Tataouine also transliterated as Tatooine, Tatahouine, Tatahouïne, Tatawin, Fum Taţāwīn, Fumm Tattauin, Foum Tatahouine, Fum Tatawin, or Foum Tataouine, from the Berber Tittawin, literally meaning Eyes, with the figurative meaning of Water springs (see Moroccan city of Tetouan

Tétouan

Tetouan is a city in northern Morocco. The Berber name means literally "the eyes" and figuratively "the water springs". Tetouan is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea. It lies a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 40 mi E.S.E. of Tangier...

), is a city

City

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

 located in southern Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

. It is the capital of the Tataouine Governorate

Tataouine Governorate

Tataouine Governorate is the southernmost of the twenty-four governorates of Tunisia, the only one to border both Algeria and Libya. It is also the largest Tunisian governorate, covering an area of 38,889 km² with a population of 143,524 , nearly tied for second least populated with Kebili ...

. The below ground, "cave dwellings" of the native Berber population, designed for coolness and protection, render the city and the area around it a tourist and film makers attraction.

The district is famous for its ksour (fortified Berber

Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...

 granaries) including the picturesque Ksar Ouled Soltane

Ksar Ouled Soltane

Ksar Ouled Soltane is a fortified granary, or ksar, located in the Tataouine district in southern Tunisia. The ksar is spread out over two courtyards, each of which has a perimeter of multi-story vaulted granary cellars, or ghorfas...

, Chenini

Chenini

Chenini is a ruined Berber village in the Tataouine district in southern Tunisia. Located on a hilltop near a modern village of the same name, Chenini was a fortified granary, or ksar Like other ksour created by North African Berber communities, Chenini was built on a hilltop - in this instance,...

 and Douiret

Douiret

Douiret is a ruined Berber village in the Tataouine district in southern Tunisia. Located on a hilltop near a modern village of the same name, Douiret was a fortified granary, or ksar Like other ksour created by North African Berber communities, Douiret was built on a hilltop to help protect it...

. These abandoned settlements feature beautiful vaulted adobe buildings, or ghorfas.

On June 27, 1931, a meteorite

Meteorite

A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...

 of the rare achondrite

Achondrite

An achondrite is a stony meteorite that does not contain chondrules. It consists of material similar to terrestrial basalts or plutonic rocks and has been differentiated and reprocessed to a lesser or greater degree due to melting and recrystallization on or within meteorite parent bodies...

 type impacted at Tataouine; about 12 kg of fragments were found. The mineral of this meteorite was named Diogenite

Diogenite

Diogenites are a subgroup of the HED meteorite group, a type of achondritic stony meteorites.-Origin and composition:Diogenites originates from deep within the crust of the asteroid 4 Vesta, and as such are part of the HED meteorite group...

.

Tataouine's name became famous when George Lucas

George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

, who filmed the original Star Wars film

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...

 in various locations of Tunisia (for example, the Lars Homestead, filmed at the Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata), named Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...

's fictional home planet

Planet

A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...

 Tatooine

Tatooine

Tatooine is a fictional planet and setting for many key scenes in the Star Wars saga, appearing in every Star Wars film except The Empire Strikes Back, although it is mentioned at the end of the movie...

.

Tataouine appeared in the end of the movie The X-Files

The X-Files (film)

The X-Files is a 1998 American science fiction-thriller film written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Rob Bowman. It is the first feature film based on The X-Files series created by Carter that revolves around a fictional FBI paranormal investigation unit called the X-Files...

as Foum Tataouine, where an extraterrestrial viral experiment facility was held.

External links

• Pictures and photos of Tunisia, including Tataouine
• The Real Star Wars? - Associated Press article, videos and photo gallery about Matmata by Andy Carvin
  Andy Carvin
  Andy Carvin is National Public Radio's senior product manager for online communities. Carvin was the founding editor and former coordinator of the Digital Divide Network, an online community of more than 10,000 Internet activists in over 140 countries working to bridge the digital divide...
  
  
• QuickTime VR image of Ksar Ouled Soltane
  Ksar Ouled Soltane
  Ksar Ouled Soltane is a fortified granary, or ksar, located in the Tataouine district in southern Tunisia. The ksar is spread out over two courtyards, each of which has a perimeter of multi-story vaulted granary cellars, or ghorfas...
  
  , also photographed by Andy Carvin
  Andy Carvin
  Andy Carvin is National Public Radio's senior product manager for online communities. Carvin was the founding editor and former coordinator of the Digital Divide Network, an online community of more than 10,000 Internet activists in over 140 countries working to bridge the digital divide...