MONASTIR AND SUSA,al-munastîr, South...

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Vintage-Views Antique Prints and Maps :: Antique Maps :: Africa :: Northwest Africa :: Elisee Reclus Geographical Maps of North West Africa :: MONASTIR AND SUSA,al-munastîr, South of Sousse, In the Sahel area

MONASTIR AND SUSA,al-munastîr, South of Sousse, In the Sahel area

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Monastir (Arabic al-munastîr, from Latin monasterium) (20 km south of Sousse ; 162 km south of Tunis), is a city on the central shore of Tunisia, in the Sahel area.Monastir was founded on the ruins of the Punic-Roman city of Ruspina. The city features a well preserved Ribat that was used to scan the sea for hostile ships. Several ulema came to stay to the Ribat of this peaceful city for contemplation. Sousse (ArabicSusa; (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. 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. 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.

Published for Elisee Reclus Universal Geography

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SKU	0823k5-fig47b
Quantity in stock	1 item(s) available
Price:	US$15.00

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