Houmt Souk ( ), meaning literally: "The Market neighbourhood", is a commune and the main town of the island of Djerba, Tunisia. A popular tourist destination, it is best known for its traditional souk and the Aghlabid fortress.
It is located at approximately from Ajim and from El Kantara by the Roman road. It is also the chief town and a municipality with 89,228 inhabitants. The city's population is 75,904 inhabitants . The city developed on the old site of a Roman city called Gerba or Girba, and was the birthplace of two Roman Emperors, Trebonianus Gallus and his son Volusianus.Salah-Eddine Tlatli, Djerba. L'île des Lotophages, éd. Cérès Productions, Tunis, 1967, p. 53
History
The city as it is today developed on the site of an ancient Roman city called Gerba or Girba, which shared its name with the island. Many besides the Romans lived there, including Numidians, Punics, Arabs, Spanish, and Turks; the town was also home to many merchants and pirates for many years. The Battle of Djerba took place in the northern part of the city. Close to the fort is a large village which served as a market; cattle and woolen cloth were traded there, as were dried grapes. The name of the city dates back to the eighteenth century, after it was mentioned in a letter by Sheikh Muhammad bin Youssef al-Masabi. Under the French protectorate (1881–1956) the island was divided into twelve sheikhates.René Stablo, Les Djerbiens. Une communauté arabo-berbère dans une île de l'Afrique française, éd. SAPI, Tunis, 1941 French soldiers entered the town on 28 July 1881, and it remained a garrison until 1890, when its administration passed to civil French authority. In 1956, upon Tunisian independence, it became the capital of Djerba.
Geography
Houmt Souk is located on a plain on the northern coast of Djerba. There is an artesian well, called Bir Erroumi, 767 m deep, which was dug under French rule. The city is divided into 4 sectors, Taourit, Boumellel, Essouani and Ejjouamaâ, while the rest of the municipality is divided into 7 sectors, Mellita, Hachène, Fatou, Mezraya, Cedghiane, Erriadh and Oualegh. The climate of the city is moderate, with a semi-arid tendency, and receives a breeze from the sea in summer.
Architecture
Due to the density of the city center, its architectural character sometimes differs from that of the rest of the island. The typical menzel may especially be noticeably different; in addition, a new architectural style in which the courtyard is missing may be seen in some more modern houses. Dominant colors remain sharp white for masonry and sky blue for doors and windows. The city has several small streets connected by arcades, and there are a number of covered souks like that of Errbaâ, or the more recent Central Market.
Fondouks in town, dating back several centuries, often follow the same building style; a generally square courtyard with a group of stores may be found at ground level, along with a door with a heavy lock. This is sometimes joined by an attic window in the area were goods were stored. Animals, carts and equipment were sheltered in the yard. The first floor, reached by a single staircase, has a gallery supported by columns and arches; this is often the point of access for a number of rooms or storerooms. Many such buildings may still be seen in the downtown area, where they have been turned into hotels and youth hostels; some have even become tourist malls.Éternelle Djerba, éd. Association de sauvegarde de l'île de Djerba et STAG, Tunis, 1998, p. 55 The coastal area, formerly deserted, is becoming increasingly urbanized.
Religious buildings
As befits a Muslim country, mosques are numerous in the city, and their architecture varies greatly. Several are built in a style native to the island, among which is the Jemaâ El Ghorba (literally mosque from abroad) of the Maliki rite. The Jemaâ Ettrouk (mosque of the Turks), of the Hanafi rite, dates back to the 18th century and is equipped with a minaret typical of Ottoman style. There is also the Sidi Brahim El Jemni, built in 1674, with a roof with multiple vaults and a zaouia containing the tomb of a saint. These three mosques are classified as historic buildings. Sidi Bouakkazine, located near the public library, is built of centuries-old green tiles, and also houses a zaouia with a saint's tomb. Called Lella Gmira, this is visited most often by women suffering from infertility; they wash and light a candle there in the hope of gaining a blessing, and perhaps giving birth.
A little further out of town, on the road to Ajim, may be seen the Sidi Bouzid of the Ibadi rite. Sidi Salem and Sidi Youssef are located on the new speedway to the airport, and the Jemaâ Ejdid may be seen on the road to Mellita. Jamaâ Echeikh, Jemaâ El Bassi and Jemaâ El Guellal are in the same neighborhood in the south-east of Houmt Souk.
Legends surround a number of the town's mosques. Sidi Zitouni, located not far from Jamaâ Ettrouk and which houses another saint's tomb as well as the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions, is one of them. According to lore, the mosque is inhabited by djinns that appear only in the early evening. Consequently, Djerbians will leave the mosque only at sunset. Another story concerns Jemaâ El Guellal: supposedly a potter in the eighteenth century put his pots, which had taken months to craft, on a cart to be taken to market. While on the road the cart overturned, dropping its contents to the ground. The potter nevertheless decided to save what he could, discovering with great astonishment that all his wares were intact. Upon selling them, and seeing divine intervention in the episode, he chose to build a mosque at the site of the accident.
