CARTHAGE Tunisians traded and interacted with other Mediterranean cultures since the 12th century BC. Ancient Carthage, the great city-state founded in 814 BC, so prospered in trade and commerce that it attracted the eyes of an expanding Roman Empire. The fall of Carthage in the second century BC ushered in nearly 700 years of Roman rule. Tunisia prospered as the granary of the Roman Empire. The many splendid archaeological sites which dot the Tunisian landscape today attest to Tunisia's prominent position in the empire. ARAB MOSLEM ERA In the fifth and the sixth centuries AD, Roman influence was replaced by that of, first, the Vandals and later the Byzantines. In the seventh century AD, Islamic conquest reached Tunisia. The city of Kairouan became the center of religious life and the site of one of Islam's most ancient and holiest mosques. In the ensuing centuries, Islamic civilization enriched Tunisia during five long dynasties both Arab and Ottoman. High points during this period were the establishment in Tunis of the Great Mosque and Islamic University of Zitouna; the flourishing of great thinkers such as Ibn Khaldoun, historian and father of modern sociology, who produced works which still influence scholarship ; and the arrival of Muslim Andalusian immigrants expelled from Spain in 1492. By the 16th century, Tunisia was under Ottoman control, and a dynasty of Beys governed the country. FRENCH PROTECTORATE In the 19th century, Tunisia was the first Arab country to promulgate a Constitution and ban slavery, but economic problems, abuses by the Beys and foreign interference were the source of increased instability. In 1881, France declared Tunisia a Protectorate, generating a strong anti-colonial reaction in the country. INDEPENDENCE In 1920, the Liberal Constitutional Party (the Destour) was formed by Tunisian nationalists. The breakaway new Destour, created in 1934, eventually became the driving force behind Tunisian independence. After a long struggle, Tunisia finally won its independence on March 20, 1956. MODERN HISTORY On July 25th, 1957, Habib Bourguiba, the first President of Tunisia, declared the new nation a Republic. On June 1, 1959, the first Constitution of the Republic was adopted. On November 7, 1987, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who at the time was Prime Minister and the constitutionally ordained successor, became the second President of the Republic, after President Bourguiba became unable, for health reasons, to continue assuming the duties of the office. Tunisia's first political succession was both smooth and peaceful.