AFRICA - THIRD STOP - TUNISIA

TUNISIA

Background:

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass. Occupying this massive and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

TUNISIA

The Northernmost country in Africa, and the smallest  in its region (the Mahgreb) Tunisia also contains two of the three points in Africa closest to Europe - the closest is not in Tunisia and is opposite Gibraltar.

Historically, its existence has been an ancient but  turbulent one, due to its position and internal geography.Tunisia has a Mediterranean coastline of 1,148 Kilometres which begins running West to East before sharply turning South in one of the distinctive features of the African coastline.Nestled within this area we find the capital Tunis and also the ruins of ancient Carthage. The internal geography is notable for the including the Eastern end of the Atlas Mountains and the Northern reaches of the Sahara Desert but much of the rest of the territory is fertile soil.

The population of Tunisia is approx. 10,800,000.


We can trace the origins of Tunisia back to the Berber tribes which were the principal inhabitants.However in about the 12th Century B.C., the Phoenicians established a trading settlement on the coast, and in the 9th Century B.C. the Phoenicians and some Cypriots established the city of Carthage.  The culture and religion of the city was Phoenician.The "gods" worshipped were Baal and Tanet. Through trading and war, especially with settlements in Sicily, Carthage progressively became the most important power in the Southern Mediterranean.

This growth of Cathaginian muscle brought Carthage into conflict with Rome which viewed itself as the natural pre-eminent power in the region.The First Punic War 264 B.C. - 241 B.C. had been fought over Sicily and Corsica and was won decisively by the Romans.

Briefly - to cover a near cataclysmic period in Roman history : Carthage invaded what is now Spain in 237 B.C. Under Hamilcar Barca. But he died in 230/229 B.C.  His sons Hannibal and Hasdrubal respectively prosecuted and developed plans for the conquest of the whole of the peninsula. So strong was their situation that the Romans concluded a treaty with them, demarcating their borders of influence. In 221 B.C. Hasdrubal was assassinated  and the troops elected Hannibal to take political control as well as his military control. In 219 B.C. the people of Saguntum (Carthaginian control) appealed to Rome for protection from the Carthaginian treatment of them. ( Sounds familiar? : Danzig/Gdansk and the Nazis, and Ukraine to-day?)  This resulted in the Second Punic War 218-211 B.C. 

                                                                  HANNIBAL BARCA
On this occasion Hannibal ( and his Elephants!) crossed the Alps and invaded Italy. He repeatedly inflicted heavy to very heavy defeats on the Roman forces sent to stop him He killed 15,000 Romans at Lake Trasimene  and 50,000 (!) at Cannae. Adding depth to the offence, the Roman Armies had been led by Consuls of Rome.Rome suffered as numerous of its subject colonies abandoned their allegiance and defeats continued. But the resolute Roman character was being forged in this crucible of defeat. And persistence and desperation drove them to gradually win back what they had lost in territory and to bring Hannibal to defeat in 201 B.C. and to gain Spain as compensation for their troubles.

                        DEPICTION OF HANNIBAL'S ELEPHANTS CROSSING THE RHONE
 
Hannibal returned to Carthage - from which he had received virtually no support in his long war. His fortunes there did not recover and he was exiled in 195 B.C. and committed suicide abroad in 183/182 B.C.

There is much more to the tale but no room for us to examine it here.

                         CARTHAGO DELENDA EST -THE RUINS OF ANCIENT CARTHAGE
 
The Romans adopted the policy that " Carthage must be destroyed"( " Carthago delenda est")  proposed by 84 yrs old Cato the Elder.They conquered it in 149 B.C. They thoroughly Romanized its culture and commerce and it became a great granary for Rome. It is estimated that the region (including Tripolitania in modern Libya) was then producing 1,000,000 tonnes of cereal per annum and 25% of that was going to Rome. Beans , figs, grapes and other fruits enhanced its value to the Romans and, in due course the production and export of olive oil became substantial. The entire trade was dynamic and valuable, even down to pottery and exotic wild animals for the Roman Arenas.

