The history of the city goes back to the Punic era when its first core belongs to the district of Megara, suburb of the Punic city of Carthage. In Salambo, Gustave Flaubert conducts a feast offered by Hamilcar Barca to his soldiers. Because of its name - Marsa or Mers designating a port or an anchorage , archaeologists believed to be able to locate the Punic ports of Carthage. But, although the bay of La Marsa sometimes served as an anchorage, as in 1856 for the landing of Tunisian troops sent by Sadok Bey in Crimea, nothing has yet come to confirm the existence of a port at this location.
Soon after the Arab conquest, it erects a Ribat , where pious men stand guard and teach from the xii th century Sufism , and where are buried some famous marabouts. In the early sixteenth th century , the sovereign Hafsid Abu `Abd Allah Muhammad al-Mutawakkil chose this town for summer residence and is building three palaces in a park in the center. Later, the Abdalliya serves as a residence for the consuls of England before becoming the home of European guests visiting Tunisia. After the Second World War , the building serves as a primary school. Today only remains the Abdalliya El Koubra, testimony of the princely hafside architecture, which houses a cultural center.
The climate combined with landscapes of rocky cliffs, pine forests and orange groves make it a popular place for dignitaries, scientists, citizens and artists who follow the ruling family. For, from the beginning of the nineteenth e century, the beys of Tunis have erected many palaces where they settle from May to September: Mohammed Bey built Dar El Tej around 1855 before his successor began the construction of a pavilion overlooking the beach, Koubbet El Haoua, intended to hide the bathing of the ruling family. Similarly, under the reign of Naceur Bey, the Essaâda palace was built for his wife Lella Kmar, a circassian odalisque who married three successive beys. Center of power for part of the year, the city quickly attracts embassies and consulates in the center or along the coast towards Gammarth, some enjoying neglected beyl residences as the French and British representatives.
Thus, the presence of high personalities Tunisian and foreign contributes to the development of the locality. Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross visiting Tunisia in 1858, describes the locality in his Notice on the regency of Tunis:
"When a stranger arrives at La Marse, everything announces him and makes him feel that he is approaching the residence of a sovereign of the East. The animation reigns on the outskirts of the palace: they are the carriages of the grandees of the court, dragged by horses or mules of price, and driven by negroes to the oriental livery; they are officers, the generals on horseback, the servants of the prince or the Moors in full costume; the European consuls in their cars; foreigners, travelers, besides the caravans of Arabs, Maltese, and Jews; or camels, muleteers, and teams of every kind and kind, coming and going from Tunis to La Marse. "
June 8, 1883, it is in this city that are signed the conventions of the Marsa which reinforce the control of the French authorities on the young protectorate. It is erected in municipality in 1912.
