Tunisia is a country, referred to as Tunisia, located at the northern tip of Africa.

The Republic of Tunisia, referred to as Tunisia, has the capital city of Tunis. Located at the northern tip of Africa, it borders Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east, and faces Italy across the Tunis Strait. The total area is 162,000 square kilometers and the coastline is 1,300 kilometers long. The north has a Mediterranean climate and the south has a tropical desert climate.

Tunisia: It is both an Arab country and not an Arab country. Tunisia is located in the northernmost part of Africa, with the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east, and across the sea from Sicily and Malta in Europe. It has a land area of ??163,610 square kilometers. , which is equivalent in area to Henan Province in my country, but its population is more than 11.7 million, which is only 1/10 of Henan Province.

Tunisia is both a part of the Arab countries, but not entirely a part of the Arab countries. Why do you say this? There are many unique things about Tunisia that go beyond the characteristics that link Tunisia to a broader Arab identity, the most obvious of which is their Mediterranean leanings.

If Tunisia is categorically classified as an Arab country, the hidden meaning behind it is to ignore Tunisia’s intricate connections with Europe and Africa in terms of culture, economy and geography from the past to the present.

To some extent, Tunisia is indeed closer to Europe than to other Arab countries. The flight from Tunisia to Paris and Rome is shorter than the flight from Tunisia to Cairo, the capital of Egypt, Amman, the capital of Jordan, or Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Why is Tunisia still a part of Africa

Of course Tunisia is still a part of Africa. After all, the name "Africa" ??is derived from the name of Tunisia. Tunisia was ruled by the Arabs until the 12th century, when it fell into the hands of the Berber dynasty and the Ottoman Empire, which divided them into a unified North Africa region.

Under Bourguiba, the ties between Tunisia and Francophone countries became increasingly inextricable. The coastal area to the north and east of Tunisia, known as the Sahel, has been relatively wealthy since the Ottoman period. The gap between rich and poor between regions became even more serious during the French colonial period. Starting as early as 1864, poor economic conditions in the inland areas led to unrest.

So the development gap between regions and the economic difficulties in inland areas are not new things in Tunisia. It was not until Tunisia attracted the attention of the world because of its revolution that it became widely known again. In fact, the inland areas have always had close cultural, tribal, and economic ties with neighboring Algeria and Libya.

So the growth of informal trade between borders not only represents stronger economic ties between the two sides, but some even involve illegal economic activities. This also means that they will be more susceptible to specific Islamic invasions and have a stronger identification with Arab identity than the north coast areas, which are political and commercial centers.

Tensions between coastal and inland areas have become a potential threat to Tunisia. Bourguiba's ideas also extended to Tunisia's foreign policy, which was to never be "pro-Arab" and to make Tunisia completely independent from the Arab world. As early as 1965, he boldly expressed his opinion publicly and believed that the United Nations should accept the decision of the United Nations in 1947. Proposal to split Palestine in two.

This led the then Egyptian president to refuse to associate with Bourguiba and break off diplomatic relations in 1966. After taking office, Ben Ali continued his isolationism against Arabs. He refused to choose a side in the Gulf War. The final result was that the economic assistance from the Persian Gulf countries to Tunisia shrank significantly, from US$100 million in 1990 to only US$100 million in the following year. Less than $3 million.

So just because Tunisia is made up of Arabs, it is really naive to think that Tunisia can serve as a model for other countries in the Arab world.