Tunisia (64,378 square miles) is the smallest of the North African nations but it possesses a significant strategic position as well as political importance to the United States and the West.

Tunisia is located in the Central Mediterranean just south of the Italian island of Sicily. The narrow strait between Tunisia and Sicily divides the great intercontinental sea into eastern and western basins and constitutes a potential "choke-off" point for sea lanes and communications.

This country faces the Mediterranean in two directions, one to the north toward Europe and a second to the east toward the Arabo-Islamic mainlands. These regions had the most important influence on Tunisia, or "Crossroads of the Islamic and European worlds."

The Arab invasions of the 17th century started a widespread conversion to Islam and a tendency to Arabization. Arabic is now the official language, spoken by almost everyone.

Islam is the religion of close to 90 percent of the population -- estimated at 7.3 million, mostly Arabs with a small Barber minority of no more than 2 percent of all Tunisians.

The European influence is due mainly to the French colonization of Tunisia from 1881 to 1956, during which France enjoyed free natural resources such as oil and phosphates and a guaranteed larger market for their products.

French is now the second language of one half of the population and is the principle language of business.

Probably the most remarkable western influences in Tunisia is the status of women.

The social change of the Tunisian women situation has started since Bourguiba (president, 1956-1987 and a French-educated lawyer) introduced the Personal Status Code, outlawing practices allowed by the sharia such as polygamy.

Tunisia's history, however, does not stop at French colonization or Arab-Islamic expansion. The Phoenicians, Romans and Ottoman Turks had their share in ruling this country.

Just outside of Tunis, the capital, you can find ruin of Carthage built first by the Phoenicians in 814 B.C. and then destroyed and rebuilt by the Romans around 146 B.C.

Carthage, called by some "A Mosaic of Ancient Tunisia," has been the host of Carthage International Film Festival for many years.

During this festival, some of the finest films world-wide are presented to an audience ranging form ordinary movie goers to world experts in film production.

Here at Penn State, Tunisia is represented by a group of roughly 20 students all in engineering. This is not surprising given that the Tunisian government believes high-tech is necessary for economic development and has a strong commitment to education (30 percent of the country's budget is devoted to education alone).

This along with the fact that 75 percent of the population is under the age of 30 years old makes Tunisia a country with a high literacy rate and rich with intellectual potential. However, the national economy lacks financing and investments to make full use of those potentials.

Finally, Tunisia has about 1,600 kilometers of coastline of beautiful beaches and a Mediterranean climate with moderate seasonal variations making it a great attraction for mostly European tourists.

However, the number of American visitors seems to have risen in the past years. So think about spending your next vacation in Tunisia.