Somâa is a town and commune in the

Nabeul Governorate Nabeul Governorate ( aeb, ولاية نابل ' Tunisian pronunciation: ) is one of the 24 governorates of Tunisia. It is situated in north-eastern Tunisia. It covers an area of 2,788 km2 and has a population of 787,920 (2014 census). T ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. As of 2004 it had a population of 6,287.Recensement de 2004 (Institut national de la statistique)

Description

Somâa (Arabic: الصمعة) 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 town located in the region of

Cape Bon Cape Bon ("Good Cape") is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia, also known as Ras at-Taib ( ar, الرأس الطيب), Sharīk Peninsula, or Watan el Kibli; Cape Bon is also the name of the northernmost point on the peninsula, also known as Ra ...

, about ten kilometers north of

Nabeul Nabeul (; ar, نابل ,Tamazight: ⵏⴰⴱⴻⵍ), is a coastal town located in northeastern Tunisia, on the south coast of the Cape Bon peninsula and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea on both sides. It is the first seaside resort in Tunisia. ...

. Attached administratively to the governorate of Nabeul, it constitutes a municipality with 7,017 inhabitants in 20142. It was created by a decree of April 2, 1966.

History

The city was built on a hilly site at the foot of the last foothills of the mountain range of the Tunisian ridge. It would be on the site of an ancient mausoleum dating back to the second century BC. J. - C., as Fernand Benoit thinks in 19314. Besides, the name of the city comes from the classical Arabic çawma'a designating the top of a hill or a high place inhabited by a hermit4. Some ruins date from

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...

and

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, as shown by a

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

discovered on the spot and dated from the reign of

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

. In late antiquity a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

was founded in the town, then called

Praesidium A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one. Communist states In Communist states the presidi ...

. Sidi Ali al-Çum'î, mystic of the

13th century The 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 ( MCCI) through December 31, 1300 ( MCCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan, which stretched from Eastern Asia to Eastern Eu ...

, is the patron saint of the city. According to oral tradition, he is the ancestor of the majority of inhabitants. During the Ottoman regency, Somâa produced some products such as mats, baskets, baskets and brooms sold throughout the country. Around 1860, the city has only 442 inhabitants.Jean Ganiage, « La population de la Tunisie vers 1860. Essai d'évaluation d'après les registres fiscaux », Population, vol. 21, n°5, (1966), . The road connecting Somâa and Béni Khiar was enlarged in 1925 and two Franco-Arab schools built in 1927 and 1952. On December 16, 1942, a Neo-Destour cell was founded in Somâa; militants were arrested by the French army on January 28, 1952, and deported to Zaraoura in the south of the country.

References

Populated places in Tunisia Communes of Tunisia Tunisia geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia {{Tunisia-geo-stub

Description

History

See also

References