Jamâa Tajdid, whose construction was begun in the nineteenth century and entrusted to Abou Messeouar, is on the road to Midoun. Messeouar completed the work with the help of his son.Charles Tissot, Géographie comparée de la province romaine d'Afrique, éd. Imprimerie nationale, Paris, 1884 cité par Jeannine Berrebi, op. cit.
There are several small synagogues in Hara El K'bira and Hara Sghira districts, the latter being a community of around 100 Jews. In addition, a Catholic church may be found in the center of town, and a Greek Orthodox structure is located near the port, by the hotel Lottos, one of the island's first hotels.
Borj El K'bir Fort
The Borj El K'bir is a castle and fort that was constructed on the waterfront in 1432 under Sultan Abû Fâris `Abd Al `Azîz Al-Mutawakkil.Éternelle Djerba, p. 60 It is also known as Borj El Ghazi Mustapha because it was added to significantly between 1560 and 1567, during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. A commemorative statue in marble, originally sealed in one of the fort's interior walls, is now on display at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis.Éternelle Djerba, p. 21 Excavations have been made within the structure, revealing much of its history; some of the artifacts discovered are now on display inside one of the rooms of the fort. From the top of the walls may be had a panoramic view over the port; also visible from this location is the nine-meter-high obelisk which indicates the site of Borj-er-Rous, the Tower of Skulls, built using the bones of Dragut's enemies executed after his victory, in July 1560, against a coalition made up of soldiers from Spain, Naples, Sicily, Lombardy, Germany, France, and the Knights of Malta. The tower was conical in shape, 34 feet in diameter at its base. It was removed in 1848 under orders from the capital. Today the bones are buried in the Christian cemetery of the city. The obelisk which replaced the tower was constructed under the rule of France.
Just opposite the fort, behind the old city hospital, there exists a cistern, dating back to Roman times, which is used for the collection of rainwater.
Other buildings of note
Among the other characteristic buildings, one can quote the fondouks, lodging warehouses for the goods. The cupola of the combatants (Goubbat El Moujahdine), near Jemaâ Ettrouk, is a small square construction, with wrought iron, which shelters three tombs that of venerated inhabitants of Houmt Souk and is regarded as a zaouïa. There is the Hammam El Barouni, a hammam (bathhouse) which goes back several centuries and which, renovated on several occasions, continues to be used. Old bakeries, workshops of weaving (of which the architecture is particular in Djerba) with their half-vaults and their triangular pediment of Greek style and the old wells (with their large wings) which were useful for the irrigation of the fields of barley, of sorghum and pulses also have a typical architecture.Les chameaux étaient utilisés pour puiser l'eau dans de grosses gourdes en peau d'animaux appelées delou. The Errbaâ souk, market hall formed in a labyrinth with the roofs in semi-vaults, gathered the craftsmen tailors, shoe-makers, jewellers. Its doors closed at the falling night and much of stores remained closed on Saturdays taking into account the high number of Jewish tradesmen and craftsmen who had their graves there. The market is currently very popular with tourists.
A large theatre in the open air, built in 2004 between the zone of the port and Borj El K' to bir, shelters the great cultural events including those of the annual festival of Ulysses. Houmt Souk counts several schools as well primary as secondary (of which several colleges and colleges) but also a post office (in a characteristic building going back to French protectorate), several banks, a public hospital and several private clinics, several pharmacies, a tourist bureau and a trade unions initiative. There is also several small hotels built under the French protectorate.
Demographics
Houmt Souk is the most populated city of Djerba; it only shelters with it more of the third of the population of the island. Houmt Souk and its neighbourhoods have a very high density: it was already of 474 inhabitants per km2 in 1956 whereas the average of the island was of 127 inhabitants per km2 and that of the remainder of Tunisia of 27 inhabitants per km2. Maltese, Muslims, Italians, French, Arab-Berber, Greeks, Jews and Christians (Catholic and Greek Orthodox) have lived a long time side by side in Houmt Souk.Salah-Eddine Tlatli, op. cit., p. 80 From the 1950s a migratory movement primarily turned towards France reduced the population considerably; European and Jewish inhabitants of Houmt Souk. Several thousand Jews were concentrated in Hara El K' will bira, a district formerly exclusively Jewish and where the density remains very high. This district saw many Muslim families coming from the south of Tunisia after the departure of Jewish families, and this especially after independence.René Stablo, op. cit., pp. 56-61 One of the districts of Houmt Souk, called Houmet Ejjoumaâ, is inhabited in majority by families coming from Beni Khedache. These families have brought different traditions, including celebration of religious holidays. The Muslim population of Houmt El Souk is mostly Maliki Sunni.
Culture
The coexistence of various ethnicities (in particular Sephardi Jews and black African) and of various religious beliefs contributed to the richness and the variety of the cultures and traditions of this locality. The island of Djerba is a true mosaic of cultures and traditions and even the accent of its inhabitants varies from one locality to another, thus the Houmt Souk accent is different from the other localities.
Museums