B.R. 523 (Restricted)

GROGRAPHICAL HANDBOOK SERIES

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

TUNISIA

FEBRUARY 1945

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DIVISION PORTS

pp.266-272

SFAX

SFAX (Figs. 52, 53; Photos. 110, 160-164, 184, 190, 218) Lat. 34° 44' N., long. 10° 46' E. Population 43,333 (8,661 Europeans). Altitude 7 feet. Chief town of a region, a civil control, and a caidat. Electricity (3-phase, 110/190 and 400/230). Hospitals (1 civil and military combined, 1 military). Meteorological station. Hotels (9). Garages (9).

Sfax ( facous or asfaxis, 'cucumbers') is the second town of and, from the point of view of tonnage, the chief port. It stands on the east coast opposite the Îles Kerkenna, about midway between Ras Sidi Mansour and Ras , and is 82 miles south of , 66 miles south-south-west of , and 86 miles north-west of Gabès by road. Behind the town a plain extends for about 9 miles to the foot of some hills between 300 and 500 feet high. The cultivated Sahel, mostly planted with olives, extends inland from Sfax. The town, which consists of an old native town with modern European quarters, is conspicuous from the sea because of its white buildings dominated by the tall minaret of the Great Mosque and the towers of the Roman , and of some large sheds and an overhead transporter in the port area. Sfax roadstead affords anchorage completely sheltered from all winds and with good holding-ground, although when a fresh breeze is blowing it is advisable to veer out a fair length of chain. The spring tidal range in the port of Sfax is 5 ¼ feet, an unusually large range for the Mediterranean.

History Sfax was first a Carthaginian settlement and then the Roman town of ; some of its building materials were used later in the construction of the Kasba and mosques in the present town, and there are various ruins north of the town. In the ninth and tenth centuries Sfax prospered, particularly under the Aghlabites, and was famous for the manufacture of olive-oil and cloth and as a fishing-centre. During the Hilalian invasion the district formed a small independent state under Arab protection from 1095 to 1099. Sfax was taken by the Normans from Sicily under Roger in 1148, but was recaptured by the Almohad leader Abd el Moumen in 1159. The Spanish occupied it for a short period in the sixteenth century. Sfax has been bombarded on five occasions, the last being in July 1881 when the French under Admiral Garnault overcame all resistance to their occupation in two days; the town was then pillaged by [267] the troops and later made to pay an indemnity equivalent to about a quarter of a million pounds. At the time of the French occupation the only anchorage was 2 miles from the shore, but in 1884 a wooden jetty about 165 feet long for the loading of esparto grass was built, a short distance south of the present railway station. It was linked to the sea by a channel 1,860 yards long. The present harbour was constructed mainly between 1895 and 1897 by the Compagnie des Ports de , Sousse, et Sfax, which still manages the port on behalf of the Tunisian Government: during building operations various Roman and later ruins were discovered. Further extensions to the harbour were undertaken in 1907 and 1921, and in recent years a considerable area of land in the neighbourhood of the port has been reclaimed and developed.

Description of Town The native town or Medina is some distance north-west of the port, from which it is separated by the European and business quarter. It covers an area some 660 by 430 yards and consists of four quarters, , el Mahdia, er Rekka, and el Hissar. The whole area is surrounded by walls with square and round towers, parts dating from the ninth century (Photo. 162): three of the gates are still used, the Bab Diwan, the main gate, on the south- east giving access to the European town, the Bab Djebli on the north-west, and the Bab Djedid below the Kasba, which occupies the south-western corner of the town. Until 1832 no Europeans were allowed in the native town, which still shows little change: its narrow and dirty streets and crowded souks make Sfax the most interesting town in Tunisia after Tunis and . Many of the mosques, zaouias, and private houses are good examples of the native art of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though some are considerably older; the Great Mosque, with its lofty minaret, for example, was built in 849 and rebuilt in 981, with modifications during the eighteenth century. The European town really consists of two parts, the original business area immediately south-east of the Bab Diwan, and the more recent quarter built on three sides of this area, partly on land reclaimed from the sea, and planned on a rectilinear pattern with wide and modern streets, mostly under the direction of the architect Guy. These quarters include nearly all the public buildings such as the Town Hall, where is a small museum containing Roman antiquities from Thyna (the ancient Thaenae), about 7 ½ miles to the south on the [268] Gabès road. The residential area has also spread north of the native town into the suburb of Moulinville, which consists mainly of French villas, and west to Picville, the home of many of the Maltese, Greeks, and lower-class Italians.

