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Tunisia
Tunisia
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100Mil BC |
Spinosaurus, a 55 foot, 8 ton dinosaur with crocodile-like jaws lived during this time in Argentina, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria. Links: Algeria, Argentina, Morocco, Dinosaur, Tunisia, HistoryBC 
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202 BC |
Roman forces under Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal of Carthage on the Plains of Zama in northern Tunisia. Links: Carthage, Romans, Tunisia, HistoryBC
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1535 |
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V led a naval expedition to Tunis against Barbarossa. The foray proved successful, but Barbarossa escaped and continued to fight. Links: Holy Roman Empire, Tunisia
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1798 Mar 26 |
Tunis, under the rule of Bey Hamuda Pasha, signed a treaty of peace and friendship with the US following negotiations with William Eaton. The American Revolutionary War veteran had been recently appointed consul to the North African kingdom. Links: USA, Tunisia
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1800 Jan 10 |
The US Senate ratified a peace treaty with Tunis. Links: USA, Tunisia
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1805 Apr 27 |
US navy ships began to bombard the Tripoli port of Derna. Mercenaries gathered in Egypt and a small contingent of US Marines under former Tunis consul William Eaton attacked Tripoli and captured the city of Derna [later part of Libya]. Links: Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Tripoli
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1815 Aug 5 |
A peace treaty with Tripoli, which followed treaties with Algeria (Jun 30) and Tunis (Aug 28), brought an end to the Barbary Wars. Commodores Stephen Decatur and William Bainbridge had conducted successful operations against the Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. Links: Algeria, USA, Libya, Tunisia, Tripoli
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1942 Nov |
German troops arrived in Tunisia. The nation was home to some 100,000 Jews at the time. The Germans imposed anti-Semitic policies that included fines, forcing Jews to wear Star of David badges and confiscating property. More than 5,000 Jews were sent to forced labor camps, where 46 are known to have died. About 160 Tunisian Jews in France were sent to European death camps. Links: Germany, Jews, Tunisia
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1943 Apr 19 1943 Apr 20 |
Lance Sgt. Haane Manahi (d.1987) of New Zealand performed gallant actions against overwhelming odds in the bloody battle for Takrouna, a fortified citadel in Tunisia, North Africa. In 2007 the Maori trooper was posthumously honored he 64 years after he was denied a top gallantry award despite a commendation signed by four commanding generals. Links: New Zealand, Tunisia
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1943 May 12 |
The Axis forces in Tunisia and all of North Africa surrendered. Links: Germany, Africa, Tunisia
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1943 |
In Tunisia Khaled Abdelwahhab hid a group of Jews on his farm outside Mahdia, saving them from the Nazi troops occupying the North African nation. In 2007 Abdelwahhab became the first Arab to be nominated for recognition as "Righteous Among the Nations," an honor bestowed on non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from Nazi persecution. Links: Germany, Israel, Jews, Tunisia
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1970 Sep 27 |
A cease-fire accord was signed in Cairo between the Jordanian army and Palestinian guerrillas by King Hussein and Yasser Arafat brokered by the Arab peace committee headed by Bahi Ladgham of Tunisia. Links: Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia
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1977 Sep 10 |
Convicted murderer Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant, became the last person to date to be executed by the guillotine in France. Links: France, Murder, Tunisia
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1982 Aug 30 |
Palestinian Liberation Organization left Beirut, Lebanon, and moved to Tunis, Tunisia. Links: Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia
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1985 Aug 21 |
Tunisia expelled 253 Libyans in apparent retaliation for Libya’s expulsion of over 20,000 Tunisian workers in recent weeks. Links: Libya, Tunisia
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1987 Nov 7 |
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali became president of Tunisia after doctors declared Habib Bourguiba medically unfit to govern. Mr. Ben Ali led a peaceful coup that ended the 30 year rule of Habib Bourguiba. "The Tunisians are Sunni Muslims and deny polygamy, admit abortion, and abjure the veil." Links: Tunisia
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1988 Apr 16 |
Abu Jihad, [Khalil al-Wazzir], PLO-leader, was murdered by Israeli assassins in Tunisia. They left the chief strategist of the Palestinian uprising with 170 bullets in his body. The Palestine Liberation Organization accused Israel of assassinating al-Wazir, a top PLO military figure. Palestinians reacted angrily, and at least 14 were shot and killed by Israeli troops during clashes in the occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank. Links: Israel, Palestine, Tunisia
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1988 Dec 15 |
U.S. Ambassador Robert H. Pelletreau Jr. telephoned the PLO's headquarters in Tunisia, one day after President Reagan authorized direct talks. Links: USA, Palestine, Tunisia, ReaganR
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1989 |
The Arab Maghreb Union was created to encourage free trade between Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. It failed to hold summit meetings after 1994. Links: Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia
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1990 |
The Europe and North Africa group formed. It gathered leaders from North Africa — Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania and Libya — with leaders from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Malta. Links: Algeria, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Malta, Libya, Africa, Mauritania, Tunisia
