Professor Mohamed El Aziz Ben Achour says of the town's founder: "Mustapha Aga [...] living peacefully in his palace in the area of Carthage, in the midst of an extensive orchard with fig trees, the source of the name of the village which was established later in this location... " Ahmad I ibn Mustafa, Bey of Tunis under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, gave this orchard to Mustafa Aga, who served from 1837 to 1855 as war minister in the Kingdom of Tunis.

Under the French protectorate, Kram was home to many Europeans who built houses along the beach, some of them modest and others sumptuous.

These villas have been replaced by military training centers and the residential area of Kram Salammbo.

One can still admire some of the gardens that surrounded the houses; the oldest were built in an traditional Tunisian style, while the larger homes of the bourgeoisie were built in a purely Italian style, exemplified by La Carmencita, a small villa located on the street Sakiet Sidi Youssef (formerly Rue Jules Ferry).

The center of Salammbô contains, among other curiosities, the remains of the port of Punic Carthage, the Tophet (or sacred area) of the ancient Carthaginians and the buildings of the Institute and Museum of Oceanography