Berber ǀ Middle Eastern
Photo: Tunisia Football player Wahbi Khazri
Tunisians are natives of Tunisia, the northernmost and smallest country in North Africa. Most are Berbers, a Caucasian people with some degree of Sub-Saharan African. The Tunisian Arabs are an Arab-Berber population whose own culture has been greatly influenced by those of Arabs, Berbers, and the French. Tunisian Arabs have three distinguishing characteristics: a large middle class, which is a rarity among Arab societies; an extremely youthful population; and a unique Tunisian-Arabic language, which is used in everyday communications. After Tunisia won its independence from France in 1956, the departure of the French, Italians, and Jews left it with a homogeneous Arab-Berber population. Their everyday language is a colloquial Arabic dialect, but the French language is commonly used, especially for business and trade. Virtually all Tunisian Arabs are Muslim.
The Tunisian population data represent DNA samples from 196 unrelated, Arabic-speaking individuals from north, central and south regions of the Tunisian Republic, its official title (Tunisia and U.S. Relations With Tunisia). Samples were obtained by the Institute of Legal Medicine (Institut Universitaire de Médecine légale) in Lausanne, Switzerland; and by the Forensic Medicine Department, Hospital Farhat Hached (Service de Médecine légale, Hôpital Farhai Hached) in Sousse, Tunisia.
Photo: Tunisia Football player Wahbi Khazri
Source publication: Tunisian population data on 15 PCR-based loci, FSI, 2002, p272-274.
[Population 154]