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1999 Mar 26 |
Hillary Clinton continued her 12-day African tour with a speech in Tunis at a women's rights conference. Links: USA, Tunisia
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1999 Oct 25 |
In Tunisia Pres. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali won a 3rd term in office with over 99% of the vote. It was the nation's first multiparty presidential vote. Links: Tunisia
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2000 Jan 19 |
Bettino Craxi (65), former 2-term Italian premier, died in Tunisia. He had fled Italy in 1994 to escape a corruption jail sentence. Links: Italy, Tunisia
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2000 Apr 6 |
In Tunisia Habib Bourguiba former president and independence leader, died at age 96. Links: Tunisia
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2000 May 31 |
In Luxembourg Neji Bejaoui, an unemployed Tunisian immigrant, took 37 chil-dren and 3 teachers hostage in Wasserbillig. Police posing as journalists shot and wounded the hostage-taker after a 30-hour standoff. No one else was injured. Links: Luxembourg, Tunisia, Migrant
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2002 Apr 11 |
In Tunisia a gas tanker truck crashed into the wall of a El Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba and killed 14 Germans, 6 Tunisians and a Frenchman. The government at first called it an accident. Later evidence indicated that it was an act of terrorism. Nizar Nawar (24), a Tunisian citizen who had studied in Canada, was the driver. Al Qaeda later claimed responsibility. In 2006 a Spanish court sentenced two men to a total of 10 years in prison for their part in a suicide bombing. In 2006 Nawar’s uncle, Belgacem Nawar (44), was convicted in Tunis and sentenced to years in prison for aiding in the attack. Links: Spain, France, Germany, Suicide, al-Qaida, Tunisia
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2002 May 7 |
An EgyptAir Boeing 737 with 62 people crashed in bad weather near Tunis. 14 people were killed. Links: Air Crash, Egypt, Tunisia
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2002 May 18 |
The pan-Arab newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat quoted Abdel Azeem al-Muhajir, a senior al Qaeda leader, that a strike against the US was imminent and that the recent attack in Tunisia was its work. Links: USA, al-Qaida, Tunisia
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2002 Sep 2 |
Tunisia's highest court upheld jail terms against opposition leader Hamma Hammami, head of the outlawed Communist Workers Party, and two officials of his political party. Links: Tunisia
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2003 Jun 20 |
A boat carrying some 250 people toward Italy sank off the Tunisian coast, killing at least 50 people. The boat's occupants were all thought to be illegal immigrants. Links: Tunisia
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2003 Jun 22 |
Greece seized a Comoros-flagged cargo ship that wandered the Mediterranean Sea with 750 tons of explosives on board. The Baltic Sky set off from Gabes, Tunisia, last month with the explosives and 8,000 detonators and fuses destined for Sudan. Links: Greece, Sudan, Ship, Tunisia, Comoros
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2003 Sep 30 |
Eighteen accused al-Qaida sympathizers were convicted in Belgium's biggest terrorism trial. Nizar Trabelsi of Tunisia, who once played professional soccer in Germany, received the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison from a court that also convicted 17 other men and acquitted five others. Links: Belgium, al-Qaida, Tunisia
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2003 Dec 5 |
In Tunisia an informal, two-day summit brought leaders from five southern European countries together with five of their counterparts from across the Mediterranean. Links: Tunisia
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2003 Dec 6 |
The Europe and North Africa summit ended a 2-day meeting in Tunisia. The group, formed in 1990, gathered leaders from North Africa — Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania and Libya — with leaders from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Malta. Links: Algeria, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Malta, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia
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2003 |
The African Development (AfDB) fled its home in the Ivory Coast and set up operations in Tunisia. Links: Ivory Coast, Africa, Tunisia, Banking
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2004 Feb 18 |
President Bush praised social progress in Tunisia and welcomed its leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, as a partner in the fight against terrorism while also urging political reforms in the moderate Muslim nation in North African nation. Links: USA, Tunisia, BushGW
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2004 Apr 3 |
In Spain Sarhane Abdelmajid Fakhet (35), a Tunisian national and the alleged ringleader of last month's train bombings in Madrid, was among 5 suspects who blew themselves up as police raided their apartment. Links: Spain, Tunisia
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2004 May 22 |
An Arab League summit met for a 2-day session in Tunis. 8 Arab leaders, including Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, failed to show up and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi walked out on the 1st day. Links: Libya, Arab League, Tunisia
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2004 May 23 |
In Tunisia Arab leaders concluded a 2-day summit and committed their countries to political reforms. Links: Arab League, Tunisia
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2004 Jul 17 |
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie proposed a defense partnership between 3 North African countries, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia -- and four southern European countries, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, preferably at defense minister level. Links: Algeria, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Morocco, Tunisia
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2004 Oct 3 |
Twenty-two would-be immigrants drowned and 42 were missing after a boat that was to have carried them across the Mediterranean broke up and sank off the Tunisian coast. Links: Tunisia
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2005 Aug 6 |
