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Tunis is the capital and largest city in Tunisia. It is
situated 10km inland from the Gulf of Tunis on the shores
of a lake linked to the Mediterranean Sea. An ancient city
whose history goes back to Punic times, Tunis flourished
as part of the Roman Empire, and after the destruction of
Carthode in the 7th century it became the second city in
Afriqiya, a province of the Arab Empire.
In the 16th century under Ottoman rule, Tunis became the
center of the Barbary Coast, a base for piracy against European
ships in the Mediterranean. Today it is a city of contrasts
between the ancient Medina and the modern metropolis that
holds an interesting mixture of European North African cultures.
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