the furniture industry and the making of clothes. The long beach of Chaffar is the only tourist area in the governorate of Sfax, located three kilometers from the city.
The LPG plant linked to the Miskar field, which is nine kilometers north of the city, is operated by the British Gas and provides 50% of Tunisia's natural gas needs.
The Aghlabids were an Arab dynasty centered in Ifriqiya from 800 to 909 that conquered parts of Sicily, Southern Italy, and possibly Sardinia, nominally as vassals of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Aghlabids were from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim and adhered to the Mu'tazilite rationalist doctrine within Hanafi Sunni Islam, which they imposed as the state doctrine of Ifriqiya. They ruled until 909 when they were conquered by the new power of the Fatimids.
The Tunisian Sahel or more precisely the Central East Tunisia is an area of central eastern Tunisia and one of the six Tunisian regions. It stretches along the eastern shore, from Hammamet in the north to Mahdia in the south, including the governorates of Monastir, Mahdia, Sfax and Sousse. Its name derives from the Arabic word sāḥil (ساحل), meaning "shore" or "coast". The region's economy is based especially on tourism and it contains the second-biggest airport in Tunisia: Monastir Habib Bourguiba International Airport.
Sousse or Soussa is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located 140 km (87 mi) south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. Its economy is based on transport equipment, processed food, olive oil, textiles, and tourism. It is home to the Université de Sousse.
Sfax is a city in Tunisia, located 270 km (170 mi) southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD 849 on the ruins of Berber Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate, and a Mediterranean port. Sfax has a population of 330,440. Its main industries include phosphate, olive and nut processing, fishing and international trade. The city is the second-most populous in the country after the capital, Tunis.
Taparura was an ancient Berber, Punic and Roman city in the location of modern-day Sfax, Tunisia. It was a former Catholic diocese.
Sbeitla or Sufetula is a small town in west-central Tunisia. Nearby are the Byzantine ruins of Sufetula, containing the best preserved Byzantine forum temples in Tunisia. It was the entry point of the Muslim conquest of North Africa.
Mahdia Governorate is in central-eastern Tunisia, named after its largest town and administrative centre. It comprises an area of coastal relative lowland, but extends further inland than its coastal length. It is one of the twenty-four governorates (provinces). It covers an area of 2,966 km², and has a population of 410,812. Four other governorates are its neighbours - clockwise from south, Sfax, Kairouan, Sousse and Monastir Governorates.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Tunisia:
Agareb is a coastal town and commune in eastern Tunisia in the Sfax Governorate. It lies 20 kilometres from Sfax. As of 2004 it had a population of 9610.
Sakiet Ezzit is a town and commune in the Sfax Governorate, Tunisia. Attached administratively to the governorate of Sfax, it is the center of a delegation counting 72 481 inhabitants in 2006 and is a municipality with 44,886 inhabitants in 2004.2 The city itself has a population of 12 613 inhabitants. As of 2004 it had a population of 44,886.
Meknassy, sometimes spelt Maknassy, is a town and commune in the Sidi Bou Zid Governorate, Tunisia. In 2004 it had a population of 13,742. It is in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid, 120 kilometers west of Sfax, and is a small administrative center and a marketing center for agricultural produce from the surrounding area, including fruit.
Kalâa Kebira is a town and commune in the Sousse Governorate, Tunisia. As of 2004 it had a population of 45,990.
Tunisia, officially the Tunisian Republic, is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area is almost 165,000 square kilometres (64,000 sq mi), with an estimated population of just over 10.4 million. Its name is derived from the capital Tunis located in the north-east.
The Sfax medina is the medina quarter of the Tunisian city of Sfax. It was built by Aghlabid prince Abu Abbass Muhammad between 849 and 851. The medina is home to about 113,000 residents, and is dominated by the Great Mosque of Sfax.
The Kasbah of Béja is a historical citadel in the Tunisian city Béja, the Kasbah was built in the 2nd century BC and still exists till today which makes it one of oldest citadels in the region.
Ounga, also known as Younga and Jounga, is an archaeological site on the Mediterranean coast of Tunisia, located 45 km (28 mi) south of Sfax along the Mediterranean coast. The area is also known for its oil fields.
Sidi Khelifa is a Tunisian village located near the town of Bouficha on the Mediterranean coastal plain, about 100 kilometers south of Tunis.
Kasbah of Sfax is a kasbah, an Islamic desert fortress, located in the southwestern corner of the ancient city of Sfax. It was used for different purposes throughout the history: it was first a control tower built by the Aghlabids on the coast, then the seat of the municipal government, and then the main army barracks. Its construction was preceded by the deployment of the wall and the medina quarter. Today it serves as a museum of traditional architecture.
The Great Mosque of Sfax was the most important mosque in the old city of Sfax, Tunisia. It was initially built towards the mid-9th century under the rule of the Aghlabid dynasty, a vassal state of the Abbasid Caliphate. The mosque was the urban and religious heart of the city and it underwent several major modifications in later periods. Architecturally, it is notable for its minaret and its unusually decorated eastern façade.
Aghlabid architecture dates to the rule of the Aghlabid dynasty in Ifriqiya during the 9th century and the beginning of the 10th century. The dynasty ruled nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliphs, with which they shared many political and cultural connections. Their architecture was heavily influenced by older antique architecture in the region as well as by contemporary Abbasid architecture in the east. The Aghlabid period is also distinguished by a relatively large number of monuments that have survived to the present day, a situation unusual for early Islamic architecture. One of the most important monuments of this period, the Great Mosque of Kairouan, was a model for mosque architecture in the region. It features one of the oldest minarets and contains one of the oldest surviving mihrabs in Islamic architecture.