A Tunis Air jet carrying 35 passengers went down in the sea off the Sicilian coast, and rescuers were on their way. 16 people were killed, while 23 survived. A bad fuel gauge on the Tuninter plane caused the crash. On March 23, 2009, the Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, was sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court along with his co-pilot. Another five employees of Tuninter, a subsidiary of Tunisair, were sentenced to between 8 and 9 years in jail. Links: Air Crash, Sicily, Tunisia
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2005 Oct 18 |
In Tunisia 8 prominent opponents of the government went on a hunger strike ahead of a world summit on information in Tunis. They called for freedom of the press and of association and want Tunisia’s 600-odd political prisoners to be freed. Links: Tunisia
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2005 Nov 16 |
A UN technology summit opened in Tunisia after an 11th-hour agreement that leaves the United States with ultimate oversight of the main computers that direct the Internet's flow of information, commerce and dissent. Links: UN, Technology, Internet, Tunisia
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2006 Feb 10 |
In Sicily NATO defense ministers sought to calm Islamic anger over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad at a counterterrorism meeting with Arab countries including Israel, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Mauritania. Links: Algeria, NATO, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Sicily, Jordan, Mauritania, Tunisia
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2006 Feb 11 |
In Tunis US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and leaders of Tunisia pledged to build closer military ties to help combat Islamic extremism. Links: USA, Tunisia
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2007 Jan 3 |
In Tunisia at least 14 people, including two security forces, were killed in the shootout in Soliman, 25 miles south of the capital, Tunis. Fifteen people were arrested. On Jan 12 the interior minister said nearly 30 Islamic extremists involved in a deadly gunbattle with police had blueprints of foreign embassies and documents naming foreign envoys. Links: Tunisia
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2007 Apr 30 |
In southern Tunisia a stampede at an open-air concert by stars of the Arab version of "American Idol" killed seven young people and injured 32. Links: Pop&Rock, Tunisia
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2007 May 14 |
In Tunisia Sfax port officials said the Tunisian coastguard had rescued 35 African would-be immigrants who were trying to sail to Italy from the Libyan coast. More than 1,000 people have landed on Spanish or Italian territory since May 10. Links: Italy, Spain, Africa, Tunisia
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2007 Jun 9 |
In Bosnia Karray Kamel bin Ali, alias Abu Hamza, Tunisian-born radical Islamist, was arrested near Zenica. This was several hours after he and possibly three or four others attacked a house owned by Zijad Kovac. 3 family members were wounded. Links: Bosnia, Tunisia
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2007 Jun 19 |
The US announced the transfer of six Guantanamo Bay prisoners back to their home countries, including one who, according to his lawyers, now may face abuse in Tunisia for nonviolent political activities. 4 men returned to Yemen and two to Tunisia. Links: USA, Yemen, Tunisia, Gitmo
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2007 Jun |
Italian officials broke up a terrorist ring with the arrest of four people, three in Milan and one in London, after examining financial records showing a steady transfer of funds from Tunisia allegedly used to recruit Islamic extremists and send them to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Links: Italy, Tunisia
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2007 Jul 6 |
EU officials said they have asked Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia to join patrols of Europe's border control agency in a bid to stop massive clandestine immigration. Links: Algeria, EU, Morocco, Tunisia
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2007 Nov 15 |
A Tunisian court convicted a former prisoner at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on terror charges. Abdullah Bin Omar, a Tunisian citizen who spent five years at the detention facility in Cuba, was released in June. Links: Tunisia, Gitmo
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2007 Nov |
Tunisia blocked access to popular video-sharing sites YouTube and DailyMotion, which both carried material about Tunisian political prisoners. Tunisian activists and allies responded by linking videos about civil liberties to the image of Tunisia’s presidential palace in Google Earth. Links: Internet, Tunisia
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2008 Jan 7 |
The Tunis-based Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization said nearly one in 3 people in the Arab world is illiterate, including nearly half of all women in the region. Links: Women, Arab, Tunisia, Education
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2008 Feb 22 |
In Tunisia 2 Austrian tourists were kidnapped. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa later claimed responsibility and warned western tourists to stay away. The 2 tourists were released on October 31. Links: Austria, Tunisia
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2008 Jul 18 |
In Tunisia 2 officials and three others were convicted of plotting terror attacks and to overthrow the government. Links: Tunisia
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2008 Aug 23 |
A Tunisian court convicted 13 Islamic militants on charges linked to plots to carry out attacks in the north African country. 6 more were convicted on Aug 26 for establishing a military camp in Tunisia's northeastern Kef region designed to train fighters to be sent to Iraq. Links: Tunisia
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2008 Oct 30 |
Scientists reported that 1 in 17 men living on the coasts of North Africa and southern europe may have a Phoenician direct male line ancestor. Evidence was based on Y-chromosomes collected in Cyprus, Malta, Morocco, the West Bank, Syria and Tunisia. Links: Cyprus, Malta, Palestine, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia
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