Mahdia ( ar, المهدية ') is a
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
n coastal city with 62,189 inhabitants, south of
Monastir and southeast of
Sousse
Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...
.
Mahdia is a provincial centre north of
Sfax. It is important for the associated fish-processing industry, as well as weaving. It is the capital of
Mahdia Governorate.
History
Antiquity
The old part of Mahdia corresponds to the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
city called Aphrodisium and, later, called Africa (a name perhaps derived from the older name), or Cape Africa.
[Charles Tissot, ''Géographie comparée de la province romaine d'Afrique'' (Paris 1888), p. 176](_blank)
/ref> The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
's list of titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...
s includes a no longer residential bishopric called Africa and, since there is no record of an episcopal see in Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
times called by either of these names (nor by that of Alipota, another Roman town that Charles Tissot suggested tentatively might be represented by present-day Mehdia), it is supposed that the episcopal see
An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...
of Africa was established when the city was held by the Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...
, as a part of the Kingdom of Africa
The Kingdom of Africa was an extension of the frontier zone of the Kingdom of Sicily, Siculo-Norman state in the former Roman province of Africa (''Ifrīqiya'' in Arabic), corresponding to Tunisia and parts of Algeria and Libya today. The main ...
(1147–1160) and when Pope Eugene III consecrated a bishop for it in 1148. An inventory of movable property of the church of Africa (''inventarium thesauri Africani'') exists in an archive of the Cappella Palatina of Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
in Sicily. Robert Favreau identified Mahdia instead with ancient ''Ruspae'' or '' Ruspe'', which is more commonly taken to have been at Henchir Sbia (or just Sbia), north of Mahdia, or at the ruins known as Ksour Siad. The most illustrious bishop of this see was Fulgentius of Ruspe. The Catholic Church's list of titular sees, which identifies the see of Africa as Mahdia, identifies Ruspe/Ruspae as Henchir Sbia.
The Mahdia shipwreck – a sunken ship found off Mahdia's shore, containing Greek art treasures – is dated to about 80 BC, the early part of Roman rule in this region.
Islamic era
Muslim Mahdia was founded by the Fatimids
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...
under the Caliph
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
Abdallah al-Mahdi and made the capital of Ifriqiya
Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna ( ar, المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (today's western Libya). It included all of what had previously ...
. As then-newly-created Fatimid Caliphate was a Shi'a
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
regime supported by a Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
Kutama military, the caliph may have been motivated to move his capital here so as to put some distance between his power base and the predominantly Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
city of Kairouan (the traditional capital of Ifriqiya up to that point). Construction began in 916 and the new city was officially inaugurated on 20 February 921, although some construction continued afterward. In addition to its heavy fortified walls, the city included the Fatimid palaces, an artificial harbor, and a congregational mosque
A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.*
*
*
*
*
*
*
...
(the Great Mosque of Mahdia
The Great Mosque of Mahdiya ( ar, الجامع الكبير في المهدية) is a mosque that was built in the tenth century in Mahdia, Tunisia. Located on the southern side of the peninsula on which the old city was located, construction of t ...
). Most of Fatimid city has not survived to the present day. Fragments of mosaic pavements from the palaces have been discovered from modern excavations. The mosque is one of the most well-preserved Fatimid monuments in the Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
, although it has been extensively damaged over time and was in large part reconstructed by archeologists in the 1960s.
In 1087, the town was attacked by raiding ships from Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
and Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
who burned the Muslim fleet in the harbor. The attack played a critical role in Christians' seizure of control of the Western Mediterranean, which allowed the First Crusade
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...
to be supplied by sea. The Zirid dynasty, which succeeded the Fatimids in the Maghreb, moved their capital here in 1057. Their rule was brought to an end by the Norman conquest of the city in 1148. In 1160 the city came under Almohad rule.
The role of the capital was taken over by Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
in the 12th century during the Almohad era, which it remained during the Hafsid Dynasty
The Hafsids ( ar, الحفصيون ) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. who ruled Ifriqiya (western ...
. Later the city was subject to many raids. In 1390 it was the target of the Barbary Crusade
The Barbary Crusade, also called the Mahdia Crusade, was a Franco- Genoese military expedition in 1390 that led to the siege of Mahdia, then a stronghold of the Barbary pirates in Hafsidi Ifriqiya (geographically corresponding to modern Tunisia). ...
, when a French army laid siege to the city but failed to take it.
The city was captured by the Spaniards in 1550. A Spanish garrison remained there until 1553. Charles V then offered the charge of the town to the Order of Saint John who ruled Malta but they refused it deeming it too expensive. The emperor ordered the Viceroy of Sicily, Juan de Vega, to dismantle Mahdia despite it being a strategically important stronghold. The demolition tasks were carried out by Hernando de Acuña. Shortly after Mahdia was reoccupied by the Ottomans, but only to live by fishing and oil-works, and the town lost its logistic and commercial importance. It remained under Turkish rule until the 19th century
The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium.
The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolis ...
.
During the Nazi Occupation of Tunisia
The Tunisian campaign (also known as the Battle of Tunisia) was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African campaign of the World War II, Second World War, between Axis powers, Axis and Allies of World War II, Allied ...
in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Mahdia was the site where Khaled Abdelwahhab
Khaled Abdul-Wahab (1 March 1911 – 4 September 1997) was a Tunisian Muslim Arab man who saved several Jewish families from Nazi persecution, in Vichy-controlled Tunisia during the Holocaust. He has been called the 'Tunisian Schindler'.Paul ...
hid approximately two dozen persecuted Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
Transport
Gare Mahdia forms the southern terminus of the metre-gauge Sahel Metro
The Sahel Train is an electrified, metre gauge railway and suburban rail line with trains serving Sousse and Mahdia, with a spur to Monastir, in Tunisia. The line has overhead electrification at 25 kV, 50 Hz.
Stations
The line's stations ...
railway line, which runs from Sousse
Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...
and Monastir.
Climate
Gallery of images
Fuerte Bordj el Kebir, Mahdia, Túnez, 2016-09-03, DD 31-33 HDR.jpg, Bordj el Kebir Fortress.
Cementerio marino, Mahdia, Túnez, 2016-09-03, DD 16.jpg, Marine cemetery.
Old Harbor.jpg, Port of Mahdia.
Mezquita Slimane Hamza, Mahdia, Túnez, 2016-09-04, DD 02.jpg, Slimane Hamza Mosque.
Mahdia pendant la nuit..jpg, Mahida in night.
Mahdia5.jpg, Mahida beach.
Antiguo puerto, Mahdia, Túnez, 2016-09-03, DD 17.jpg, Old port.
Vue depuis la Skifa Kehla, Mahdia (01).jpg, Aerial view of Mahida.
See also
* European enclaves in North Africa before 1830
* Mahdia shipwreck
* List of cities in Tunisia
References
Notes
External links
tourismtunisia.com
Mahdia Portal
*
{{Authority control
921 establishments
Populated places established in the 10th century
Cities in Tunisia
Mediterranean port cities and towns in Tunisia
Communes of Tunisia
Populated places in Mahdia Governorate
10th-century establishments in Ifriqiya
Fatimid cities
10th-century establishments in the Fatimid Caliphate
Fatimid architecture in Tunisia