Sousse - History, City assets, Tourism, Statistics, Sights, Sister Cities, Sports

35°50N 10°38E, pop (2000e) 109 000. Port and capital of Sousse governorate, NE Tunisia, 115 km/71 mi SE of Tunis; founded by the Phoenicians, 9th-c BC; destroyed by the Vandals, AD 434; railway; tourism, crafts, clothing, ceramics, carpets; Mosque Zakak, the Great Mosque (850), Hanafite Mosque, Ribat fortress (9th-c); festival of music and popular arts (Apr–May), Aoussou Festival (Jul–Aug).

Sousse (Arabic سوسة Susa), is a city of Tunisia. Located 140 km south of Tunis, the city has 220,000 inhabitants (2003 estimate).

History

In the 11th century B.C., the Phoenicians founded Hadrumetum.

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

In the 7th century A.D.

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.

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.

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 riches since Antiquity.

Tourism

Sousse is home to many resorts and fine sand beaches, backed by orchards and olive groves.

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: 220,000 inhabitants (2003 estimate) 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.

Sister Cities

Miami, USA Quebec City, Canada

Sports

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