{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:88%; margin:0.5em auto"

|+Bizerte mean sea temperature

Population structure

In 2014 the Males represented 50.3% of the population and the Females 49.7%.

The population aged 60 years and over represented 12.4% and the urban population represented 60.4% of the population.

Demographic evolution

{| align="center" rules="all" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" style="border: 1px solid #999; border-right: 2px solid #999; border-bottom:2px solid #999; background: #f3fff3"

|+ style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em"| Demographic evolution of Bizerte <br /> and its delegations

|-style="background: #ddffdd"

! || 2004 || 2014 || 2020

|-

| Bizerte ||align=right| 144 889 ||align=right| 167 759 ||align=right| 182 622

|-

| Bizerte Nord || align="right" | 75 234 || align="right" | 87 307 || align="right" | 95 268

|-

| Bizerte Sud || align="right" | 45 227 || align="right" | 55 659 || align="right" | 62 426

|-

| Zarzouna || align="right" | 24 428 || align="right" | 24 793 || align="right" | 24 929

|-

| colspan=11 align=left| <small>Source : Citypopulation.de</small>

|}

Architecture and landscape

Vieux Port

Le vieux port (the old port) of Bizerte is a port with its small pool surrounded by white houses, cafes and large boats in bright colors. The old port is the most charming place in Bizerte. The quay stretches in an arc along the Siena earth ramparts of the Kasbah and the low white houses. A modest boat painted in red and green slices through the calm water, a fisherman unloads his fish for the nearby market, another weighs anchor... Bizerte presents the familiar spectacle of a small Provençal or Spanish port which would have traded its bell tower for a minaret. The old port of Bizerte comes alive particularly at the end of the day, when the terraces of the bistros invade the quays.

Kasbah

thumb|right|View of The Kasbah of Bizerte.

The Kasbah is located in north of the old port, it has a single entrance from the West side. It has small dimensions: approximately 175m by 120m and has 8 towers and a walkway. It was built in the 17th century.

On the other side of the canal, the kasbah rises its ramparts above the medina: it is accessed for the beautiful view of the city, the port, the lake and the sea. The origins of this fortress go back to the time of the Byzantine occupation: rectangular in shape, a tower occupies each corner. The entrance to the kasbah is a narrow arched passageway designed to slow down any invaders attempting to enter it at the time. The interior of the fortress is a maze of small alleys lined with houses. At the foot of the north-west rampart, the market place comes alive with the cry of the merchants, and the stalls give the impression of an organized jumble. Beyond stretches the Andalusian quarter, where the Moors from Spain took refuge in the 17th century. Further along, linked by a rampart of the kasbah, we can see the silhouette of the fort of Spain, which overlooks Bizerte at an altitude of about 40 meters on a height to the north. This fort dates from 1573, built during the Turkish domination by the Pasha of Algiers. It is built so as to be able to face the artillery, composed of thirteen sides with re-entrant angles. Now far from any threat, the fort has since been redeveloped into an open-air theater, which notably hosts the Bizerte International Festival (music, dance, film).

Education

thumb|200px|Schoolyard of the ISG

Bizerte is served by the ISG (Institut Supérieur de Gestion)

Health

thumb|left|200px|Hospital of Habib Bougata

There is in Bizerte a large hospital Hôpital Régional de Bizerte, one of the biggest in the region.

Economy

Bizerte's economy is very diverse. There are several military bases and year-round tourism. As a tourist centre the region is however not as popular as the eastern coast of Tunisia. There is manufacturing (textile, auto parts, cookware), fishing, fruits and vegetables, and wheat.

Miscellaneous

thumb|right|Jebel Aïn Chouna

  • The port of Bizerte is being developed into a significant Mediterranean yachting marina that was scheduled to open in May 2012. The superyacht section of the marina will be called Goga Superyacht Marina, and will have berths for yachts of up to 110m in length. It is expected that this will give a significant boost to the local economy as the yacht owners and also the hundreds of professional crew will become year-round consumers. The service industries supplying the yachts will gradually develop and bring additional employment.
  • The actor Abdelmajid Lakhal was born in Bizerte.
  • The Teapacks song "Lo haya lano klum" is about how bandleader Kobi Oz' family were expelled from Bizerte by the Nazis in 1942.

