Sousse سوسة |
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Nickname(s): "The pearl of the sahel" | |||
Location in Tunisia | |||
Coordinates: 35°50′N 10°38′E / 35.833°N 10.633°E | |||
Country |
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Governorate | Sousse Governorate | ||
Population (2013) | |||
• City | 271.428 | ||
• Metro | 674.971 | ||
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
• Summer (DST) | CET (UTC+1) | ||
Website | www.commune-sousse.gov.tn |
Medina of Sousse | |
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Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List | |
Location | Tunisia |
Type | Cultural |
Criteria | iii, iv, v |
Reference | 498 |
UNESCO region | Arab States |
Inscription history | |
Inscription | 1988 (12th Session) |
Sousse or Soussa (Arabic: سوسة Sūsa, Berber: Susa) is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located 140 kilometres (87 miles) south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The name may be of Berber origin: similar names are found in Libya and in the south of Morocco (Bilād al-Sūs). Its economy is based on transport equipment, processed food, olive oil, textiles and tourism. It is home to the Université de Sousse.
The Phoenicians founded Hadrumetum in the 11th century BC.
The city allied itself with Rome during the Punic Wars, thereby escaping damage or ruin and entered a relatively peaceful 700-year period under the Pax Romana. Livy wrote that Hadrumetum was the landing place of the Roman army under Scipio Africanus in the second Punic War. Roman usurper Clodius Albinus was born in Hadrumetum.