thumb|upright=.8|The Coat of Arms of the Republic of Tunisia
The present day Republic of Tunisia, al-Jumhuriyyah at-Tunisiyyah, is situated in Northern Africa. Geographically situated between Libya to the east, Algeria to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Tunis is the capital and the largest city (population over 800,000); it is near the ancient site of the city of Carthage.
Throughout its recorded history, the physical features and environment of the land of Tunisia have remained fairly constant, although during ancient times more abundant forests grew in the north, and earlier in prehistory the Sahara to the south was not an arid desert.
The weather is temperate in the north, which enjoys a Mediterranean climate with mild rainy winters and hot dry summers, the terrain being wooded and fertile. The Medjerda river valley (Wadi Majardah, northeast of Tunis) is currently valuable farmland. Along the eastern coast the central plains enjoy a moderate climate with less rainfall but significant precipitation in the form of heavy dews; these coastlands are currently used for orchards and grazing. Near the mountainous Algerian border rises Jebel ech Chambi, the highest point in the country at 1544 meters. In the near south, a belt of salt lakes running east–west cuts across the country. Further south lies the Sahara desert, including the sand dunes of the Grand Erg Oriental.
Early history
First peoples
thumb|200px|[[Ksar Ouled Soltane near the city of Tataouine in southern Tunisia|alt=]]
Stone age tools dating from the Middle Stone Age (around 200,000 years ago) found near Kelibia are the earliest evidence of human activity in the region. Finds have been made of stone blades, tools, and small figurines of the Capsian culture (named after Gafsa in Tunisia), which lasted from around 10,000 to 6,000 BC (the Mesolithic period). Seasonal migration routes evidence their ancient journeys. Saharan rock art, consisting of inscriptions and paintings that show design patterns as well as figures of animals and of humans, are attributed to the Berbers and also to Native Africans from the south. Dating these outdoor art works has proven difficult and unsatisfactory. Egyptian influence is thought very unlikely. Among the animals depicted, alone or in staged scenes, are large-horned buffalo (the extinct bubalus antiquus), elephants, donkeys, colts, rams, herds of cattle, a lion and lioness with three cubs, leopards or cheetahs, hogs, jackals, rhinoceroses, giraffes, hippopotamus, a hunting dog, and various antelope. Human hunters may wear animal masks and carry their weapons. Herders are shown with elaborate head ornamentation; a few other human figures are shown dancing, while others are driving chariots or riding camels.
By five thousand years ago, a Neolithic culture was evolving among the sedentary proto-Berbers of the Maghrib in northwest Africa, characterized by the practice of agriculture and animal domestication, as well as the making of pottery and finely chipped stone arrowheads. Individual wealth was measured among the nomadic herders of the south by the number of sheep, goats, and cattle a man possessed. Finds of scraps of cloth woven in stripes of different colors indicate that these groups wove fabrics.]] -->
The religion of the ancient Berbers is undocumented and only funerary rites can be reconstructed from archaeological evidence. Burial sites provide an early indication of religious beliefs; almost sixty thousand tombs are located in the Fezzan alone, according to the Italian scholar Giacomo Caputo. Libyans sacrificed to the sun and to the moon (Ayyur). Eventually, Berbero-Libyans came to adopt elements from ancient Egyptian religion. Herodotus writes of the divine oracle sourced in the Egyptian god Ammon located among the Libyans, at the oasis of Siwa. Later, Berber beliefs influenced the Punic religion of Carthage, the city-state founded by the Phoenicians.
Egyptian hieroglyphs from the early dynasties also testify to Libyans, the Berbers of the "western desert". First mentioned as the Tehenou during the pre-dynastic reigns of Scorpion II (c. 3050) and of Narmer (on an ivory cylinder), their appearance is later disclosed in a bas relief of the Fifth Dynasty temple of Sahure. Ramses II (r. 1279–1213) placed Libyan contingents in his army.