The great Regional Hospital, a combined civil and military hospital serving central and southern Tunisia, is three-quarters of a mile north-west of the native town. South- west of it beyond the suburb of Picville are some public gardens, including a Jardin d'Essai, in which are two large reservoirs. There are also more than 500 bottle-shaped reservoirs called nasrias, gifts to the town by wealthy inhabitants, in an area due north of the Bab Djebli. To the north-east of the old town are military barracks, beyond which is a large open space, 660 by 330 yards, known as the polo ground and before the present war used as an emergency landing-ground. [269] Beyond the ring of immediate suburbs there extends a large area covered by well- kept gardens with fruit-trees and vines, each with a fairly large house or bordj (Photo. 160). Still farther from the centre of Sfax are the olive-groves which extend continuously for many miles inland. Those nearest to the town were established early m the nineteenth century and most of them are badly set out and comparatively unproductive: but beyond them are the plantations established since 1892 on the 'terres sialines' (as described on pp. 287-288), with straight rows of carefully tended trees (Photos. 177, 179). In contrast to the Sahel of Sousse, the groves are continuous for many miles, with no clearings, villages, or even houses. The population has grown steadily from about 15,000 in 1881 to 26,625 to 26,625 in 1921 and 43.333 in 1936: with the adjoining cheikats of Sakiet ez Zit, Merkez Kamoun, Merkez Damak, Merkez ben Halima, and Sakiet ed Dair the population is about 100,000. At the last census the urban population included 5,224 Frenchmen, 2,610 Italians, 827 other Europeans (chiefly Maltese and Greeks), and 3,466 Jews.

Industry and Commerce About 7 million olive-trees grow in the district surrounding Sfax, and one of the main industries in the town is the manufacture of olive-oil and of associated industrial oils, vaseline, glycerine, and soap. Altogether there are about 400 presses, many owned by natives: the most modern are those belonging to the Société générale des Huileries du Sahel Tunisien and the Société de l'Huilerie Franco-Tunisienne. Fishing is carried out extensively on the shallow shelf off the coast; altogether there are about 1,000 fisheries in the district (including the Îles Kerkenna), each surrounded by wattle fences, producing between 800 and 1,000 tons of fish per annum (Photo. 189). In addition between 125 and 130 tons of sponges are landed during the season (1 January to 1 October) by about 1,300 vessels (600 Italian, 50 Greek, and 650 native), together with 250 to 300 tons of octopus, exported mainly to Greece. Several markets are held daily, mostly in the native town. \ Sfax was formerly the starting-point of a trans-Saharan caravan route, but its hinterland now extends southward only as far as the phosphate-producing region around , to which it is linked by railway. The principal exports are phosphate (1,205,000 tons per annum in the period 1934-1938), olive-oil (averaging 20,000 tons, but sometimes as much as 40,000 tons or more), salt (43,000 tons), [270] esparto grass (30,000 tons), with smaller quantities of cereals, dates, almonds, wool, sponges, dried octopus, and hides. Imports consist of coal, petroleum, timber and other building materials, iron, hardware, textiles, sugar, flour, and other foodstuffs. Exports far exceed imports, and in 1937 were greater than those of Tunis and combined, accounting for 1,490,235 tons of the port's total trade of 1,639,877 tons. In the same year Sfax was used by 1,665 vessels with a total tonnage of 930,504, and 801 passengers landed or embarked.

Description of Port The harbour consists mainly of an L-shaped basin, the Bassin du Port, dredged to a depth of 21 feet and surrounded by quays connected with the railway. The entrance faces south-east and communicates with the sea by a channel, 2,275 yards long and dredged to a depth of 21 feet. This channel is marked out by fishing-stakes and is 72 feet wide at the bottom, and wider at its seaward end. In the middle of the basin are some warping-buoys used for turning ships in the harbour and for hauling off the quays. The north-western quay is the Quai du Commerce and the north-eastern quay the Quai des Phosphates. Near the entrance the Quai des Alfas extends in a south-south-westerly direction for 425 feet from the extension of the Quai des Phosphates: it has berths for two vessels, one on either side, in depths of 24 feet, and is used exclusively for the loading of' esparto grass (Photo. 184). Close south-eastward of this quay is a petrol quay, 100 feet long and with from 13 to 15 feet of water alongside. The Quai du Commerce, on the harbour side of the street known as the Quai Mougeot, is 1,200 feet long with a depth alongside of 21 feet. It is used for the handling of salt, grain, and general cargo, and is served by rail and road. The Quai des Phosphates is 1,450 feet long with a depth alongside of 21 feet and with rail and road connexions. Most of it is reserved for the Compagnie des Phosphates et du Chemin de fer de Gafsa, which owns large storage sheds and mechanical appliances, but the south-eastern end is used by the Société des Phosphates Tunisiens and the Compagnie Tunisienne des Phosphates du Djebel Mdilla (Photo. 164). At the south-western end of the Quai du Commerce is the entrance to a small basin which has depths of from 10 to 15 feet and is used by fishing-vessels (Photos. 163, 190). The basin is surrounded by quays and on its western side is the sponge market. Navigation in the port is not difficult, though the entrance channel [271] is very narrow and is sometimes impassable in a strong cross-wind. Pilotage is essential for all vessels of 100 tons or more entering the port.

