Enfidha

Enfidha
دار البي
Dar-el-Bey
Enfidha

Location in Tunisia

Coordinates: 36°8′7″N 10°22′51″E / 36.13528°N 10.38083°E / 36.13528; 10.38083
Country Tunisia
Governorate Sousse Governorate
Time zone CET (UTC1)

Enfidha (or Dar-el-Bey, Tunisian Arabic: دار البي  Enfīđa / Dar el bāy) is a town in north-eastern Tunisia with a population of approximately 10,000. It is visited by tourists on their way to Takrouna. Enfidha is located at around 36°8′7″N 10°22′51″E / 36.13528°N 10.38083°E / 36.13528; 10.38083Coordinates: 36°8′7″N 10°22′51″E / 36.13528°N 10.38083°E / 36.13528; 10.38083. It lies on the railway between Tunis and Sousse, approximately 45 km northeast of Sousse and a few kilometres inland from the Gulf of Hammamet. The nearby Enfidha – Hammamet International Airport opened in 2009, serving charter flights from several European countries.

The Enfida estate was granted by the bey Mahommed-es-Sadok to his chief minister, Khaireddin Pasha, in return for the confirmation by the sultan of Turkey in 1871, through the instrumentality of the pasha, of the right of succession to the beylik of members of Es-Sadok's family.

When Khaireddin left Tunisia for Constantinople some years later, he sold the estate to a Marseille company which named it Enfidaville. The attempt by the Tunisian authorities to block the sale of the estate to a French buyer is regarded as a contributory factor in the decision of the French government to bring Tunisia under colonial rule. The estate was later sold on to the Société Franco-Africaine. Enfidaville became the chief settlement on the Enfida estate, a property of over 300,000 acres (1,200 km²) in the Sahel district of Tunisia, forming a rectangle between the towns of Hammamet, Sousse (Susa), Kairawan and Zaghwan. On this estate, devoted to the cultivation of cereals, olives, vines and to pasturage, were colonies of Europeans and natives. At Enfidaville, which was, as its native name indicates, a palace of the beys of Tunis, came a large horse-breeding establishment and a much-frequented weekly market.

About 8 km north of Enfidaville is Henshir Fraga, the ancient Uppenna, where are ruins of a large fortress and of a church in which were found mosaics with epitaphs of various bishops and martyrs. The bishopric of Uppenna has been brought into use as a Roman Catholic titular see since 1967.

Sources

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