Bizerte

Bizerte is the capital and largest city of Bizerte Governorate in northern Tunisia, about 65 kilometers north of Tunis, and is noted as the northernmost city in Africa; it had a population of 162,053 in 2022 and a metropolitan area of about 600,012. It suffered considerable damage in the Second World War during Allied operations against Axis forces occupying the strategic Mediterranean port, and after Tunisian independence it remained under French military occupation longer than the rest of the country, becoming the last Tunisian town returned to full sovereignty in October 1963 following a 1961 conflict. Bizerte today serves as a major Mediterranean naval harbor and a center of fishing, textile and auto parts manufacturing, and year-round tourism.