FIG . 53.

Facilities. The equipment of the port before the present war included one 20-ton crane on rails on the Quai du Commerce, one 20-ton floating crane, about five other cranes, and six elevators (3 large and 3 small moveable) on the Quai des Phosphates capable of loading 940 tons per hour. The harbour craft consisted of a few tugs and lighters. There were no docking facilities or ship-repairing and engineering works. There were large warehouses behind both the principal quays, those on the Quai des Phosphates being for phosphate only. Small stocks of Welsh coal were usually stored on the Quai du Commerce; coal could be taken from the quay or sent alongside [272] by barges. Small stocks of oil were carried by two commercial firms in the port. The electric power station was about a quarter of a mile south-west of the Kasba: it had two subsidiary stations, one at the north- western and the other at the south-eastern end of the Quai des Phosphates. Coal gas was also produced at the main power station, which was also responsible for the town's water- supply. There was a gasworks at the corner of the quay on the opposite side of the harbour from the Quai du Commerce. Good drinking-water is available at all the main quays: the principal supply comes by pipe-line from , 105 miles inland.

Communications Rail: Narrow-gauge lines lead north to , Sousse, and Tunis and south to Maharès, Maknassy, and Gafsa. The latter line branches at Graiba to Gabès. A narrow- gauge line also goes in a north-westerly direction from Sfax to the Djebel Krechem district (south-west of Bou Thadi) and will eventually be extended to Sbeitla. The station is on the eastern side of the European and business quarter at the north-eastern end of the Avenue Jules Gau, immediately adjacent to the sea. Road: Sfax is the centre of a network of good roads leading through the olive- producing districts of the Sahel. The chief roads lead north to Sousse (one along the coast through Mahdia and the other directly north through el Djem), north-north-west to Bir Tebeuk, north-west to Triaga and Sbeitla, west to , and south-west to Maharès and Gabès. The only good transverse route connecting these roads is that from la Hencha on the el Djem road to the Sbeitla road near Triaga.

i

pp.287-288

Since 1919 numerous decrees have been framed to stimulate French colonization. Special benefits were offered to colonists, particularly as regards payment, in order to attract settlers from France and Algeria. Land was acquired from the Enfida estate and from the lands of the Jewish Alliance at . All purchasers were required to live on their land and to develop it themselves for at least ten years and, since 1924, twenty years. By 1930, 390,350 acres (157,952 hectares) forming 1,167 * ots na ^ been settled and 22 new centres established, but only 182 of these lots were taken by immigrants, two- thirds of whom came from Algeria and the rest from metropolitan France. The position in northern Tunisia in 1930 is summarized by the following figures: No. of rural Hectares allotments 1896-1905 . . . 55,598 769 1906-1918 . . . 47,298 481 1919-1930 . . . 157,952 1,167 TOTAL , 1896-1930 . 260,848 2,417

In addition there were 646 allotments of land to small farmers and artisans covering 3,510 acres (1,421 hectares), making a grand total of 647,107 acres (262,269 hectares), of which 236,836 acres (95,844 hectares) were State lands.

Colonisation in Central and Southern Tunisia. Large areas of land in the Sfax district were granted in the sixteenth century to Salem Hassan el Ansary, sold by his descendants to the Siala family, and [288] returned to the Bey in 1871: they are generally known as the terres sialines. A decree of 1892 arranged for the transfer of some of these lands to Europeans or natives at 10 francs per hectare, on condition that plantations were developed on them. Immediately there was a large demand, 142,000 acres (57,500 hectares) being taken up within a year. At first the whole land had to be planted within four years, but this, by eliminating first stock-raising and then cereal cultivation, led to the collapse of the economy of some parts of the Sfax district, and a decree of 1905 limited the obligation to plant to one-half of the area granted. Similar grants were made in the Maknassy, Sidi Naceur Allah, Sbeitla, , and other districts. Under a decree of 1918, modified by further decrees in 1925, land granted must be cleared, and at least two-fifths planted with fruit-trees, within four years, and cannot be given up for twenty years without the permission of the Director of Agriculture. If a French family be established, the price of the land is reduced by 50 per cent. The extent to which land had been allotted by 1930 is shown by the figures below: nearly all of it has been planted with olives.

French Natives Total No. No. of Hectares of lots Hectares lots Hectares No. of lots 1892-1918. 64,697 170 41,059 6,339 105,756 6,509

1919-1930. 81,340 97 6,380 1,611 87,720 1,708

146,037 267 47,439 7,950 193,476 8,217 TOTAL , 1892-1930

Settlement of Natives. A decree of 1918, modified by one of 1925, fixed the conditions under which lands belonging to the State domain were granted exclusively to native farmers. Land was given for five years in the first place, and the occupant was obliged to cultivate it and erect such buildings as were necessary. Under this scheme 17,185 lots covering 345,335 acres (139,767 hectares) were settled by 11,890 families between 1930 and 1930.