Africa Province

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Africa was a province of the Roman Empire. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day northern Tunisia, as well as the Mediterranean coast of modern-day western Libya along the Syrtis Minor. The Roman administrative province is shown, although in Carthaginian times the province was larger. The continent of Africa was, of course, eventually named after the Roman province. The Arabs later named roughly the same region as the original province Ifriqiya, a rendering of "Africa."

History

For further information see Numidia and Mauretania.

It was the site of the ancient city of Carthage as well as other large cities in that era, such as Hadrumetum (modern Sousse, Tunisia), capital of Byzacena, Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Algeria). The province was established in 146 BC following the Third Punic War, by annexing the remaining Carthaginian territory not confiscated after previous defeats by the Romans. Rome established its first African colony, Africa Proconsularis or Africa Vetus (Old Africa), governed by a proconsul, in the most fertile part of what was formerly Carthaginian territory, and established Utica as the administrative capital. The remaining territory was left in the domain of the Numidian client king Massinissa. At this time, the Roman policy in Africa was simply to prevent another great power to rise on the far side of Sicily. In 118 BC the Numidian prince Jugurtha attempted the reunification of the smaller kingdoms under his rule. However upon his death much of Jugurtha's territory was placed in the control of the Mauretanian client king Bocchus and the romanization of Africa was now firmly rooted. The civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey briefly brought North Africa into the Roman spotlight once again.

Several political and provincial reforms were implemented by Augustus and later by Caligula, but Claudius finalized the territorial divisions into official Roman provinces. Africa was a senatorial province. After Diocletian's administrative reforms, it was split into Africa Zeugitana (which retained the name Africa Proconsularis, as it was governed by a proconsul) in the north and Africa Byzacena in the south. The region remained a part of the Roman Empire until the great Germanic migrations of the 5th century AD. The Vandals crossed into North Africa from Spain in 429 and overran the area by 439 and founded their own kingdom, including Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics. The Vandals controlled the country as a warrior-elite, enforcing a policy of strict separation and suppressing the local Romano-African population, while persecuting the Catholic faith. Towards the end of the 5th century, the Vandal state fell into decline, abandoning most of the interior territories to the Mauri and other desert tribes.

In 533 AD, emperor Justinian, using a Vandal dynastic dispute as pretext, sent an army under the great general Belisarius to recover Africa. In a short campaign, Belisarius defeated the Vandals, entered Carthage in triumph and succeeded in reestablishing Roman rule over the province. The restored Roman administration was successful in fending off the attacks of the Amazigh desert tribes, and by means of an extensive fortification network managed to extend its rule once again to the interior. The North African provinces, together with the Roman possessions in Spain, were grouped into the Exarchate of Africa by emperor Maurice. The exarchate prospered, and from it resulted the overthrow of the tyrranical emperor Phocas by Heraclius in 610. Its stability and strength in the beginning of the 7th century can be seen from the fact that Heraclius briefly considered moving the imperial capital from Constantinople to Carthage. Faced with the onslaught of the Muslim Conquest after 640, and despite occasional setbacks, the exarchate managed to stave off the threat, but in 698, a Muslim army from Egypt sacked Carthage and conquered the exarchate, ending Roman and Christian rule in North Africa.

Economics

The prosperity of most towns depended on agriculture. Called the "granary of the empire," North Africa, according to one estimate, produced 1 million tons of cereals each year, one-quarter of which was exported. Other crops included fruit, figs, grapes, and beans. By the second century, olive oil rivaled cereals as an export item. In addition to the cultivation of slaves, and the capture and transporting of exotic wild animals, the principal production and exports included the textiles, marble, wine, timber, livestock, pottery and wool.

See also

• History of Africa

External links

• Lennox Manton, Roman North Africa, 1988

Reference

• [Roman Africa at www.unrv.com]

Roman Imperial Provinces (120)
Achaea | Aegyptus | Africa | Alpes Cottiae | Alpes Maritimae | Alpes Poenninae | Arabia Petraea | Armenia Inferior | Asia | Assyria | Bithynia | Britannia | Cappadocia | Cilicia | Commagene | Corduene | Corsica et Sardinia | Creta et Cyrenaica | Cyprus | Dacia | Dalmatia | Epirus | Galatia | Gallia Aquitania | Gallia Belgica | Gallia Lugdunensis | Gallia Narbonensis | Germania Inferior | Germania Superior | Hispania Baetica | Hispania Lusitania | Hispania Tarraconensis | Italia | Iudaea | Lycaonia | Lycia | Macedonia | Mauretania Caesariensis | Mauretania Tingitana | Moesia | Noricum | Numidia | Osroene | Pannonia | Pamphylia | Pisidia | Pontus | Raetia | Sicilia | Sophene | Syria | Thracia
[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit]

 

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