Tunisia, Officially Republic of Tunisia, country of North Africa bathed, in north and the east, by the Mediterranean, limited by Libya to the south, and Algeria in the west. Tunisia, which covers a surface of 164 418 km², is the oldest political entity of the Maghreb. Its capital is Tunis. Opened on the Mediterranean world, with the Western point of North Africa, the country accomodated on its ground of great civilizations: Phenician, Roman and arabo-Moslem woman. First Maghreb country to be arabised, Tunisia, become independent in 1956, seems today a pole of stability in the area.