A new Berber dynasty, known as the Almohad (al – muwa ḥḥ id ū n) moved from the west to conquer the Ifrīqiyah; Tunis and then the whole coast up to Tripoli were occupied between 1158 and 1160 by the troops of ‛Abd al-Mu’min and recognized the sovereignty of the Almohads. As it had happened in past centuries, the Ifriqiyah had its own government, which soon became independent: the descendants of Abū Muḥammad ‛Abd al-Wāḥid al-Ḥafṣī (1207-1221), left from the almohad an-Nāṣir to the government of Tunis and its dependent territories founded the so-called Ḥafṣidi dynasty, which owned the Ifrīqiyah for more than three centuries (until 1574). In this time, at least in the first two centuries, Tunisia had a notable development, it held trade relations with the Mediterranean countries, also with the Christian states and with Sudan; the city of Tunis then became the most important of the Northern Africa, after Cairo. Among the most famous ḥafṣid kings (sultans) were al-Mustanṣir billāh (Abū ‛Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Zakariyyā ‘), under whose reign the expedition of the king of France St. Louis IX against Tunis took place (1270); Abū’l-‛Abbās Aḥmad (1370-1394); Abū Fāris ‛Azīz (1394-1434), founder of the library attached to the az-Zaitūnah mosque and protector of the studies. At the time of the Afṣids, Tunisia was still troubled by internal agitations of Arab leaders and by dynastic dissidents fomented by the Merīnids, who had founded a kingdom including modern-day Algeria and Morocco and also possessed Tunis for two and a half years (1347-1350). under whose reign the expedition of the king of France St. Louis IX against Tunis took place (1270); Abū’l-‛Abbās Aḥmad (1370-1394); Abū Fāris ‛Azīz (1394-1434), founder of the library attached to the az-Zaitūnah mosque and protector of the studies. At the time of the Afṣids, Tunisia was still troubled by internal agitations of Arab leaders and by dynastic dissidents fomented by the Merīnids, who had founded a kingdom including modern-day Algeria and Morocco and also possessed Tunis for two and a half years (1347-1350). under whose reign the expedition of the king of France St. Louis IX against Tunis took place (1270); Abū’l-‛Abbās Aḥmad (1370-1394); Abū Fāris ‛Azīz (1394-1434), founder of the library attached to the az-Zaitūnah mosque and protector of the studies. At the time of the Afṣids, Tunisia was still troubled by internal agitations of Arab leaders and by dynastic dissidents fomented by the Merīnids, who had founded a kingdom including modern-day Algeria and Morocco and also possessed Tunis for two and a half years (1347-1350).
At the beginning of the century XVI the ports of Tunisia became the refuge of Turkish pirates, openly and secretly aided by the sultans of Constantinople; especially after Khair ad-Dīn Barbarossa (v.) and his brother Urūǵ occupied Algiers (1516). In 1534 Khair ad-Dīn occupied Bizerte and Tunis; Sultan al-Ḥasan al-Ḥafṣī went to Spain and obtained the help of Charles V, who sailed from Trapani to Tunis with a strong army, won and forced Khair ad-Dīn to flee, put al-Ḥasan back on the throne, as his protege with duty of tribute, and left a garrison in the fort of Goletta (Ḥ alq al – w ā d ī). For Tunisia 2007, please check extrareference.com.
The population, discontented with this submission, took advantage of the absence of al-Ḥasan, who went to seek help in Europe, to dismiss him and appoint his son Abu ‘l-‛Abbās Aḥmed (1542), known as Ḥamīdah, sultan in his stead. But from that moment the government of the interior of the country escaped the sultan ḥafṣida; the islands of Djerba and Qarqanah were frequented by Ottoman pirates. Dorghūt, who in 1550 was on the point of making al-Mahdiyyah capitulate, enlisted armed men in Gabes and roamed the territory of Qafṣah; in the spring of 1551 he was blocked by Andrea Doria in the strait of al-Qanṭarah (Djerba), but he was able to cunningly escape. The position of the Turks and their indigenous auxiliaries was strengthened with the capture of Tripoli (August 1551); Dorghūt also ruled in Djerba and in 1558 conquered al-Qairawān. L’ year 1569 the Turks took Tunis and held it until 1573, abandoning it for the arrival of the Spaniards, who placed another son of the sultan al-Ḥasan on the throne, named Muḥammad; shortly after (summer 1574) the Turks, masters of Algiers, Tripoli and the interior of Tunisia, definitively conquered Tunis and Tunisia with an expedition commanded by Sinān Pascià and Qïlïǵ ‛Alī (Ucciali) Pascià. The last sultan ḥafṣida died a prisoner in Constantinople.
The order established by the Turks in Tunis is the same as in Algiers and Tripoli; but for a time the Beilerbeys of Algiers also had the right of pre-eminence over the affairs of Tunis; furthermore, the island of Djerba and the Tunisian south until about 1610 depended on the government of Tripoli. According to the primitive order, the supreme command belonged to a governor with the title of pasha sent by Porta; in practice since the end of the century. XVI the Turkish and Levantine troops of the Janissaries advocated the choice of the leader and proposed to the government of the city and the dependent territory an officer of theirs, who had the title of d ā y ī (local pron. Dey); he administered the country with the opinion of a council called dī w ā n ; other officers, with the charge of ra ‛ ī s or qob ṭā n, commanded the indigenous and Levantine manned ships of course (ṭā ‘ifah); an officer called bey commanded the column of soldiers (ma ḥ allah) sent periodically inside to collect taxes; there were district governors called q ā ‘id or ‛ ā mil. Dependence on Constantinople was very low; the Janissary government of Tunis, like those of Tripoli and Algiers, freely concluded trade treaties or truces with the Christian powers, but minted money in the name of the sultan, had his name remembered in the khu ṭ bah or Friday sermon and sometimes he made acts of homage and sent gifts or sent racing ships to the aid of the imperial squad. It was a period of decline for Tunisia; piracy made regular exchanges with European countries impossible; cultural activity was very low, as was the case then in the whole Muslim world.
A truly remarkable development had led between the century. XIV and XVI the Muslims forced to emigrate from Spain (Andalusia); they set out preferably to Tunis and in the dependent territory and gave rise to new neighborhoods and small centers, where they transplanted particular industries (sh ā shiyah factories, i.e. cloth caps similar to fezes, silk weaving, etc.) and founded centers agricultural (on the banks of the Megerda and Capo Bon).
