Djerba
An island off the southeast coast of Tunisia, near the Libyan border.
The island of Djerba (Jarba) is 198 square miles (514 sq km), shaped like a molar tooth, and connected to the mainland of Tunisia on the southeast by a ferry at Adjim and on the southwest by a bridge that dates from the Roman Empire. Between Djerba and the mainland is the shallow inland sea of Bou Grara. The island's elevation is low - barely 188 feet (54 m) above sea level at its highest point - and is surrounded by shallow beaches of fine sand and palm trees, especially in the northeast. The principal population center is Houmt-Souk, a market and fishing port on the north coast. Since Tunisian independence in 1956, dozens of tourist hotels and an airport have been built on Djerba.
Djerba is reputed to be the island of the lotus eaters in Homer's Odyssey. Djerba's early history is one of contact with many peoples - Berbers, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, and others. Companions of the prophet Muhammad brought the Arabic language and religion of Islam to Djerba in 665 C.E. Berber Kharijites, considered heretics by many orthodox Muslims, took refuge in southern Djerba after the Almohads expelled them from western Algeria. Since then the southern part of the island has tended to be Berber and Kharijite, the northeast Arab and Malekite, and the center mixed in population.
During the Middle Ages, Djerba was the scene of continuous persecutions, conquests, revolts, recon-quests, civil wars, and plagues. Spaniards, Sicilians, Hafsids, Corsairs, and Ottoman Turks controlled the island at various times. In the eighteenth century, Tunis eventually won the contest with Tripoli for jurisdiction under the Ottoman Empire over Djerba. During the French protectorate, Djerba was under military administration from 1881 to 1890, then French civil administration until independence in 1956. The island is today part of the Tunisian Governorship of Medenine, and its population is a mix of Arab and Berber, plus elements of black African, Turkish, and Maltese origin.
The center and southeast of Djerba and portions of the nearby mainland are among the rare areas of Tunisia where a Berber language is spoken, although it is highly mixed with Arabic vocabulary. According to Arab historian Ibn Khaldun (1332 - 1406) "Djerba" originally referred to a branch of the Lemata Berbers.
Djerba is home to one of the few remaining Jewish communities in North Africa, the towns of Hara Sghira and Hara Kebira. According to local tradition, the Jewish community of Djerba dates from after the Babylonian captivity in 586 B .C.E.; others claim that Judeo-Berbers migrated to the island in the late eighth century C.E., following the Arab conquest of North Africa. The town of Hara Sghira is the site of the Ghriba - a Jewish synagogue, shrine, and site of a popular annual pilgrimage.
Djerba has low and irregular rainfall - averaging 8 inches (21 cm) per year - and high humidity. The only freshwater sources on the island are a few wells in the northeast and rainwater captured by cisterns. This limits local agriculture to date palms of mediocre quality, olive trees, fruit trees, and some grains and legumes.
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the pressures of increasing population on this ecologically marginal island have gradually forced people out of the traditional occupations of agriculture, fishing, weaving, and pottery-marking. As the island's population increased from 31,800 in 1906 to 62,445 in 1956 to more than 82,000 in 1991, Djerbians began to rotate between the island and the mainland as shopkeepers. In reaction to anti-commercial policies of the Ben Salah government of the 1960s, Djerbians increasingly turned to international migration, and many of them have become successful shopkeepers and businessmen in the Paris area. The 2002 population of Djerba was estimated to have decreased to 60,300.
— LAURENCE MICHALAK
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Djerba
For the Persian Gulf bagpipe, see jirba.
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| Native name: Girba جربة | |
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| Geography | |
| Location | Gulf of Gabès |
| Area | 514 km2 (198.5 sq mi) |
| Country | |
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Tunisia
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| Largest city | Houmt Souk (pop. 65,000) |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 139,544 (as of 2004 Census) |
| Density | 271.5 /km2 (703.2 /sq mi) |
| Ethnic groups | Berber, Arabs, Jews and black African |
Djerba (Arabic: جربة Ǧirba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah,[1] is, at 514 km², the largest island of North Africa, located in the Gulf of Gabes, off the coast of Tunisia.
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Description
Djerba has a mild climate and a well cultivated soil. Its largest city is Houmt-Souk, with a population of around 65,000. The island is a popular tourist destination, particularly with French, German and Italian tourists, and is known for its beautiful beaches and dramatic sunsets. It is one of the few remaining places in Tunisia where a Berber language is still spoken. Another factor drawing some tourists to Djerba is the 1977 location of the Mos Eisley exterior scenes in the first Star Wars movie, filmed in the town of Ajim.
Djerba is noted as a center of the Islamic sect Al-Ibadhiyah and is also noted for its Jewish minority, which has dwelt on the island for more than 2,500 years, although the Jewish population has declined due to emigration to Israel and France since 1967. Most of the Djerba Jews are Cohanim, descendants of the priestly caste in Judaism, and have maintained this identity for centuries. The El Ghriba synagogue on Djerba is over 2,000 years old and is as such the oldest and one of the most famous in the world.
Djerba also has a sizeable minority of Maltese Catholics, who established themselves on the island as sponge-fishers.