In time the City became Christian as did the Empire, but it fell under the influence of the heretic Berber Bishop Donatus Magnus - from A.D. 430 to 533 the Germanic Vandals invaded the City and ruled it. At the end of that period it was re-conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire under Belisarius. But in the second half of the 7th Century the Mohammedan hordes swept all before them, and established an Arab Mohammedan rule.This was not always stable as internal Mohammedan tribal/factional hatreds ebbed and flowed. In the 12th Century the Normans of Sicily briefly regained Christian control, but they were defeated in turn by the Arab Almohad Mohammedans who drove out or forced the conversion of or killed the last Christians in Tunisia.

Such is the complexity of the situation that this did not produce stability for long, because former factional Mohammedan enemies again contested the situation. By the 14th and 15th Centuries, the Hafsid Dynasty was trading peacefully with some Christian countries. However, in the late 16th Century the coast was home to the Barbary Pirates who so bedeviled shipping in the Mediterranean.

In the early 1500s Spain took possession of a number of coastal cities. But the Ottoman Empire conquered Tunisia in 1534 restoring Mohammedan control.They carried on governance via the appointment of a Bey who in effect ruled Tunisia as an independent country. This brought Tunis into conflict with the Bey of Algiers who was in a similar independent situation.

In 1881 France conquered establishing a " Protectorate" over Tunisia in view of its unmanageable foreign debt, but left the Beys in some degree of standing until 1957.During the Second World War Nazi and Italian forces were in Tunisia in substantial numbers until the defeat suffered at the hands of the Allies  and the Axis surrender on 13th May 1943.

Tunisia gained its independence from France in 1956 and President Habib Bourgiba led a secular Government until late 1987. He was succeeded by Abidine Ben Ali a military figure who won successive elections until driven out of power in the so-called Arab Spring.He and his family were accused of massive plundering of the country's wealth via corrupt practices. The new democratically elected Government has retained the secular nature of the Government, resisting Mohammedan zealots keen to re- introduce Sharia Law which had been abolished in 1956.Tunisia's " Code of Personal Status" is regarded as one of the most progressive civil codes in the Middle East and in Mohammedan countries.

Tunisia is a member of the European Union's " European Neighbourhood Policy" which aims to develop relations with neighbouring non-member countries.

The country has moderate military forces which have stayed free of political interference. These forces have served on international U.N. deployments in a number of African countries and even in Asia.

The principal trading relationship for Tunisia is that with the European Union. Although unemployment is significant , especially among youth, the Government has been energetic and even innovative in seeking to expand the economy.


And so as I set my tired eyes resolutely West towards Algeria, and extricate myself from tiny , but history strangled Tunisia , I wonder what that relatively large country holds in store.  





 

AFRICA SECOND STOP LIBYA

Background:

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass. Occupying this massive and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

LIBYA

We continue our study of Africa, moving from last week’s subject Egypt, to the West  and into Libya. Libya lies on the coast of the Mediterranean and is bounded by Egypt in the East, Tunisia and Algeria in the West and Niger, Chad and Sudan in the South. Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa in area, and seventeenth largest in the world.

Only 2% of the territory of Libya receives sufficient rainfall for stable agriculture. Much of the remaining 98% is part of the Sahara Desert.

The population of Libya is approx.. 6,240,000. Mohammedanism is the dominant religion of the country. The languages spoken are local Arabic, Berber and Italian. There are two large cities – Tripoli with over 1,000,000 people and Benghazi . Libya has the tenth largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world. 

Since the beginning of recorded history, Libya has been occupied by the Berber people. But the country has had Phoenician Trading colonies, and later was variously ruled by the Greeks in city states, then by the Persians, the Egyptians and Greek Egyptians and then the Romans. It became a Christian nation in due course until , in the seventh Century the bloody invasion of the Mohammedans brought it under Arab Mohammedan domination. This was briefly interrupted by the actions of the Spanish and the Knights of Saint John occupying Tripoli until the Ottoman rule began in 1551. It lasted until the Italians invaded in 1911 and they were not removed until the Second World War.In 1951 Libya became an independent Kingdom, but a military coup in 1969 led eventually to the assumption of power by Muammar Gaddafi , more generally known as Colonel Gaddafi. He retained power until 2011 when a Revolution overthrew him and a democratic election led to a new Government and a rival Islamic “Government” of Tripoli.

