Djerba

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Djerba Template:Ref (also transliterated as Jerba, Jarbah or Girba جزيرة جربة) is the largest island off Northern Africa, located in the Gulf of Gabes off the coast of Tunisia. The climate is mild and the soil well cultivated. Its largest city is Houmt-Souk, with a population of around 20,000.

Djerba is a popular tourist destination, particularly for French, German, and Italian tourists. It is one of the few remaining places in Tunisia where a Berber language is still spoken. Another factor drawing some tourists to Djerba is the 1977 location of the Mos Eisley exterior scenes in the first Star Wars movie.

The island is noted as a center of the Islamic sect al-Ibadhiyah and is also noted for its Jewish minority, which has dwelled on the island for centuries, although populations have declined due to emigration to Israel and France since the mid-20th century. The El Ghriba synagogue is one of the oldest and most famous in the world.

In the early 20th century the island of Djerba had a population of forty thousand, several hundreds of whom were Maltese Catholics earning a livelihood as sponge-fishers.

1 History
2 2002 Terrorist attack
3 Notes
4 Sources and External links

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History

The island, in ancient times called Meninx, included three principal cities, Meninx, Tipasa and Girba, whence its present name. At least two bishops of Girba are known, Monnulus and Vincent, who assisted at the Councils, of Carthage in 255 and 525 (Toulotte, Géographie de l'Afrique chrétienne Proconsulaire, Paris, 1892, pp. 353 and 380). In the seventh century it was again found under the name of Terepiton, a corrupt form for Gergiton or Gerbiton (Byzant. Zeitschrift, II, 1893, 26, 31).

During the Middle Ages, the Christians of Sicily and Aragon disputed its possession with the Muslim Arabs.

The island was controlled twice by the Norman Kingdom of Sicily:

1135 - 1158
1284 - 1333; this time it was organised as a feudal lordship, with the following Lords of Djerba: 1284 - 1305 Roger I, 1305 - 1307 and 1307 - 1310 Roger II (twice), 1310 Charles, 1310 Francis-Roger III; there were also royal goverors, partially overlapping with the lordship terms: c.1305 - 1308 Simon de Montolieu, 1308 - 1315 Raymond Montaner

In 1513, after three years in exile in Rome, the Fregosi family returned to Genoa, Ottaviano was elected Doge, and his brother Federigo Fregosi (archbishop, later cardinal), having become his chief counsellor, was placed at the head of the army, and defended the republic against internal dangers (revolts of the Adorni and the Fieschi) and external dangers, notably suppression of the Barbary piracy: Cortogoli, a corsair from Tunis, blockaded the coast with a squadron, and within a few days had captured eighteen merchantmen; being given the command of the Genoese fleet, in which Andrea Doria was serving, Federigo surprised Cortogoli before Bizerta, effected a descent on the island of Djerba and returned to Genoa with great booty.

Jerba was also twice occupied by Spain: 1521 - 1524 & 1551 - 31 July 1560; again there were governors: 1521 - 1524 ..., 1560 Gian Andrea

The island was temporarily the base of the privateer Khair ad Din ("Barbarossa") in the 16th century.

Since then Jerba belonged to the regency of Tunis, also under French protectorate, which became the modern republic of Tunisia.

In 1560 the Corsair Dragut surprised the Spanish fleet, which lost thirty vessels and five thousand men. The garrison was put to death and with the bones of the slain the Turks built a pyramid called Bordj-er-Rious, the 'fortress of the skulls', which existed until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the bones were removed to the Christian cemetery of Hount-Souk.

Girba remains a Catholic titular see in the province of African Tripoli.

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2002 Terrorist attack

On April 11, 2002, a truck full of explosives was detonated close to the famous synagogue, killing 21 people (of whom 14 were German tourists). Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.

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