History
Legend has it that Djerba was the island of the Lotus-Eaters where Odysseus stranded on his voyage through the Mediterranean.
The island, called Meninx until the third century AD, included three principal towns. One of these, whose modern name is Būrgū, is found near Midoun in the center of the island. The remains of a large town dating from the fourth century BC are signalled by high mounds and dense pottery, as well as by a major tomb, possibly that of a member of the Numidian royal family. Another city, on the southeast coast of the island at Meninx, was a major producer of murex dye, cited by Pliny the Elder as second only to Tyre in this respect; substantial amounts of coloured marble testify to its wealth. In the third century the same town appears to have been called Girba, whence the present name of the island. At least two bishops of Girba are known, Monnulus and Vincent, who assisted at the Councils of Carthage in 255 and 525 (Toulotte, Géographie de l'Afrique chrétienne Proconsulaire, Paris, 1892, pp. 353 and 380). Their cathedral can be identified with ruins to the southwest of Meninx. A third important town, on the south coast near the modern pottery village of Guellala; was probably the ancient Haribus. The island was densely inhabited in the Roman and Byzantine periods, and probably imported much of the grain consumed by its inhabitants. A collapse can be seen after 650 A.D., when the Justinianic plague may have struck the port of Meninx.
During the Middle Ages, it was occupied by members of the Kharejite sect, known as the Ibadites. The Christians of Sicily and Aragon disputed its possession with the Ibadites of the island. Remains from this period include numerous small mosques dating as early as the twelfth century, as well as two substantial forts. The island was controlled twice by the Norman Kingdom of Sicily: in *1135 - 1158 and in *1284 - 1333. During the second of these periods it was organised as a feudal lordship, with the following Lords of Jerba: 1284 - 1305 Roger I, 1305–1307 and 1307 - 1310 Roger II (twice), 1310 Charles, 1310 Francis-Roger III; there were also royal governors, partially overlapping with the lordship terms: c.1305 - 1308 Simon de Montolieu, 1308 - 1315 Raymond Montaner.
In 1513, after three years in exile in Rome, the Fregosi family returned to Genoa, Ottaviano was elected Doge, and his brother Federigo Fregosi (archbishop, later cardinal), having become his chief counsellor, was placed at the head of the army, and defended the republic against internal dangers (revolts of the Adorni and the Fieschi) and external dangers, notably suppression of the Barbary piracy: Cortogoli, a corsair from Tunis, blockaded the coast with a squadron, and within a few days had captured eighteen merchantmen; being given the command of the Genoese fleet, in which Andrea Doria was serving, Federigo surprised Cortogoli before Bizerta, effected a descent on the island of Djerba and returned to Genoa with great booty.
It was also twice occupied by Spain: 1521 - 1524 & 1551 - 31 July 1560; again there were governors: 1521 - 1524 ..., 1560 Giovanni Andrea Doria. The island was temporarily the base of the Turkish corsair and admiral Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha in the 16th century. On May 14, 1560, the Ottoman fleet under the command of Piyale Pasha and Turgut Reis severely defeated the Holy League of Philip II at the Battle of Djerba. Djerba belonged to the Ottoman regency of Tunis until 1881, subsequently under the French colonial protectorate, which became the modern republic of Tunisia.
An archaeological field survey of Jerba, carried out under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania, the American Academy in Rome and the Tunisian Instiut National du Patrimoine between 1995 and 2000, revealed over 400 archaeological sites, including many Punic and Roman villas.[2]
In the Ghriba synagogue bombing on April 11, 2002, a truck full of explosives was detonated close to the famous synagogue, killing 21 people (14 German tourists, 5 Tunisians and 2 Frenchmen). Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. For a time tourists ceased visiting Djerba, but normal activity has since resumed.
Administration and population
The island comprises three of the delegations within the Tunisian Département of Médenine. Named after the three towns which form their administrative centres, these delegations (with their 2004 Census populations in brackets) are Djerba Houmt Souk (64,919), Djerba Midoun (50,459) and Djerba Ajim (24,166) - the island's population at the Census thus totalling 139,544.
Gallery
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Djerba topographic map.
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Djerba satellite view.
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Historic map of Djerba by Piri Reis.
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Sunset on Djerba.
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Coffeehouse.
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Bassi Mosque.
See also
- Menachem Mazuz, former Israeli Attorney General, born on this island
- Djerba-Zarzis Airport
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ ^ Transliteration from http://www.uconv.com/ar.htm
- ^ E. Fentress, A. Drine and R. Holod, eds. An Island through Time: Jerba Studies vol 1. The Punic and Roman Periods. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary series 71,2009.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Djerba |
- Girba & Federigo Fregoso
- Ajim on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars Wiki
- Djerba touristic and social portal
- Russian site about Djerba with pictures and maps
- Cursory Mos Eisley location facts – From StarWars.com
- WorldStatesmen - Tunisia
- fansite about star wars tunisian locations
- Djerba Tourisme : Djerba's tourism website
- Djerba's lovers association
- Djerba Travel Portal
Coordinates: 33°47′N 10°53′E / 33.783°N 10.883°E
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Gale Encyclopedia of the Mideast & N. Africa
Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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