The deposing of Gaddafi removed from the world stage one of its most colourful characters in his exotic gowns and splendid tents, but he had been a cunning survivor for a long time despite his numerous outrageous actions internationally.

   



 Colonel Gaddafi in military splendour, and entertaining none other than Vladimir Putin in a tent pitched in New York City.



In Roman times, there were extensive settlements across North Africa and the region of modern day  Libya was no exception. Modern day Tripoli gains its name for the region known as Tripolitania for the three great cities within it –Leptis Magna , Oea and Sabratha. The ruins of Leptis Magna are testimony to the greatness and modernity of that Roman city as the image shows. Much has been written about them and the sophistication of their drainage, water storage and other features. The Romans were attracted to the region because of its abundant production of grains- wheat and corn, and Olives and Olive oil and all of this readily accessible to them from Rome’s port of Ostia. The Roman settlements of North Africa became famous for not only produce , but for education and especially the education of lawyers.

                                 Leptis Magna  a small portion of the ruins


In due course it happened that Septimius Severus (ruled AD 193 – the year of the 5 Emperors -to AD 211) became Emperor and he was a native of Leptis Magna.

Reflecting on these ruins and those of a large number of other Roman cities in North Africa, one quickly realises that what seems so powerful and energetic “to-day” can swiftly descend into the rubbish bin of History under the assaults of barbarians.

It is sad to note that just as she has been in the past, Libya is surrounded by strife in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria , Niger, Chad and Sudan. Most of this strife , as within Libya itself, comes from Mohammedan zealots.

 

AFRICA THE BEGINNING : EGYPT

AFRICA OBJECT OF MY STUDY

My AFRICA begins with EGYPT

Background: 

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth

 and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass. 

Occupying this massive and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. 

Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

We begin by studying Egypt.

Set in the North Eastern corner of Africa, Egypt at once presents us with an anomaly – a significant portion of its territory –Sinai- is not in Africa but adjacent to it.

Unlike much of Africa, the recorded history of Egypt is exceptionally long and detailed by world standards, and is characterised by  super abundance of ruins, artifacts and written records. Although Egypt is largely desert, the rich fertile soil of the Nile Valley and the regularity of its annual inundation, provided the means to encourage and support a mighty civilisation thousands of years B.C. It was a civilisation that was to become the object of the keen interest of the Romans, because it held out the promise of abundant, regular grain supplies.

Egypt became familiar to Western civilisation not only through its interaction with Roman and Greek civilisation, but more importantly through its integration into the story of the Old and even the New Testaments. These associations created and kept alive a strong interest in matters Egyptian, whether it be regarding Joseph and his coat of many colours or Moses and the Exodus and the watery end of Pharaoh’s Army, or Kadesh ,and then finally, the Flight into Egypt which appealed as a  perpetual mystery as to detail. 

In the 18^th and 19^th Centuries exploration of Egyptian ruins and tombs exploded in the most unscientific way, further titillating the popular imagination. Then came the Corsican Corporal – the Emperor (self-styled) Napoleon Bonaparte  and his team of more scientific researchers and artists to record their findings. Egyptology had arrived! In 1799 the French soldier Bouchard discovered what has become known as the Rosetta Stone. This stele is rightly famous for with its triple inscription in Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Demotic Script and Ancient Greek, it provided the key to understanding ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs after Champollion perfected the translation. This in effect, unlocked the whole of millennia of Egyptian ruins and tombs and the civilisation that produced them, to our understanding. Later archaeological activities by the British and the Americans , each with their successive waves of wealth, saw the most intense levels of activity in Egypt. But no doubt the height of interest was achieved by the discovery of the still richly endowed tomb of the minor Pharaoh Tutankamen son of the “heretic” Pharaoh Akhenaten . Although the tomb had been disturbed in antiquity, it had been hastily but effectively re-packed with nearly all its treasures, sealed up and undiscovered until Howard Carter located it in 1922.

  

But the “modern” history of Egypt is something else again.

