BIZERTA (properly pronounced

See also:

• BEN (from Old Eng. bennan, within)

Ben Zert; Fr. Bizerte)  , a seaport of Tunisia, in 37° 17' N., 9° 5o' E . Pop. about 12,000 . Next to Toulon, Bizerta is the most important naval port of France in the Mediterranean . It occupies a commanding strategical position in the narrowest part of the sea, being 714 M . E. of Gibraltar, 1168 m . W.N.W. of Port Said, 240 M . N.W. of Malta, and 420 M . S. by E. of Toulon . It is 6o m. by rail N.N.W. of Tunis . The town is built on the shores of the Mediterranean at the point where the Lake of Bizerta enters the sea through a natural channel, the mouth of which has been canalized . The modern town lies almost entirely on the north side of the canal . A little farther north are the ancient citadel, the walled " Arab town and the old harbour (disused) .

The

present outer harbour covers about 300 acres and is formed by two converging jetties and a breakwater . The north jetty is 4000 ft. long, the east jetty 3300 ft., and the breakwater—which protects the port from the prevalent north-east winds—2300 ft. long . The entrance to the canal is in the centre of the outer harbour . The canal is 2600 ft. long and 787 ft. wide on the surface . Its banks are lined with quays, and ships drawing 26 ft. of water can moor alongside . At the end of the canal is a large commercial harbour, beyond which the channel opens into the lake-in reality an arm of the sea—roughly circular in form and covering about 50 sq. m., two-thirds of its waters having a depth. of 30 to 40 ft . The lake, which merchant vessels are not allowed to enter, contains the naval port and arsenal . There is a torpedo and submarine boat station on the north side of the channel at the entrance to the lake, but the principal naval works are at Sidi Abdallah at the south-west corner of the lake and to m. from the open sea . Here is an enclosed basin covering 123 acres with ample quayage, -dry docks and every-thing necessary to the accommodation, repair, revictualling and coaling of a numerous fleet . Barracks, hospitals and water-works have been built, the military town, called Ferryville, being self-contained . Fortifications have been built for the protection of the port . They comprise (a) the older works surrounding the town; (b) ' a group of coast batteries on the high ground of Cape Bizerta or Guardia, 4 M. north-north-west of the town; these are grouped round a powerful fort called JebelKebir, and have a command of 300 to 800 ft. above sea-level; (c) another group of batteries on the narrow ground between the sea and the lake to the east of the town; the highest of these is the Jebel Tuila battery 265 ft. above sea-level .

The LAKE or BIZERTA, called Tinja by the

Arabs, abounds in excellent fish, especially . mullets, the dried roe of which, called botargo, is largely exported, and the fishing industry employs a large proportion of the inhabitants . The western shore of the lake is low, and in many places is covered with olive trees to the water's edge . The south-eastern shores are hilly and wooded, and behind them rises a range of picturesque hills . A narrow and shallow channel leads from the western side of the lake into another sheet of water, the Lake of Ishkul, so called from Jebel Ishkul, a hill on its southern bank 1740 ft. high . The Lake of Ishkul is nearly as large as the first lake, but is very shallow . Its waters are generally sweet . Bizerta occupies the site of the ancient Tyrian colony, Hippo Zarytus or Diarrhytus, the harbour of which, by means of a spacious pier, protecting it from the north-east wind, was rendered one of the safest and finest on this coast . The town became a Roman colony, and was conquered by the Arabs in the 7th century . The place thereafter was subject either to the rulers of Tunis or of Constantine, but the citizens were noted for their frequent revolts . They threw in their lot (c . 1530) with the pirate Khair-ed-Din, and subsequently received a Turkish garrison . Bizerta was captured by the Spaniards in 1535, but not long afterwards came under the Tunisian government .

Centuries of neglect followed, and the ancient port was almost choked up, though the value of the

fisheries saved the town from utter decay . Its strategical importance was one of. the causeswhich led.to the occupation of Tunisia by the French in 1881 . In 1890 a concession for a new canal and harbour was granted to a company, and five years later the new port was formally opened . Since then the canal has been widened and deepened, and the naval port at Sidi Abdallah created .