Tozeur ( ') is the westernmost of the 24 governorates (provinces) of

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 ...

and as such bordering

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. It covers an area of 4,719 km² and has a population of 107,912 (2014 census) making it the least populated province. The capital is Tozeur. __NOTOC__

Geography

The area is of low elevation, particularly its two large

dry lake A dry lake bed, also known as a playa (), is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceed recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkalin ...

s occupying approximately 45% of its area. These are about a third of the Chott el Djerid, the country's largest inland body of water/salt pan and the Chott el Rhasa which has a small portion in Algeria. The lowest point is the bottom of the latter, 23 m below mean sea level. Tozeur and its airstrip are in the quite narrow strip of land between the two pans. Elevations reach above 200 m in the north east extreme being otherwise below 100 m. The uplands to the north attract variable winter and early spring relief precipitation and little other rain. The area exhibits a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''BWh'') with long, extremely hot summers throughout (see North-south graduation of Tunisian climatic zones) — the patchy and infrequent rainfall in winter is greater than the average for the

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

of which the area forms part.

Transport

One of four arterial roads into Algeria passes through Tozeur along a north-east to south-west axis and the town of

Gafsa Gafsa (; ; ') is the capital of Gafsa Governorate in Tunisia. With a population of 120,739, Gafsa is the ninth-largest Tunisian city and is 335 km from the country's capital, Tunis. Overview Gafsa is the capital of Gafsa Governorate, in ...

, a provincial capital to the north before heading due east towards the port and coastal resort city of

Sfax Sfax ( ; , ) is a major port city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate (about 955,421 inhabitants in 2014), and a Mediterranean port. Sfax has a ...

. The other roads of the province are marked as minor, one passing via a long causeway through the Chott el Djerid leading directly to

Kebili Kebili (, ) is a town in the south of Tunisia and one of the main cities in the Nefzaoua region. It is located in southern Tunisia near the Chott el Djerid salt lake. It is the capital of the Kebili Governorate. History Kebili is one of the o ...

, Matmata and Medenine.

Administrative divisions

The Tozeur Governorate is divided into five ''delegations'' (''

mutamadiyat The delegations of Tunisia (''mutamadiyah'', plural ''mutamadiyat'') are the second level administrative divisions of Tunisia between the governorates and the sectors (''imadats''). there were 24 governorates which were divided into 264 delega ...

''), listed below with their populations at the 2004 and 2014 Censuses,Institut National de la Statistique Tunisie (web). and further divided into 36 sectors (''imada''). Five municipalities are in Tozeur Governorate:

References

Governorates of Tunisia {{Tunisia-geo-stub