Sousse, Sūsah, or Soussa (, ), is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants <small>(2014)</small>. Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. Its economy is based on transport equipment, processed food, olive oil, textiles, and tourism. It is home to the Université de Sousse.
Toponymy
Sousse and Soussa are both French spellings of the Arabic name Sūsa. The present city has also grown to include the ruins of Hadrumetum, which had many names in several languages during antiquity.
Geography
thumb|left|Sousse district|180px
Sousse is in eastern Tunisia, on the Tunisian Sahel coast bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The city covers 45 km<sup>2</sup> and is 25 meters above sea level.
Sousse is between two wadis: the Wadi Bliban (and its tributary the Wadi al-Kharrub) to the north and northwest and the Wadi al-Halluf to the southeast. The subsoil is mostly sedimentary with some deep alluvial deposits, which are more recent closer to the coast. It is divided into four municipal districts: Sousse Nord, Sousse Sud, Sousse Médina and Sousse Riadh. The first two were created on 11 February 1976 and the last two on 19 February 1982. Its main constituencies and Delegation are four in number: Sousse Sidi Abdelhamid, Sousse Médina, Sousse Jawhara and Sousse Riadh. Its geographic code is 31.
History
thumb|150px|A mosaic depicting [[Medusa in the Museum of Sousse.]]
Hadrumetum
In the 11th centuryBC, Tyrians established Hadrumetum as a trading post and waypoint along their trade routes to Italy and the Strait of Gibraltar. Its establishment (at a river mouth about north of old Sousse) preceded Carthage's but, like other western Phoenician colonies, it became part of the Carthaginian Empire following 's long siege of Tyre in the 580s and 570sBC.
The city featured in the Third Sicilian War, the Second and Third Punic Wars (in the latter of which it secured additional territory and special privileges by aiding Rome against what was left of the Carthaginians), and Caesar's Civil War, when it was the scene of Caesar's famously deft recovery: upon tripping while coming ashore, he dealt with the poor omen this threatened to become by grabbing handfuls of dirt and proclaiming "I have you now, Africa!" () The second city in Roman Africa after Carthage, it became the capital of the province of Byzacena during the Diocletianic Reforms. Its native sons included the jurist Salvius Julianus, the emperor Clodius Albinus, and numerous Christian saints. The Roman and Byzantine catacombs beneath the city are extensive: they were mainly investigated in 1913-1927 by French missionaries and soldiers.
The Vandals sacked Hadrumetum in 434 but it remained a place of importance within their kingdom; a bishop and proconsul were martyred there during the Vandals' periodic forced conversions of their subjects to Arianism. The Byzantine Empire reconquered the town in 534 during the Vandal War and engaged in a public works program that included new fortifications and churches. The town was sacked during the Umayyad Caliphate's 7th-century conquest of North Africa. According to a 1987 ICOMOS report, Uqba ibn Nafi's siege and capture of the city resulted in its almost complete destruction, such that no monument of Hadrumetum "subsists in situ". A soaring structure that combined the purposes of a minaret and a watch tower, it remains in outstanding condition and draws visitors from around the world. Its mosque is sometimes accounted the oldest surviving in the region and the town's main mosque, also built during the 9th century, has a similarly fortress-like appearance.
Susa was briefly occupied by Norman Sicily in the 12th century; it fell to the Ottoman Empire in the 16th; and it was bombarded by a French and Venetian fleet in the 18th.
Medieval Susa was known for its textile industries, producing silk and flax fabrics called Sūsī. Especially renowned were its robes called , some of which were mass-produced and sold ready-to-wear throughout the Mediterranean.
After the decline of Mahdia in the 15th and 16th centuries, Susa remained as the most important town in the Sahel region, with a population of about 15,000.
On 26 June 2015, a lone gunman, Seifeddine Rezgui Yacoubi, opened fire on tourists sunbathing on a beach near the Riu Imperial Marhaba and Soviva hotels, killing 38 and wounding 39, before being shot dead by the police.
Cityscape
Demography
As of 2019, Sousse's population was 737,027. Males represent 50.1% of the population structure (with a population of 509,456) against 49.9% by females (with a population of 507,426) in 2014.
Public services
thumb|left|University of Sousse|180px
The city contains the University of Sousse, formerly known as the University of the Center, including its Ibn El Jazzar, Faculty of Medicine, the Sousse National School of Engineers, and the Higher Institute of Music of Sousse, founded in 1999.
There are a number of high schools, such as the pilot high school of Sousse, the boys' high school, the Tahar-Sfar high school (formerly the young girls' high school), the 20 – March 1934 high school (technical high school), the Abdelaziz-El-Bahi high school or the Jawhara high school, and colleges, such as the Pilot College of Sousse, the Mohamed El Aroui College and the Constantine College.
Sousse is served by a hospital, the Hospital of Sahloul, the largest in the region.
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Hôpital Sahloul Sousse, juin 2013.jpg
CHU Sahloul, Sousse Tunisie 2013.JPG
CHU Sahloul, Sousse 13 avril 2016.jpg
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Economy
thumb|Sousse industrial zone
Sousse's most important economic activity takes place in the tertiary sector, which employs over 50% of the city's workforce and includes administration, education, healthcare, trade, communications, and banking.
The architecture, although modern and dazzlingly white, has been modeled on the more traditional buildings in Tunisia, complete with narrow streets and arches. The hotels that line the beachfront extend from Sousse itself along miles of sparkling clean sea to the harbor of Port El Kantaoui and to the north of the harbor.
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Entrance of the Port El Kantaoui.jpg
Port El Kantaoui - panoramio (34).jpg
Port El Kantaoui - panoramio (35).jpg
Dock of Port El Kantaoui.JPG
El Kantaaoui marina from the tower - panoramio.jpg
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Religious buildings
Great Mosque
thumb|Grande Mosquée of Sousse
Located at the entrance to the medina, it was erected by the Aghlabid sovereign Aboul Abbas I (841–856) in 850–851, almost thirty years after the construction of the Ribat of Sousse. This mosque is the most emblematic of a city that became a few years after the reign of Ziadet-Allah I (817–838), the second city of Ifriqiya and the Sahel. Subsequently, the building is enlarged during the reign of Ibrahim II (875–902).
Other religious sights
- Bou Ftetah Mosque
- Médersa El Zaqqaq
- Église Saint-Félix
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Mosquée Bou Ftetah, medina de Sousse, 30 septembre 2013 (04).jpg|Mosquée Bou Fetatah
Zouia Al Zouqaq, Sousse, 30 septembre 2013 (06).jpg|Minaret Al Zaqqaq
Église Saint Félix Sousse, Tunisie 2013.JPG|Saint Félix Cathedral
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Sport
thumb|Stade Olympique de Sousse
Sousse is represented by Étoile Sportive du Sahel, a large multisport club. Football is the city's most popular sport, and ES Sahel has won the Tunisian football championship eleven times and the Tunisian Cup ten times. The team's home ground is Stade Olympique de Sousse. Handball, basketball, and volleyball are also popular.
Climate
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies Sousse's climate as hot semi-arid (BSh) bordering with hot-summer Mediterranean (Csa) and cool semi-arid (BSk).
The highest recorded temperature was on 28 August 2007, while the lowest recorded temperature was on 27 December 1993.