19-Feb-2004 -- After three Algerian offshores yesterday, we entered into Tunisian waters this morning. Shortly after lunch we passed 38N 9E, from where a small island, Île de la Galite can be seen. Île de la Galite extends about 5.5 km in E-W direction and its width is about 2 km.
Île de la Galite is the largest of a small group of islands, islets, and rocks, known as Îles de la Galite, of which Galitons de l'Ouest can be best seen, when approaching a little bit closer. The islands are of volcanic origin and fishermen from Bizerte (Tunisia) work on the surrounding banks. Except for a small settlement of the National Guard on Île de la Galite, the islands are uninhabited although the original Franco-italian inhabitants return in the summer months.
The coast of Île de la Galite is very steep. Grand Sommet is the highest elevation (391 m) and on its top there is a lookout hut, but the second highest peak, Piton de l'Est is isolated and thus more prominent. There is a very small fishing harbor as well.
Ancient Tunisia was a Phoenician colony and became the site of ancient Carthage. By the mid fifth century BC, Carthage controlled commerce in the central Mediterranean. The Carthaginians ruled the area for about 1000 years until defeated by the Romans in 146 BC in the Third Punic War. After the Vandals defeated the Romans in 439 AD, it became part of the Byzanthine Empire. Tunisia then remained under Byzanthine rule until the Arab conquest in the seventh century. Africa Minor, as Tunisia was then called, was a province of Arab and Muslim empires through the fifteenth century. The Normans controlled Tunis between 1148 to 1160. After a brief period of Moroccan rule, the country was once again incorporated into Arab Empires ruled from Baghdad and Cairo. Spanish and Ottoman Turks fought over the country during the sixteenth century, with the Ottomans gaining control in 1574. Subsequently it has been ruled as a monarchy by the Bey, who was the senior officer of the Ottoman occupation forces. After France occupied Algeria, Tunisian affairs came under the control of France, Great Britain and Italy. Tunisia became a French protectorate in 1878, although the monarchy continued. Tunisia gained independence from France, abolished the monarchy and became an independent Republic in 1957. Today it has a population of about 9 million.
Information about Îles de la Galite and Tunisia obtained partly from Nautical Publication Nr. 45, Mediterranean Pilot, Vol I, 11th
ed. 2002, Hydrographer of the Navy, Taunton, England)