The bustle of Tunisian's lively capital reflects an intriguing fusion of two cultures. It's a city where 19th century French boulevards and cosmopolitan western-style shops and entertainment rub shoulders with Arab tradition - at its most exotic in the  maze-like 13th century Medina of Moorish houses and souks that is amongst the best preserved of its kind in the Islamic world.

Modern Tunisians are the descendants of indigenous Berbers and of people from numerous civilizations that have invaded, migrated to and been assimilated into the population over the millennia. Recorded history in Tunisia begins with the arrival of Phoenicians, who founded Carthage and other North African settlements in the 8th century BC. Carthage became a major sea power, clashing with Rome for control of the Mediterranean until it was defeated and captured by the Romans in 146 B.C. The Romans ruled and settled in North Africa until the 5th century when the Roman Empire fell and Tunisia was invaded by European tribes, including the Vandals. The Muslim conquest in the 7th century transformed Tunisia's and the make-up of its population, with subsequent waves of migration from around the Arab and Ottoman world, including significant numbers of Spanish Moors and Jews at the end of the 15th century. Tunisia became a center of Arab culture and learning and was assimilated into the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. It was a French protectorate from 1881 until independence in 1956, and retains close political, economic, and cultural ties with France.

On July 5th 1943 soldiers and equipment boarded ships in Bizerte bound for Sicily.