governorates
A governorate or governate is an administrative division headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is typically used to calque divisions o ...
of
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
and in south-eastern Tunisia. It covers an area of 7166 km2 and had a population of 374,300 as at the 2014 census. The capital is
Gabès
Gabès (, ; ), also spelled Cabès, Cabes, and Kabes, is the capital of the Gabès Governorate in Tunisia. Situated on the coast of the Gulf of Gabès, the city has a population of 167,863, making it the 6th largest city in Tunisia. Located 327 ...
.
Geography
The governorate of Gabès is in southeast Tunisia on the coast of the
Gulf of Gabès
The Gulf of Gabes (or Cabès, Cabes, Gaps; ), also known as Lesser Syrtis (from ; ), contrasting with the Greater Syrtis in Libya, is a gulf on Tunisia's east coast in the Mediterranean Sea, off North Africa. The gulf roughly spans the coast from ...
, 376 km south of the capital,
Tunis
Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...
.
Gabès has a hot Mediterranean climate. Gabès offers five contrasting landscapes: the beach, the mountains, the desert, small forest,
oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentChott el Fejej.
The coast is approximately half of that of the large bay. The gulf has several alternative names dating to antiquity and to an etymological association with onshore winds and sandbanks making navigation difficult, including Lesser Syrtis (see
Gulf of Sidra
The Gulf of Sidra (), also known as the Gulf of Sirte (), is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Libya, named after the oil port of Sidra or the city of Sirte. It was also historically known as the Great Sirte or G ...
which takes in also the mainly Libyan portion of the continental gulf).
Administrative divisions
Administratively, the governorate is divided into thirteen delegations (''
mutamadiyat
The delegations of Tunisia (''mutamadiyah'', plural ''mutamadiyat'') are the second level administrative divisions of Tunisia between the governorates and the sectors (''imadats''). there were 24 governorates which were divided into 264 delega ...
''), sixteen
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
, nine rural councils, and 73 sectors (''imadas''). The delegations and their populations from the 2004 and 2014 censuses, are listed below:
There are sixteen municipalities in the Gabès Governorate:
Tourism
Matmata is a Berber-speaking town largely of underground homes conserved with a community-based pre-industrialized lifestyle. The south-centre of the ''Wilāyat'' has semi-desert mountains and natural features nearby include splendid oases and caves. Eclectic souqs feature in the main municipalities, with traditional wood, stone, metal and textile products.
Economy
The economy of the governorate is based, like all governorates that open onto the Mediterranean, on agriculture and fishing. The governorate is one of the richest fishing areas in Tunisia.
In the industrial field , the governorate is home to a center concentrating in particular chemical industries (processing of phosphate with the production of phosphoric acid , diammonium phosphateand dicalcium phosphate ) and agri-food . Its trade is carried out in particular thanks to the port which has eleven quays and twenty berths. In 2000, its traffic was estimated at 4,000,000 tonnes. Manufacturing industries employed 41.5% of the active population, the tertiary sector 35.5% and the agricultural sector 23%.
There are three industrial zones: Gabès, Métouia-El Aouinet and El Hamma.
Politics
Governors
A list of Governoros since the
independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
:
* Habib Ben Mohamed Lahbib (1956-1958)
* Mohamed Bellamine (1958-1959)
* Youssef Jedaï (1959-1961)
* Ahmed Bellalouna (1961-1967)
* Zakaria Ben Mustapha (1967-1969)
*
Hédi Baccouche
Hédi Baccouche (; 15 January 1930 – 21 January 2020) was the prime minister of Tunisia from 7 November 1987 to 27 September 1989. Baccouche led the Socialist Destourian Party until it changed its name to the Constitutional Democratic Rally in ...
Gabès
Gabès (, ; ), also spelled Cabès, Cabes, and Kabes, is the capital of the Gabès Governorate in Tunisia. Situated on the coast of the Gulf of Gabès, the city has a population of 167,863, making it the 6th largest city in Tunisia. Located 327 ...