POLITICS

After a long period of relative stability under the successive Governments of Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak – all autocratic with strong military backing, the country was swept by a popular revolutionary sentiment sympathetic to the so-called Arab Spring movement. In fact the powerful Muslim Brotherhood was at work seeking to ensure that its interests benefited in the process. There was an interim Government for a year. The Muslim Brotherhood was pleased to see Muslim Mohammed Morsi elected as the first ever democratically elected Head of Government in Egypt’s long history. Their glee was short-lived when the Army forced him out promising fresh elections in the future. It is quite clear, even at the level of popular demonstrations that the country is strongly divided between Islamist and anti-Islamist opinion.

African though she is, Egypt has played a vital role in the Middle Eastern political scene following World War II and the establishment of the modern State of Israel  in 1948 by United Nations fiat. This action set off a chain reaction which continues until to-day. The action led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their ancestral homes. Their grievances and the sympathetic reaction of the surrounding Mohammedan States, including Egypt, led to many conflicts and reached a peak in the "Six Day War" of 1967 which was started by a pre-emptive strike by Israel against Egypt which was outstandingly successful and subsequently successful attacks on Jordan and Syria when they endeavoured to come to Egypt's aid. In 1978 the Camp David Accords brought a prolonged period of relative peace and Egypt and Israel became mutually wary but non- belligerent neighbours.

People

A surprisingly high proportion (91%) of the population is ethnically Egyptian – surprising given the cosmopolitan nature of much of North Africa and the Middle East. Some 923,000 Egyptians live in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, and 332,000 Egyptians live in Libya Egypt’s African neighbour to the West. In 2013 the Egyptian population was 84 Millions making the country the most populous in the Middle East and the third most populous in Africa.

Given its size and very long recorded history, Egypt is remarkable in having retained its integrity as a country through the whole time, having changed its religion three times –pagan, Christian and then in bloody conquest, Mohammedan.

Economy

The country has a reasonably diverse economy, but it must be remembered that it is heavily buttressed by United States foreign aid which in recent years has run at the rate of US 2.2 Billions per annum. Tourism has been a long term strength of the economy bringing in around US 10 Billions per annum. Egypt exports Coal – mined in Sinai, Natural Gas –of which she has large reserves, hydro electric power is generated from the great Aswan High Dam and the historic agricultural output of the Nile Valley remains a significant part of her wealth.

Summary

So much for Egypt! It was an interesting exercise, bringing together much that I always knew supplemented by research on the Internet for specific dates and numbers. The most important result, has been to fix firmly in my mind the actual geographic location of Egypt, which I "knew" but somehow never had fixed "photographically" in my memory.

Next we take a step to the West and look at neighbouring Libya - a very different kettle of fish!

Till next week!

AFRICA - THE GETTING OF KNOWLEDGE

AFRICA - IMMENSE AND DIVERSE

AFRICA - the challenge that confronts me for 2015.

As you might have read, I intend to start with Egypt , then move backwards and forwards across the Continent, country by country, learning what I can about each one, and how it relates to the whole, its present but also its past, its peoples and their religions, commerce and prospects.

I will use this map as a point of reference as we examine each country so that we have  consistency in the impression we develop.

It is an exciting, but I must say daunting project .....I hope I am not biting off more than I can chew!!

It will be a good test of my ability to use the Internet for research purposes in the most effective manner, and, as time goes by, should hone those skills quite a bit. So, I won't cheat by starting a day early....but tomorrow New Year's Day it begins -Africa starts in Egypt!

Ready for the work.

A LONG TIME BETWEEN DRINKS

  Me about three years ago before the Doctors got me.

Yes, it has been"a long time between drinks", as the saying goes. But all the medical cares of this fading year are now well behind me, and we are settling well into our fine new home. I even have a moderate sized and well-equipped "study" . So, time to get back to writing. 

To create a discipline around which other writing can re- develop, I have decided that for the New Year I will begin a systematic effort to correct a sizeable deficiency in my knowledge. Like most Australians, I have a very poor grasp on the geography of Africa. In fact, I have found that even beyond that, I have not even had a true idea of the size of Africa compared to Australia.

I want to correct that and, if you wish , you can come along with me through 2015 as I fill in the massive blank spaces in my knowledge of "Mother Africa" as the song calls her.

It has been my pleasure and privilege to actually get to know some African people, in real life and via Facebook during the last several years, and it has opened my eyes to many shortcomings in my world view, and in most Australians' relative ignorance of the giant across the Indian Ocean. 

