Introduction |
Geography
Tunisia is located in an area of northern Africa, known as the Maghreb, which means “western” in Arabic. Its coastline boarders the Mediterranean Sea, while the inland portion lies between Algeria and Libya. Tunisia covers 155,360 square kilometers (only slightly larger than the state of Georgia). Hot and dry plains spread through most of the country. However, these areas are not as populated as the northern portions, where there are mountains, the highest being Jebel ech Chambi at 1,544 meters. Tunisia has temperate weather with rain in the winter and heat in the summer. Many people live in the largest city, Tunis, which is the capitol, located along the northern coast.
PopulationAs of July 2018, Tunisia has a population of 11,516,189. Tunisia is 98 percent Arab, and only one percent European and one percent a mixture of other races. The vast majority of Tunisians (99.1 percent) are Sunni Muslim. Other religions in Tunisia include: Christian, Jewish, Shia Muslim, and Baha'i.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.. (2019). Retrieved from https://cdn.britannica.com/45/3045-050-55330084/Tunisia-map-boundaries-cities-locator.jpg.
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LanguagesThe recognized language of commerce in Tunisia is Arabic, but French is also recognized and widely used by about two-thirds of the population. About one percent of the population, usually in small villages, speaks Berber. English is mainly used as a second language to aid in tourism or to communicate with English speaking countries regarding science and technology.
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Government
Tunisia gained independence from France on March 20th, 1956, and became a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic. The previous president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was overthrown during the Jasmine revolution in 2011, and Tunisia became a parliamentary republic, with a new constitution approved in 2014. The executive branch consists of the president, who is the head of state, the prime minister, who is the head of the government, and the cabinet. The legislative branch is a 217 member assembly of the representatives of the people. The legal system (the judiciary branch) is based off a combination of French civil code and Islamic Sharia law.
Education
The current educational system in Tunisia was created in 1983, and was constructed so that students will obtain bi-literacy. Children start school at age six, which is known as basic school. During these nine years, all subjects are primarily taught in Arabic. However, in grade three, French is introduced as a foreign language. After they graduate from basic school at age 15, students continue their education for four years at college, where Arabic is used to teach subjects in the social science realm, and French is used to teach sciences. Finally, students can attend higher education at university, where most of the classes are taught in French, and the rest are taught in Arabic. English is taught as a foreign language, and introduced at different levels depending on the school, but usually starts in the seventh level of basic school.
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