Chief town of the governorate of Mahdia
Situation and characteristics
Mahdia lies in a sheltered situation on a small rocky peninsula, 1.5km/1mi long and barely 500m/550yds across, which is linked with the mainland only by a narrow isthmus. It is the economic center of the southern Sahel and in recent years has developed
into Tunisia's largest fishing port. About a third of the country's total catch is landed here and processed in numerous canning factories.
There is an annual festival here in July or August, the "Nuits de Mahdia", with performances of classical and folk dancing and illuminated fishing boats in the bay.
Mahdia has a picturesque Medina and a beautiful sandy beach to the north of the town. So far, however, tourism has made little headway. The Friday market is held in Place Farhat Hached, on the harbor.
History
The strategic advantages of this site on its tongue of land were realized by the Phoenicians, who built a rectangular harbor, the Kothon, with watch-towers to defend it. The harbor, on the north side of the peninsula, is still in use.
There are no traces worth mentioning of the Punic settlement or the Roman town which succeeded it. In 1907, however, sponge-divers found a Roman vessel with a cargo from Greece which had sunk off the coast in 86 B.C.
During the Arab conquest the town was utterly destroyed. It was refounded in 913 by the Fatimid Caliph Obaid Allah el Mahdi - who saw that possession of this site on Cap Afrique (Ifriqiya) would give him control over coastal shipping - and named after him. A large settlement was laid out on the peninsula, protected by an 11m/36ft thick wall with four bastions and a single gateway with six portcullises, and a Harbor was built. Parts of the walls and fortifications can still be seen. After the completion of this almost impregnable stronghold, in 921, the Caliph moved his capital to Mahdia from his former seat at Reqqada. This was the base from which the Fatimids set out on the conquest of Egypt; then, having achieved this, they transferred the capital to Cairo in 973 and Mahdia fell into oblivion.
The stronghold of Mahdia was taken twice, once by the Normans in the 12th century and later by the Spaniards, who laid siege to the town during their punitive campaigns against the great corsair Dragut. When they left the town in 1554 they blew up all the bastions, which were never rebuilt, and thereafter Mahdia sank into insignificance.
Access
Mahdia lies on MC 82, 68km/42mi southeast of Sousse and 20km/12.5mi northeast of El Djem. It is easily reached by car, and there are good Metro and bus connections with Monastir and Sousse.
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