[1] Administratively attached to the governorate of Sfax, it became on April 1, 1918 a municipality and, after independence in 1956, the capital of a delegation whose area is estimated at 436 km.

In 412, Bishop Valentinianus, representative of the Catholic town of Younga (Macomades Minores ), located south of present-day Mahres, attended the Council of Carthage.

It then experienced a brilliant Arab-Muslim period during the reign of the Aghlabids which made it a powerful bulwark against foreign invasions, in particular to prevent a possible attack from Kairouan.

In the middle of the 9th century, it was the Aghlabid cadi of Sfax, Ali ibn Salem Al-Bekri appointed to his post by Imam Sahnoun, who built a new fortress in the northern part of Mahres and changed the Roman name of the city to Mahres Ali ( محرس علي ).

The long beach of Chaffar is the only tourist area in the governorate of Sfax, located three kilometers from the city.