I am looking forward keenly to learning so much from the rich history, reality, and activity of that energetic continent and her marvellous and varied people, and to correct even my stupid ideas about where various countries are on that Continent.

I would like you to come along with me, and perhaps - especially any African readers - to comment and correct any errors you believe I am  making.

My Africa

Here I am, closing in rapidly on 75 yrs of age. When I was a child, Africa was the "dark continent" of fabled literature, gradually emerging into the false light of Hollywood movies.

Here in Australia, we did not even have the steady flow of news and concerns the British had for their interests in Africa. After all, to them, we Australians were just another lot of convenient Colonials like the African settlers and their native populations. Nor did we have the continual flow of Colonial Administrators  going out and coming "home" with their tales of the lives they had led and the "knowledge" they had acquired ( or perhaps the prejudices they had formed and fed.) No, for us Africa was largely the impression we got from our Mercator Projection maps, literature and , as I say, increasingly from the false light of Hollywood movies.

So what was that all like? Well take a look at Mercator's projection of the world and it is obvious : particularly in the flattened out sphere projections our school maps provided, Australia was very nearly as big as Africa, but the truth is that Africa is about 2.5 times the size of Australia. 

Literature had tended to present Africa as an unending source of mystery and danger to the white man who carried the " burden" of opening up these strange lands to civilisation. The influence of novels , which exploded into popularity in the 1800s and early 1900s was tremendous . The works of H.Rider Haggard , Joseph Conrad and others set the tone. Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" was particularly influential. At the same time the the tale of the finding of Doctor Livingstone  caused a sensation and every child knew the reporter's greeting "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?" . The quest for the discovery of the source of the Nile - finally resolved by John Hanning Speke in 1858,  contributed to a romantic air surrounding the Continent of Africa. 

This romantic legend tended also to flourish as a result, of the very real commercial activities of the British Cecil Rhodes who was not only a mining entrepreneur , but an enthusiastic British Imperialist whose dream was to build a Cape to Cairo Railway to advance and cement British dominance over the African Continent.

Had we, children of my era, been taught about Africa in a systematic way, this Nineteenth Century preoccupation would have been more strongly founded in earlier history as we were taught it. But no, to us, Egypt was Egypt and not so much thought of as part of Africa (even the Romans were ahead of us there - Scipio Africanus for example - and of course, we were not taught why Africa (Egypt) was so important to the Romans ( grain supplies). We were not even taught systematically the importance of the early Church in North Africa with 160 Dioceses  (including Saint Augustine's Hippo)  Suffice it to say  that Mohammed wrote the Koran in A.D.625 and by A.D. 700 Catholicism in North Africa was wiped out in military slaughter.

Nor were we systematically educated about  missionary activity deeper into Africa or about slavery out of Africa and its extermination. The result was that we were left to absorb the Hollywood, therefore American, idea of slavery. That is that it was a racial, black phenomenon period. Of course that suited American political ideas as they had developed by the time of my childhood, but it did not have so much relationship to the whole history of slavery, which has more often been national based (as opposed to race) or later religion based with Christians being made slaves of Mohammedans.

So, I suppose I am saying that it is little wonder that my ideas of Africa, from my childhood became inadequately formed.

Actual contact with African people, strangely enough came to me at about 4 years of age. My Mum and my Aunt Nell were taking me to Manly Beach and we went part of the way by tram. Sitting opposite us were three American Servicemen all in uniform then proudly worn in war time , and all of them black. They very kindly and politely offered to hand me down from the height of the tram while they also helped the ladies. Well! What a surprising bit of courtesy in a time when Aussie men were painfully awkward about any display of gentility. 

                            Me to-day after the Doctors have done their best.

  I hope by now you can get some idea of the reasoning behind my enthusiasm for this project, and I hope that it will prove interesting to you also. For example it might provoke in some of my African  readers  thoughts about their actual first encounter with a white man, and how it went?

I shall give myself a short break before embarking on the project from the first week in 2015 , at the rate of one country per week, save for the tiniest , which I might deal with in the same week as a larger neighbor.  I plan to start in the North East of Africa and progress across the continent in broad bands coming back to the East each time I hit the the West Coast. Accordingly, my first country will be Egypt! A baptism of fire!