Africa
Tunisia is presented here as a historical economic dossier rather than a flat stat sheet: long-run macro cycles, public balance-sheet pressure, market depth, external buffers, and the events that likely bent the curve.
A tighter current-state read before dropping into the long historical charts.
The timeline is where macro numbers meet story: crises, wars, policy shifts, trade deals, and other shocks connected to Tunisia.
Rome and Carthage began the First Punic War over control of Sicily, the first of three wars that would ultimately determine the dominant power in the Western Mediterranean. Rome's victory established it as a major naval and commercial power.
Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca crossed the Alps with war elephants and invaded Italy, winning devastating victories at Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae. Despite these victories, Hannibal could not capture Rome, and the war ended with Carthage's defeat.
Roman general Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in North Africa, ending the Second Punic War and establishing Rome as the dominant Mediterranean power. Carthage was stripped of its overseas territories and military power.
Rome utterly destroyed the city of Carthage following the Third Punic War, selling its surviving population into slavery and salting the earth. This marked the end of Carthaginian civilization and Rome's unchallenged dominance of the Western Mediterranean.
End of French colonial rule.
Triggered the Arab Spring, leading to democratization.
The self-immolation of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010, ignited mass protests in Tunisia that forced President Ben Ali to flee on January 14, 2011, triggering the Arab Spring wave of revolutionary protests across North Africa and the Middle East. The Tunisian revolution was the only Arab Spring uprising to result in a lasting democratic transition.