El Kef | |
|---|---|
![Sidi Bou Makhlouf Mosque in el-Kef[1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aEl_Kef.jpg) Sidi Bou Makhlouf Mosque in el-Kef[1] | |
  El Kef Location in Tunisia | |
| Coordinates:36°10′56″N8°42′53″E / 36.18222°N 8.71472°E /36.18222; 8.71472 | |
| Country |  Tunisia |
| Governorate | Kef Governorate |
| Delegation(s) | Kef East, Kef West |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Amor Idoudi (Independent) |
| Elevation | 2,560 ft (780 m) |
| Population (2014) | |
• Total | 54,701 |
| Time zone | UTC1 (CET) |
| Postal code | 7100 |
| Website | www |
El Kef (Arabic:الكافil-kāfⓘ), also known asLe Kef, is a city in northwesternTunisia. It serves as the capital of theKef Governorate.
El Kef is situated 175 kilometres (109 mi) to the west ofTunis and some 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of the border between Algeria and Tunisia. It has a population of 45,191 (2004 census).[2] The old town is built on the cliff face of the table-topJebel Dyr mountain. El Kef was the provisional capital of Tunisia duringWorld War II. It was the command centre of theFront de Libération Nationale during theAlgerian War of Independence against theFrench in the 1950s.
TheSidi Bou Makhlouf Mausoleum entombs the patron saint of the city.
The highest-elevated city of Tunisia, at 780 metres (2,560 ft), its metropolitanarea reaches 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) of which 45 hectares (110 acres) lie within the interior of the old walledMedina quarter.
The municipality of El Kef is shared between two nationaldelegates, East Kef and West Kef, which correspond to the two municipal boroughs.
First known by the name ofSicca during theCarthaginian era, then laterSicca Veneria during the rise ofRoman domination,[3] the city has carried numerous names throughout its history:Colonia Julia Cirta, Cirta Nova, Sikka Beneria, Shaqbanariya and finally El Kef since the 16th century.
El Kef has since ancient times been the principal city of the High-Tell Mountains and of the Tunisian northwest of which it constituted, until recently, the political center, the most important religious center, and the dominant stronghold.
The Roman colony of Sicca Veneria appears from the character of its worship ofVenus to have been aPhoenician settlement.[4] It was afterwards aNumidian stronghold, and under theCaesars became a fashionable residential city and one of the chief centres of Christianity in North Africa. The Christian apologistArnobius the Elder lived here.[5]
The Roman remains include fragments of a largetemple dedicated toHercules, and of thebaths. The ancientcisterns remain. There are ruins of a Christianbasilica, theapse being intact and thenarthex serving as a church. Many stones with Roman inscriptions are built into the walls of houses.[5]
In the early 5th centuryApiarius of Sicca was a priest here, and instigated a dispute between the churches of Carthage and Rome concerning the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Africa when he appealed to the church of Rome against his excommunication by the church of Carthage.
Around 439, invadingVandals conquered the African Romans near the coast. Eventually, El Kef became part of the BerberKingdom of Dorsale.[6]
In 688 AD, the city was raided during theUmayyad conquest of North Africa.
In the 17th century, aKasbah of Le Kef was built to house a permanent garrison (ujaq); the construction was completed by the addition of fortified ramparts in 1740. This did not however prevent the taking and pillaging of the city by theAlgerians in 1756, nor the occupation by the French military from 1881, following the partial collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
On July 8, 1884, the authorities of the newFrench Protectorate declared El Kef a municipality, one of the first in the country.[7]
In 1973, there was a summit meeting here between the Tunisian presidentHabib Bourguiba and the Algerian presidentHouari Boumédiène. The latter proposed a constitution for a Tunisian-Algerian union which Bourguiba declined in favor of the development of economic cooperation between the two countries.[8]
The climate is usually unstable, ranging from summer heat waves to winter snow blizzards.
