12 ATLASES
History of Tunisia in maps
Tunisia as it appears in 12 interactive history atlases, from 264 BC to 2015: Africa, Ifriqiya, Tunisia. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Tunisia before it was Tunisia? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Africa (mod. Tunisia) · Ancient Rome
Carthage was older and richer than Rome, a Phoenician trading power whose sea routes brought it into conflict with the city across the strait. Three wars ended with Carthage’s destruction in 146 BC (Chs. 1–2). Refounded a century later, it became part of Roman Africa, a vital source of grain. The Vandals took it in 439, depriving the western empire of a resource whose loss is a strong candidate for its most consequential single setback (Ch. 11).
| 264 BC | Rival great powers — the opening position |
| 201 BC | Roman clients & allies |
| 146 BC | Roman territory |
| Tribal peoples & confederations |
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Ifriqiya (mod. Tunisia) · Crusades
| The Islamic powers — Seljuk, Zengid, Ayyubid, Mamluk — the opening position |
CRUSADES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tunisia · Industrial Revolution
| Colony or dependency — the opening position | |
| Colony or dependency |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tunisia · Age of Revolutions
| Neutral / uncommitted — the opening position |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tunisia · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tunisia · WWI
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position | |
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories |
Tunisia · Road to WW2
| Colonial empires & possessions — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tunisia · WW2
| Western Allies — the opening position | |
| Axis allies & puppets | |
| Axis-occupied | |
| Western Allies |
Tunisia · Cold War
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tunisia · Decolonization of Africa
In March 1956 Tunisia won independence from France under Habib Bourguiba’s Neo-Destour party. The departure was largely negotiated: France was giving up its protectorates while trying to hold Algeria, and Tunisia lacked a mass settler population. Its decolonization was comparatively peaceful. Bourguiba then built a secular, modernizing one-party state and ruled it for three decades.
| French-ruled — the opening position | |
| Independent Africa |
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tunisia · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
From an Atlantic perspective, Tunisia was already a pioneer. The 1956 Personal Status Code abolished polygamy, women voted nationally from 1959, and abortion became legal on request in 1973, two years before France. Tunisia ratified CEDAW on 20 September 1985 with reservations on family law and nationality; it lifted them only after the 2011 revolution. Its story continues on the TUNISIA map.
| Authoritarian, one-party or colonial rule — the opening position | |
| Right won in law | |
| Partial or unequal; treaty signed only; transition | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Right won in law |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Tunisia · Refugee crises
| Western bloc or democracy — the opening position |
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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