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El Hamma
El Hamma (Arabic: الحامة Al Ḥāmmah) is an oasis town located in the Gabès Governorate, 30 kilometers west of Gabès, Tunisia and near the eastern end of Chott el Fejej. Its population in 2014 was 73,512. EtymologyThe Arabic name ( حامة ) comes from the word for "hot water" ( الماء الحام ), an reference to the thermal springs that are widespread in the region. The similar names Hamma or Hammamet (the spas) are given to other towns and villages across North Africa. GeographyLocated along the Gabès-Kébili road, and at an altitude of about fifty meters, the town borders the Chott el-Fejej. It is one of the natural outlets of the great Albian Aquifer. The oasis has several sources which together form the El Hamma ouads which are 300 meters from each other. Among these are Aïn El Bordj, Aïn Chaaliya and Aïn Abdelkader. A small mountain range 220 meters above sea level separates El Hamma from the Gabès. HistoryThe town is in the ancestral lands of the Beni Zid tribe and their neighbors the Matmata tribes. The Matmata (Berber: Imatmaten, Arabic: مطماطة) are a tribal confederation of Berber tribes, specifically Beni Faten, living mainly between Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. The ancestor of Matmata is called Maskab and nicknamed Matmat. In ancient times the Matmata inhabited the plateaus of Mindas, around Ouancherich (current Ouarsenis), and Mount Guezoul Tiaret and the great interior plains of Tunisia today. They became powerful at the beginning of the eleventh century, and actively participated in the war between Hammad ibn Bologhine and Badis Ibn El Mansour. Leo d'African visited El Hamma in the mid-sixteenth century noting that
The English explorer Dr. Thomas Shaw who, as early as 1743, spoke of the city in these terms:
Victor Guérin described the town in 1862
 At the end of the 19th century, André Martel,[4] estimated Beni Zid tribe had nearly 19,000 inhabitants, a quarter of whom permanently reside in the oasis of El Hamma. today a majority most of the Beni Zid are settled permanently in the Oasis. On 29 March 1943, New Zealand and British forced defeated the Germans at the Battle of the Mareth Line and entered El Hamma. The completion of several deep bore holes to supply water to the Gabès cement plant in the 1980s and 1990s, saw a drying up of several hot springs including Aïn Echoffa, and a degradation of the palm grove farms. In 2023, the El Hamma synagogue was heavily damaged by rioters during pro-Palestine protests surrounding the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.[5] EconomyAgriculture has long been the main economic sector of activity in Hammah, the city's economy has diversified in recent years and the industry employs more than a third of the towns assets.[6] The hotel and tourism sector is also experiencing particularly significant growth thanks to a rehabilitation program co-financed by the World Bank.[7][8] TriviaThe Swiss singer-songwriter Mani Matter (1936 – 1972) has brought the town of El Hamma to the knowledge of most German-speaking Swiss. After spending his holidays there, he wrote a song about a man called Sidi Abdel Assar who allegedly lived there, unhappily fell in love with a beautiful woman whose dowry he could not afford, and then settling for another woman who was affordable, less beautiful – but intelligent.[9] In 2008, presenter Mona Vetsch of the SRF Swiss TV searched for the real person behind the song, but finding no-one.[10] References
33°53′11″N 9°47′42″E / 33.8864°N 9.79507°E |
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