Editing Tunisia (section)

=== Ottoman Tunisia ===
{{main|Ottoman Tunisia}}
[[File:Frans Hogenberg battle of Tunis.jpg|left|thumb|[[Conquest of Tunis (1535)|Conquest of Tunis]] by [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] and liberation of Christian [[galley slave]]s in 1535]]
In the last years of the [[Hafsid dynasty]], Spain seized many of the coastal cities, but these were recovered by the [[Ottoman Empire]].

The [[Conquest of Tunis (1534)|first Ottoman conquest of Tunis]] took place in 1534 under the command of [[Hayreddin Barbarossa|Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha]], the younger brother of Oruç Reis, who was the [[Kapudan Pasha]] of the [[Ottoman Navy|Ottoman Fleet]] during the reign of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]]. However, it was not until the [[Conquest of Tunis (1574)|final Ottoman reconquest of Tunis from Spain]] in 1574 under Kapudan Pasha [[Uluç Ali Reis]] that the Ottomans permanently acquired the former [[History of medieval Tunisia#Hafsid dynasty of Tunis|Hafsid Tunisia]], retaining it until the [[French conquest of Tunisia]] in 1881.

Initially under Turkish rule from Algiers, soon the [[Ottoman Porte]] appointed directly for [[Tunis]] a governor called the [[Pasha]] supported by [[janissary]] forces. Before long, however, Tunisia became in effect an autonomous province, under the local [[bey]]. Under its [[Turkish People|Turkish]] governors, the beys, Tunisia attained virtual independence. The [[Husainid Dynasty|Hussein dynasty]] of beys, established in 1705, lasted until 1957.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edmund |title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mKpz_2CkoWEC&pg=PA55|year=2004 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-2137-8 |page=55}}</ref> This evolution of status was from time to time challenged without success by Algiers. During this era, the governing councils controlling Tunisia remained largely composed of a foreign elite who continued to conduct state business in the [[Turkish language]].

[[File:St Louis Cathedral - Carthage - Tunisia - 1899.jpg|thumb|St Louis Cathedral - Carthage - Tunisia - 1899]]
Attacks on European shipping were made by [[Barbary corsairs|corsairs]], primarily from Algiers, but also from Tunis and [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]], yet after a long period of declining raids the growing power of the European states finally forced its termination.

The [[Second plague pandemic|plague epidemics]] ravaged Tunisia in 1784–1785, 1796–1797 and 1818–1820.<ref>{{cite book|last=Panzac |first= Daniel |title=Barbary Corsairs: The End of a Legend, 1800–1820|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_dyeFP5Hyc4C&pg=PA309|year=2005|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12594-0|page=309}}</ref>

In the 19th century, the rulers of Tunisia became aware of the ongoing efforts at political and social [[Tanzimat|reform in the Ottoman capital]]. The Bey of Tunis then, by his own lights but informed by the Turkish example, attempted to effect a modernizing reform of institutions and the economy.<ref name="Clancy-Smith1997">{{cite book|last=Clancy-Smith |first= Julia A. |title=Rebel and Saint: Muslim Notables, Populist Protest, Colonial Encounters (Algeria and Tunisia, 1800–1904) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApCtcGPHOxIC&pg=PA157 |year=1997 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-92037-8 |page=157}}</ref> Tunisian international debt grew unmanageable. This was the reason or pretext for French forces to establish a [[History of French era Tunisia|protectorate]] in 1881.