Geographic and climatic data

The region of Kairouan is part of the Naro-Cherallil chain, situated in the eastern zone of the Tunisian Atlas, between central and eastern Tunisia. The plain of Kairouan forms a vast basin, 100 km long (axis North - South) and 40 km wide (axis East - West). The relief is gentle, sloping generally from altitude 150m in the West to 40m in the East.

Supplied by the wadis and rains, the water table of the plain of Kairouan, which is exploited to 70% of its potential, constitutes the essential resource in underground water for central Tunisia.

Three important wadis, controlled by dams, cross the plain of Kairouan - wadi Nebhana to the North controlled by the Nebhana dam, wadi Merguellil controlled by the El Houareb dam, and wadi Zéroud to the south controlled by the Sidi Saâd dam. Their locations in the waters of these three wadis allow for the control of the centennial spates like the one in 1969. Corresponding to the major bed of the wadi Zéroud are some important marshlands, which spread themselves to the east of the city.

The region proffers a semi-arid type of climate, characterized by important irregularities in rainfall, big thermal variations, dry summers and humid winters.

The average annual rainfall is of the order of 290 mm. Winter rains are weak in intensity compared to autumnal rains. Violent storms principally burst in September and October, with precipitations that can attain 100 to 200 mm within 24 hours, often inducing floods.

The sequence of siltings by the floods of 1969, the salinity of the ground, the erosion and the improper usage of the land by crossings and by over-grazing, constitute the principal handicaps to agricultural development in the plain of Kairouan. But the swellings of the wadis, the weak vegetation cover, mainly made up of steppe, and an irregular rainfall are as much the factors of the fragility of the countryside.

Despite these handicaps farming constitutes the principal economical activity of the region of Kairouan. It is dominated by animal breeding and cereal growing with a noted advance in mixed farming and arboriculture, that lean on irrigation systems with more and more high return.

So the medina of Kairouan itself developed in a natural site, particularly unprepossessing, presenting no defensive character, and where the agricultural resources are extensively dependent on the hazards of the climatic conditions. This is seen to have repercussions on the shape of the urban fabric of the medina
(particularly in the high and solid walls, and the narrow alleyways to withstand the heat) and on the typology of the Kairouanaise house (with the importance of reserved spaces for the storage of food commodities).

Social data - demographic

Accommodating one fifth of the total population of the ‘gouvernorate’ / Province (532,709 inhabitants in 1994) and close to 85% of the urban population, the city of Kairouan (102,634 inhabitants in 1994) received the bulk of the rural exodus, particularly after the floods of 1969. Since 1966 its rate of annual increase has continued to progress from 2.3% for the period 1966/1975, to 2.9% for the period 1975/1984 and to 4.3% for the period 1984/1994 (the average national rate in urban environment being 3.2%).

In May 2004, new statistics are in the process of being drafted by the INS (National Census Bureau), and we await the results, which will appear soon, to communicate them to you.

Mohamed Rebai
info@kairouan.org