Anglo-Tunisian Commercial Relations in the Nineteenth Century: A Travel Note

Abstract

British and Tunisian relations can formally be traced back to the late sixteenth century. These relations were often delicate and even at times painful. Britain was a growing industrial and imperial power, whereas Tunis was a small and rather decaying Regency. These relations, nevertheless, persisted despite all odds. This paper argues that relations between Britain and Tunisia were chiefly commercial and most often largely favourable to Britain. It also suggests that there was inconsistency and lack of long-term strategy in the nature of commercial intercourse Britain used to have with Tunis, which with the emergence of other influences in the Mediterranean in the early nineteenth century, the French one in particular, somehow ‘forced’ the British out of Tunis and North Africa. The enormous corpus of English travel accounts, which is this paper's major source, clearly and strongly reflect this inconsistency. This paper partly reflects on the British travellers' attitudes towards their government's commercial relations with the regency of Tunis.

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