Origins and history of the state of Gafsa
Gafsa is located in the country of Jerid, southwest of Tunisia, on the border with the Algerian state of Tebessa (Thabset). Its name is derived from the Amazigh word Gabsa, which was inhabited by primitive man. “(The Gabsians existed between 10 thousand and 6 thousand years BC and are the ancestors of today’s Amazigh),” and the founding of this city dates back to its history. To the Amazigh god “Hercules”, which has been proven by paleontologists. Gafsa is considered the original homeland of the Amazighs in North Africa and the origin of the Gabsid civilization, where we find Mount Arbat, where the majority of the Amazigh population settled. (Al-Sind, Al-Qattar, Bou Amrane, Bou Saad, Taftarast, Tamagoorth, Bayada...etc.
The French historian “Stephane Gzell” says: “There were several roads in Gafsa leading to all of the Shatout oases (Tajabes - Maktrim - Tebessa...) and it was a city in which the Amazighs or Berbers settled, which qualified it to be a city belonging to the Kingdom of Jugurtha.” 'Jugurthen', where Jugurtha favored its people because he saw in them the courage and valor to defend his kingdom from the Roman invasion, and he exempted them from taxes in order to preserve their loyalty. In the year 107 BC, the city of Gafsa was burned by the Roman commander, 'Carius Marius'. ' to subjugate it and facilitate control over its people, but it quickly extinguished the ashes of the fire, thanks to the courage of its people and their belief in not submitting to invasions, and in the first years of AD, it fought Gafsa. Some of the neighboring Amazigh tribes fought many wars against the Romans under the leadership of the rebel leader “Takfarinas Mouslamis.”
Which caused the disruption and delay of the Roman colonial program in North Africa for more than a decade, but the Romans were insisting on invading this rebellious city, considering it the gateway to North Africa, and it was subjected to Roman rule for more than a century and a half during the reign of the Roman Emperor “Dio Celsianus.” After the Amazighs became angry at the injustice and persecution at the hands of the Romans, they revolted and fought many guerrilla wars, which made Rome forced to retreat from this trend. In the year 477 AD, Gafsa became the capital of an Amazigh kingdom, as the historian Al-Idrisi says: The inhabitants of Gafsa are Amazighs. They used to communicate in the Amazigh -Zenati dialect, and in this context, the researcher Levski wrote a book entitled (A Amazigh Language).
After the Arab invasion of North Africa in the year 27 AH, Gafsa did not submit to Arab rule and remained desperate to defend its land and identity for a period exceeding a quarter of a century until it was re-conquered again by the Arab leader “Hassan bin al-Numan” in the year 78 AH, and Gafsa was full of people. He was an Amazigh member of the tribes (Lawata - Zawagha - Muknasa - ... etc.). In the year 224 AH, Gafsa participated in the revolution that shook the entire south of Tunisia, known as (the Qastiliya Revolution), which was eliminated by the Aghlabi prince “Abu Uqal”.
Source: websites