March 20, 1956, Tunisia achieved independence from France proposed by Habib Bourguiba.

Why did France take Tunisia?

The French wished to take control of Tunisia, which neighboured their existing colony of Algeria, and to suppress Italian and British influence there. At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, a diplomatic arrangement was made for France to take over Tunisia while Great Britain obtained control of Cyprus from the Ottomans.

What was Tunisia called before?

Tunisia was called Ifrīqiyyah in the early centuries of the Islamic period. That name, in turn, comes from the Roman word for Africa and the name also given by the Romans to their first African colony following the Punic Wars against the Carthaginians in 264–146 bce.