| Smallest of the North African nations, Tunisia was a province of the Ottoman Empire until it was occupied by French troops in 1881 and declared a French protectorate. In World War II, Allied forces converged on Tunisia from east and west and used it as the springboard for the invasions of Sicily and southern Italy. The country resumed its independence in 1956. Most of Tunisia's lighthouses were built by the French within the first 20 years of their colonial government. Today the lighthouses are maintained by the Office de la Marine Marchande et des Ports de Tunisie (OMMP). It appears that most of them are still maintained by resident civilian keepers, with the original French lenses still in place. The Arabic word for a lighthouse is mnarh or manara (منارة). Ra's is the word for a cape or headland. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume E of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113.
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![]() Phare de Ra's Enghela, 2009 photo copyright Bekir Dildar; used by permission |
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![]() Phare de Qulaybiyah (Kélibia) photo copyright Tore Kjeilen; used by permission |
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![]() Phare de Ra's Thyna; photo copyright Tore Kjeilen/LexicOrient used by permission |
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![]() Phare de Zarzis anonymously contributed photo used by permission |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Libya | West: Eastern Algeria
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Posted July 21, 2005. Checked and revised January 4, 2012. Lighthouses: 40. Site copyright 2012 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.