Sahel, Tunisia

The Tunisian Sahel (Arabic: الساحل‎‎) is an area of eastern Tunisia. It stretches along the eastern shore, from Hammamet in the north to Mahdia in the south, including the cities of Monastir, Mahdia and Sousse. Its name derives from the Arabic word sāḥil (ساحل), meaning "shore" or "coast". The regions' economy is based especially on tourism and it contains the second biggest airport in Tunisia : Monastir Habib Bourguiba International Airport.

The Sahel extends inland to the hills which protect the low plains of the coast and are covered in olive plantations; the region's low rainfall is compensated for by the atmospheric humidity.

Since antiquity, it has formed a clear geographic unity with its own unique demographic and economic characteristics. Today it consists of the governorates of Sousse, Monastir and Mahdia.

Its geographic area is quite large: about 140 km from north to south and varying between twenty and sixty kilometres east to west. The total area is around 6,600 square kilometres (2,500 sq mi), 4.02% of the total surface area of Tunisia.

Long inhabited, the area of the modern Tunisian Sahel seems to have been a distinct region dominated by urban settlements on the sea since antiquity; this tradition predates the region's conversion to Islam and Arabisation, but its continuity with region's Arab history is clear.

Most of the cities of the Sahel were founded by the Phoenicians. Thus Hadrumetum was founded at the beginning of the 9th century BC by Tyre - even before Carthage. It gained importance in the following centuries, becoming one of the main Phoenician ports in the Western Mediterranean. The area was a key part of the Carthaginian empire, but after the Second Punic War it came under increasing Numidian influence. In 146 BC, after the Third Punic War, it became part of the new Roman province of Africa.

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