Titular see

Hippo Diarrhytus is a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1989–2002 it was held by Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, then by Jose Paala Salazar, O.P. in 2002–2004 and by Manfred Grothe since 14 October 2004. The city and see of Hippo Diarrhytus should not be confused with those of Hippo Regius where Saint Augustine of Hippo was the bishop.

Serbian Army in Bizerte 1915–1919

Army

right|thumb|250px|Serbian military cemetery in Bizerte

After the Serbian army's retreat through Albania in 1915, during World War I, part of the army was transported by the French navy to their naval base in Bizerte. Serbian soldiers, and a small number of civilians, arrived in Bizerte on three occasions. In December 1915 and early 1916, after the Albanian Golgotha, then later in 1916 after the first clashes on the Salonica front in Greece and in the early 1917 when Serbian volunteers began to gather in Bizerte. During the entire war, the soldiers were transported to the Salonica front while the wounded were transported back to Tunisia. It is estimated that over 60,000 Serbian soldiers passed through the camp. The training of the volunteers was organized in the camp, education of the disabled but also the cultural events. French-Serbian dictionary was compiled and published by Veselin Čajkanović in Bizerte. Out of 7,000 copies, 5,000 and 1,000 were distributed to Serbian and French soldiers, respectively, while the remaining 1,000 copies were sold, with money being donated to the war invalids.

Serbian wounded soldiers were originally placed in the Lambert barrack. Few days later they were relocated to the away camp Lazouaz. Almost 200 barracks were built in the camp complex. When Guépratte visited Belgrade for the first time in 1930, he was awaited by the crowd which carried the admiral on their shoulders from the Belgrade Main railway station to the Slavija Square. The street where the admiral was carried, today bears his name ().

Hospitals

In Northern Africa, Serbian wounded soldiers were treated in the hospitals in Bizerte, Tunis, Sousse, Sidi Abdala, Algiers, Oran and Annaba. From December 1915 to August 1919, a total of 41,153 Serbian soldiers were treated. In Tunisian hospitals, 833 soldiers died (typhus, malaria, wounds, hunger and frostbites). In Sidi Abdala, local population helped the Serbs providing food, medicines and nurture. A total of 1,722 people died there.

Notable residents

  • Georges Madon (1892–1924), ace pilot
  • Claude Pujade-Renaud (born 1932), writer
  • Maurice Poli (born 1933), actor
  • Abdelmajid Lakhal (1939–2014), actor and theatre director
  • Nikita Mandryka (1940–2021), cartoonist
  • Lionel Duroy (born 1949), writer
  • Pierre Cohen (born 1950), politician
  • Jean-Marc Luisada (born 1958), pianist
  • Mondher Kebaier (born 1970), football coach
  • Hassen Bejaoui, (born 1975), former footballer
  • Malek Jaziri (born 1984), tennis player
  • Hamdi Harbaoui (born 1985), footballer
  • Souheïl Ben Radhia (born 1985), footballer
  • Farouk Ben Mustapha (born 1989), footballer
  • Hamza Mathlouthi (born 1992), footballer
  • Bilel Saidani (born 1993), footballer

International relations

Sister cities

Bizerte is twinned with:

{|class="wikitable"

|- valign="top"

|

  • Tangiers, Morocco, since 1976
  • Port Said, Egypt, since 1977
  • Annaba, Algeria, since 1985
  • Kalamata, Greece, since 1997
  • Palermo, Italy, since 2005
  • Saint Petersburg, Russia, since 2013
  • Rostock, Germany, since 2016

|}

Cooperation agreement

  • Clermont-Ferrand, France, (a program of rehabilitation of historic centers)
  • Dunkerque, France,

<gallery mode="packed">

File:Old port of Bizerte (132040767).jpg

File:Pilsum leaving Bizerte.jpg

File:Ksiba, Bizerte3.jpg

File:Vieux port by night.JPG

File:Bizerte jarzouna.jpg

File:RouteCornicheBizerte.jpg

File:RouteCornicheBizerte2.JPG

File:Bizerta-downtown.JPG

File:Bizerte2020.jpg

File:Binzaret.jpg|alt=|A photo for Bizerte dock, also knows as leksiba

</gallery>

See also

  • European enclaves in North Africa before 1830

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • .
  • .
  • "Bizerte" in the Encyclopedia of the Orient