Sfax

Looking across the Place de la République towards Sfax city hall (photographed in 2005).

The French ironclad Colbert which bombarded Sfax in 1881

Present-day Sfax was founded in AD 849 on the site of the ancient Roman town (civitas) of Taparura. The modern city has also grown to cover some other ancient settlements, most notably Thenae in its southern suburb of Thyna.

By the end of the 10th century, Sfax, had become an independent city-state. The city was conquered by Roger II of Sicily in 1148 and occupied until it was liberated in 1156 by the Almohads, and was briefly occupied by European forces again; this time by the Spanish, in the 16th century, before falling into Ottoman hands this time. Sfax became an integral base of the Barbary piracy, prompting an unsuccessful invasion by Venice in 1785.

When the Bey of Tunis signed the Bardo Treaty, in 1881, making Tunisia a protectorate, an insurrection broke out in Sfax. Six ironclads were dispatched from Toulon (Colbert, Friedland, Marengo, Trident, Revanche, Surveillante) to join the French Navy ships in Tunisian waters. In Sfax, three ironclads from the Division of the Levant were already present (Alma, Reine Blanche, La Galissonnière), together with four cannon boats.[3] Sfax was bombarded, and on 16 July the city was taken by the French after hard fighting, with 7 dead and 32 wounded for the French.[3]

During World War II, the Axis powers used the city as a major base until British forces took it on 10 April 1943. After World War II, Tunisia was returned to France, but gained independence in 1956.

Sfax – Thyna International Airport

The A1 motorway connects Sfax with Tunis. A narrow gauge railway system of SNCFT offers passenger services to Tunis and delivers phosphates and iron ore for export. Sfax is served by Sfax–Thyna International Airport and Syphax Airlines has regularly scheduled flights to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, Tripoli International Airport, and charter flights to Jeddah Airport for the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Founded in 1961, Radio Sfax broadcasts twenty hours a day[4] on MW 720 kHz/105.21 MHz.[5]

Sfax has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). Owing to its sheltered location relative to Mediterranean Sea winter storms, Sfax receives half the rainfall of Tunis and less even than the major cities of Libya (Tripoli and Benghazi). Summers, like all of North Africa, are hot and almost rainless, whilst winters are very pleasant with only light rain usual.

A 2015 astronaut photo of Sfax. Shown are the old city, part of the port, and the distinctive circular earth works of the Taparura redevelopment project.

Hadi Chaker Street

The University of Sfax includes:

• ENIS (École Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Sfax) issued a number of well-known scientists and industrialists.[12]
• ESCS (École Supérieure de Commerce de Sfax) issued a number of managers, Economy and Management researchers and young entrepreneurs.[13]
• FLSHS (Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines de Sfax) issued a number of renowned poets and prose writers.[14]
• Sfax Faculty of Medicine (Faculté de Médecine de Sfax).[15]
• ISAAS (Institut Supérieur d'Administration des Affaires de Sfax)[16]
• FSEGS (Faculté des Sciences Économiques et de Gestion de Sfax).[17]
• FSS (Faculty of Science Sfax) .[18]
• ISIMS (Institut Supérieur d'Informatique et de Multimédia de Sfax).[19]
• FDS (Faculté de Droit de Sfax)(http://www.fdsf.rnu.tn/)
• ISAMS (Institut Supérieur des Arts et Métiers de Sfax)
• IHEC (Institut des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Sfax)

• CS Sfaxien, a club of football (soccer), volleyball, basketball and rugby.
• Sfax Railway Sport
• Stade Sportif Sfaxien

• Max Azria, fashion designer
• Mamdouh Bahri, artist, composer and jazz guitarist and teacher now living in France
• Hédi Bouraoui, poet and writer now living in Canada
• Nouri Bouzid, film director
• Hamdi Braa, basketball player
• Mohamed Charfi, academic, politician, jurist and scholar
• Moncef Dhouib, director and screenwriter
• Tom Dixon, industrial designer
• Mohamed Fourati, surgeon
• Mohamed Gouaida, footballer
• Farhat Hached, trade union leader assassinated by the French government
• Mohamed Jamoussi, artist, poet, composer and famous singer
• Claude Kayat, Franco-Swedish writer and dramatist, winner of the 1997 Prix Ève Delacroix
• Mounir Laroussi, scientist, inventor
• Christian Lauba, composer
• Mansour Moalla, former Minister of Economy, economist and banker
• Georges Perec, writer
• Hatem Trabelsi, former football player for Ajax Amsterdam, Manchester City and the Tunisian national team
• Saber Rebaï, Tunisian pan-Arab singer and composer

• Fossa regia
• Sfax War Cemetery
• Sufax, a possible etymon of Sfax
• Transport in Tunisia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sfax.

• Sfax travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Sfaxonline.com
• Histoiredesfax.com
• CSS.org.tn
• Flysyphax.com