| Climate data for El Kef (1991–2020, extremes 1951–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 25.0 (77.0) | 31.5 (88.7) | 34.4 (93.9) | 36.3 (97.3) | 42.4 (108.3) | 44.6 (112.3) | 46.5 (115.7) | 47.0 (116.6) | 42.6 (108.7) | 37.9 (100.2) | 30.7 (87.3) | 28.0 (82.4) | 47.0 (116.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 13.7 (56.7) | 14.5 (58.1) | 17.9 (64.2) | 21.5 (70.7) | 27.0 (80.6) | 32.5 (90.5) | 36.0 (96.8) | 35.7 (96.3) | 30.3 (86.5) | 25.6 (78.1) | 19.0 (66.2) | 14.8 (58.6) | 24.0 (75.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 8.4 (47.1) | 8.9 (48.0) | 11.4 (52.5) | 14.5 (58.1) | 19.2 (66.6) | 24.1 (75.4) | 27.2 (81.0) | 27.3 (81.1) | 23.3 (73.9) | 19.0 (66.2) | 13.2 (55.8) | 9.6 (49.3) | 17.2 (63.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 3.0 (37.4) | 3.2 (37.8) | 5.0 (41.0) | 7.5 (45.5) | 11.4 (52.5) | 15.7 (60.3) | 18.4 (65.1) | 18.8 (65.8) | 16.3 (61.3) | 12.4 (54.3) | 7.5 (45.5) | 4.4 (39.9) | 10.3 (50.5) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −6.0 (21.2) | −5.0 (23.0) | −5.0 (23.0) | −4.0 (24.8) | 1.2 (34.2) | 4.0 (39.2) | 8.5 (47.3) | 9.0 (48.2) | 2.5 (36.5) | 1.0 (33.8) | −3.0 (26.6) | −5.0 (23.0) | −6.0 (21.2) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 60.5 (2.38) | 44.0 (1.73) | 50.5 (1.99) | 45.2 (1.78) | 45.3 (1.78) | 23.5 (0.93) | 8.1 (0.32) | 19.9 (0.78) | 43.0 (1.69) | 37.2 (1.46) | 45.5 (1.79) | 49.1 (1.93) | 472.0 (18.58) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 7.6 | 6.8 | 7.2 | 6.3 | 5.4 | 3.2 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 5.6 | 5.1 | 5.7 | 7.2 | 64.7 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 79.0 | 76.0 | 75.0 | 73.5 | 68.5 | 64.2 | 57.7 | 59.6 | 67.3 | 71.9 | 76.1 | 79.5 | 70.7 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 163.6 | 171.9 | 216.0 | 224.9 | 276.6 | 307.8 | 348.5 | 305.7 | 240.9 | 216.9 | 174.9 | 151.2 | 2,798.9 |
| Source 1: Institut National de la Météorologie (humidity 1961-1990, sun 1981–2010)[9][10][11][12][note 1] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: NOAA[14] | |||||||||||||
El Kef contains a certain number of Islamic religious edifices, in its role as the center of aSufi movement. TheSidi Bou Makhlouf Mausoleum is believed to hold the tomb of the founder of theAissawa order in Tunisia,Sidi Bou Makhlouf. El-Qadiriyya Mosque is also a significant Sufi mosque, particularly for theQadiriyya order.[15]
A legacy of the oldlocal Jewish community, thesynagogue of the Ghriba is the object of veneration by Jews of the region, who come in pilgrimage each year during the week marked by the festival ofSukkot.
In the city is the mausoleum of Ali Tukie, the father ofAl-Husayn I ibn Ali at-Turki, founder of theHusainid dynasty which ruled Tunisia from 1705 to 1957.
The vestiges, well preserved, of a three-naved Romanbasilica dating from the beginning of the 5th century named Dar El Kous, dedicated toSaint Peter, have been discovered.[16][17]
The enormousJugurtha Tableland mesa is visible from El Kef.
TheMuseum of the Popular Arts and Traditions of El Kef, housed within a museum built in the 18th century, presents collections which retrace the social habits and customs which prevailed before the independence of the country.
TheBou Makhlouf festival is held in July each year. TheSaliha Festival is held once every other year. The latter takes its name from the singerSaliha who hails from the region.[citation needed]
It is the seat of the National Center for the Dramatic and Scenic Arts of El Kef.[citation needed] The city also organizes the festival of "24 hours of non-stop theatre".[citation needed]
The cuisine of El Kef has two recipes specific to the region. First, a typical regional bread,mjamaa orkhobz el aid, is prepared at festival times, covered with an egg and decorated with pastry. Second,borzgane is a type ofcouscous lightly sweetened by alternating layers of dry fruits, dates, and lamb meat.[citation needed]
The Festival of Mayou, also known as the Festival of Borzgane, brings the traditional Keffishcouscous up to contemporary taste.
The city council is composed of 22 members, including a president, vice president, borough chief, six assistants and thirteen counselors.
Schools, institutes, and faculties include the El Kef Higher Institute of Applied Studies in the Humanities, El Kef Higher Institute of Music and Theatre, El Kef Higher Institute of Information Technology, El Kef Higher Institute of Physical Education, El Kef Graduate School of Agriculture, and El Kef Higher Institute of Nursing Science.
Radio Le Kef, the regional radio service founded November 7, 1991, covers the northwest of the country.
The transportation company of El Kef is the only company offering apublic transit service bybus. The city is linked with surrounding cities by a network oftaxis calledlouage, and with the capital, Tunis, by a regionalrailway line passing throughDahmani.
In sports, theOlympique du Kef, citysoccer club founded in 1922 won the 2009-2010League II Championship.[citation needed]
The El Kef Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education runs the annual Tunisian Women's Soccer Championship.[citation needed]
El Kef has had a sister-city relationship since 1993 withBourg-en-Bresse,France, officially sealed in 1999 and 2000 with the signing of an agreement of exchange and friendship.
In 1855,John Henry Newman published a novel,Callista, which was set in Sicca Veneria in the 3rd century AD (Roman era).
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Kef".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 714.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Romano-Berber cities in Roman North Africa | ||
|---|---|---|
Sorted by contemporary national borders | ||
| Morocco | %2c_Algeria_04966r.jpg) | |
| Algeria |
| |
| Tunisia | ||
| Egypt | ||
| Spain | ||
| Kingdoms and provinces | ||
| Related articles | ||
1 UNESCO World Heritage Sites2 Proposed | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
.svg)
