SAFAQIS

also spelled Sfax, major port town, east-central Tunisia on the northern shore of the Gulf of Gabes. Built on the site of two small settlements of antiquity, Taparura and Thaenae, the town grew as an early Islamic trading centre for nomads. Temporarily occupied in the 12th century by Sicilian Normans and in the 16th century by the Spanish, it later served as a stronghold of the Barbary pirates. The town was bombarded by the French in 1881 prior to their occupation of Tunisia and in World War II, when it was used as an Axis base until captured by the British in 1943. Construction of the modern port was begun in 1895. Now a transportation hub and a market for the phosphates of the Qafsah (Gafsa) region, with which it is connected by rail, Safaqis is Tunisia's second largest city, main outlet for the country's central and southern regions, and a major fishing port with fish canneries. Exports besides phosphates include olive oil, esparto grass, and sponges. The old Arab quarter (medina), with its 10th-century mosque and Casbah (citadel), is surrounded by the original ramparts built in the 9th century. The town is surrounded by an important esparto-, vegetable-, and olive-growing region. In the hinterland there are oil fields and oil pipelines. Pop. (1984) 231,911.