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JERBA , an See also: island off the See also: coast of See also: North See also: Africa in the Gulf of See also: Gabes, forming See also: part of the regency of See also: Tunisia
.
It is separated from the mainland by two narrow straits, and save for these channels blocks the entrance to a large bight identified with the Lake See also: Triton of the See also: Romans
.
The western strait, opening into the Gulf of Gabes, is a mile and a See also: half broad; the eastern strait is wider, but at low See also: water it is possible to See also: cross to the mainland by the Tarik-el-Jemil (road of the camel)
.
The island is irregular in outline, its greatest length and breadth being some 20 m., and its See also: area 425 sq. m
.
It contains neither See also: rivers nor springs, but is supplied with water by See also: wells and cisterns
.
It is flat and well wooded with date palms and See also: olive trees
.
Pop
.
35,000 to 40,000, the bulk of the inhabitants being See also: Berbers
.
Though many of them have adopted Arabic a See also: Berber idiom is commonly spoken
.
An See also: affinity exists between the Berbers of Jerba and the Beni Mzab
.
About 3000 Jews live apart in villages of their own, and some 400 Europeans, chiefly Maltese and Greeks, are settled in the island
.
Jerba has a considerable reputation for the manufacture of the woollen tissues interwoven with See also: silk which are known as See also: burnous stuffs; a market for the sale of See also: sponges is held from See also: November till See also: March; and there is a considerable export
See also: trade in olives, See also: dates, See also: figs and other fruits
.
The capital, trading centre and usual landing-place are at Haumt-es-Suk (market quarter) on the northSee also: side of the island (pop
.
2500)
.
Here are a See also: medieval fort, built by the Spaniards in 1284, and a See also: modern fort, garrisoned by the French
.
Gallala, to the See also: south; is noted for the manufacture of a kind of See also: white pottery, much prized
.
At El Kantara (the
See also: bridge) on the eastern strait, and formerly connected with the mainland by, a See also: causeway, are extensive ruins of a See also: Roman city—probably those of Meninx, once a flourishing seaport
.
Jerba is the Lotophagitis or See also: Lotus-eaters' Island of the See also: Greek and Roman geographers, and is also identified with the Brachion of Scylax
.
The modern name appears as early as the 4th century in Sextus Aurelius Victor
.
In the See also: middle ages the possession of Jerba was contested by the See also: Normans of See also: Sicily, the Spaniards and the See also: Turks, the Turks proving victorious
.
In i 56o after the destruction of the See also: Spanish 'See also: fleet off the coast of the island by Piali See also: Pasha and the corsair Dragut the Spanish garrison at Haumt-es-Suk was exterminated, and a See also: pyramid, 10 ft. broad at the See also: base and 20 ft. high, was built of their skulls and other bones
.
In 1848 this pyramid was pulled down at the instance of the Christian community, and the bones were buried in the Catholic cemetery
.
In general, from the Arab invasion in the 7th century Jerba shared the fortunes of Tunisia
.
See H
.
Barth, Wanderungen durch die Kiistenl. See also: des Mittelmeeres (Berlin, 1849) ; and H. von Maltzan, Reise in See also: Tunis and Tripolis (See also: Leipzig, 1870)
.
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