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By Robert Spurlock
Portland, Ore.
Geography, Urban Studies
Ancient history is only one of many reasons I traveled to Tunisia for three weeks in January with a geography professor and two other students.
Phoenician traders first settled Tunisia, which lies at the strategic divide between the eastern and western lobes of the Mediterranean Sea, in the ninth century B.C. With the city of Carthage at its center, a sea-based empire quickly emerged and threatened Rome for control over the entire Mediterranean and the Punic Wars followed. Millennia later, the legends of Hannibal and other heroes of those wars have come alive and evidence of them can be seen among the ruins of this ancient city. |
As geographers, the four of us were interested in all aspects of the Tunisian landscape including religion, agriculture, urban geography and history. We traveled around the country, scaling ancient ruins, getting lost in bazaars and haggling with merchants.
For our purposes, Kairouan was perfect for studying the geography of religion. Tunisians consider it to be the fourth holiest city in Islam, after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. They say that four pilgrimages to Kairouan are equal to one to Mecca. The devoted come to pray at the city's 1,400-year-old mosque-the oldest in North Africa. Kairouan was also ideal for testing the urban geography notion of the "Islamic city"-an urban form that consists of a central mosque with the narrow, winding streets of the market radiating out from it and houses facing away from the street toward private courtyards.
Our research question was whether this urban form is indeed a product of religion, or if it can be found in Muslim cities that predate Islam. Kairouan was interesting because it was founded by Muslims and has always been an Islamic city, unlike older Arab cities in Syria and Iraq. We concluded that Kairouan contained all the components of an "Islamic city," while keeping in mind that the term is problematic since so many modern Muslim cities do not.
The highlight of the trip for me was an excursion to the Sahara. As we drove through this rocky, desolate landscape I was amazed by the sheer size of it. We spent days traveling in the desert, from roughly the Libyan border to within a few miles of Algeria, and we saw vegetation only at remote, scattered oases. The larger oases were capable of supporting irrigated date farming, so we interviewed many farmers about water usage, intercropping and other land-use practices. These interviews were exciting because they gave us a clear picture of how Tunisians interact with their landscape, which is the best part about traveling anywhere. The Tunisians were eager to talk to us as well. It was refreshing to spend three weeks experiencing an environment outside my norm. Like the Tunisians say, "You can't always eat couscous!"
Robert interned at Ameregis Metro Research. After graduating he began a study abroad program in Nicaragua.
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