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Yacht Reise in den Syrten (1874) > General ideas > Population. Djerba

Population. Djerba

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Lo que dice el Arxiduc:

Djerba has 35.000 inhabitants. They tend to be Arabs except for the 3.000 Jews who live primarily around Zoug ( Houmt Souk). The few Europeans (especially from Malta) live only in Zouk; there are also a few blacks. People are good and industrious, travelling often to Constantinople, Alexandria, etc. When they’ve become wealthy there, they always return to their island. They represent a special race, different from those on the peninsula. They feel they are better and have a permanent home; you rarely see any tents, and they all have their houses. They belong to the Weebbi ( Ibadi) sect of Islam, while the Arabs in Tunis belong to the Maliki (and normally not Muslim). They are constant people, reaching a very old age; you see very few pretty faces. In general, they are fairly cultured, and almost all know how to read and write. The schools are all Arabic; there are no schools for Europeans. The few European children there are taught by their parents or a priest. The men in Djerba normally only have one wife or, at a maximum, two wives, and they tend to like their brides to be fairly plump.

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria, Ed. de Leo Woerl, Eine Yacht-Reise an den Küsten von Tripolitanien und Tunesien, Wurzburg and Vienna ( 2nd ed.)

Datos proyecto Nixe III:

Today, Djerba has 150,000 inhabitants. Though much higher today than in the Archduke’s days, the growth in population has been much more spectacular in continental Tunisia, for example, in Sfax, Sousse and Bizerte.

In the middle of Djerba Island is one of the oldest synagogues, specifically in La Ghriba. On May 10^th while we were on Djerba, we attended a large celebration at the synagogue with a multitude of Jews from around the world.

Some people on Djerba still differentiate themselves as belonging to the Weebi (Ibadi) school of Islam, pointing out that the Maliki come from the area near Tunis. The Weebi originally come from southern Africa and have traditionally been related to the Berbers. That notwithstanding, the population seems to be fairly mixed and integrated today. The same cannot be said of the nomadic tribes, the Grohel, which can be found primarily on southern Djerba and who live a very different type of life in harmony with nature.