The Lake of Tunis ( ''Buḥayra Tūnis''; ) is a natural

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

located between the

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

n capital city of

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

and the Gulf of Tunis (

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

). The lake covers a total of 37 square kilometres, in contrast to its size its depth is very shallow. It was once the natural harbour of Tunis.

History

The Tunis-

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

connection was very important to the Romans, as it meant control over the fertile hinterland. The Romans therefore built a dam through the lake. The dam is used today as an expressway for automobiles and railway connecting Tunis to the harbour,

La Goulette La Goulette (, ), in Arabic Halq al-Wadi ( '), is a municipality and the port of Tunis, Tunisia. La Goulette is located at around on a sandbar between Lake of Tunis, Lake Tūnis and the Gulf of Tunis. The port, located 12km east of Tunis, is th ...

, and the coastal cities of Carthage,

Sidi Bou Said Sidi Bou Said ( ') is a town in northern Tunisia located about 20 km northeast from the capital, Tunis. Named after a religious figure who lived there, Abu Said al-Baji, it was previously called Jbel el-Menar. The town itself is a tourist ...

, and

La Marsa La Marsa ( ') is a coastal city located in the northeastern part of Tunisia, situated along the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Tunis Governorate and has a population of around 100,000 people. The city is known for its beaches, upscale resid ...

. The northern lake includes the island of Chikly, once home to a Spanish stronghold, and now (since 1993) a nature reserve. The lake continued to aggrade (an increase in land elevation, in this case of the lake bed, due to the deposition of sediment) during the 19th century. French colonial forces traversed the lake with a 10-kilometer long, 450-meter wide, and 6-meter deep canal.

References

Tunis, Lake of Ramsar sites in Tunisia Tunisia geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia {{Tunisia-geo-stub