Africa (Roman province)

Rome's first province in northern Africa was established by the Roman Republic in 146 BC, following its conquest of Carthage by Scipio Aemilianus in the Third Punic War. Utica, which had sided with Rome against Carthage, was made the administrative capital. In 118 BC, the Numidian king Micipsa died and split the kingdom among his three heirs: Jugurtha, Hiempsal I and Adherbal. Hiempsal was assassinated in 117 BC; Adherbal fled to Rome to request protection and the intervention of the Roman Senate. In 112 BC, Jugurtha resumed the civil war and defeated Adherbal at Cirta, and embarked on the Jugurthine War against Rome (111–106 BC). Following Jugurtha's defeat, his former territory was placed under the control of the Berber Mauritanian king Bocchus. During Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC), Caesar created a new African province, Africa nova, from territory taken from the Numidians. The original province was called Africa vetus. During the Second Triumvirate, the two provinces were unified, possibly in 35 BC, in consequence of border conflicts. Roman governors of the province won three triumphs between 34 and 28 BC. Further expansion of the province continued under the emperor Augustus, with conflicts recorded through to AD 6. Under the Augustan constitutional reforms, in 27 BC the region was made a senatorial province, and eventually became known as Africa proconsularis (as it was ruled by a senatorial proconsul rather than an imperial legate). After Diocletian's administrative reforms, the province was split into Africa Zeugitana (which retained the name Africa Proconsularis, as it was governed by a proconsul) in the north, Africa Byzacena (corresponding to eastern Tunisia) to the south, and Africa Tripolitania (corresponding to southern Tunisia and northwest Libya) to the south and southeast of Africa Byzacena, all of which were part of the Dioecesis Africae. Old Africa (Africa Vetus), which generally includes the areas mentioned, was also known by the Romans (Pliny) as Africa propria, of which Carthage was the capital. The region remained part of the Roman empire until the Germanic migrations of the 5th century AD. The Vandals crossed into Northwest Africa from Spain in AD 429, had conquered the region by AD 439, founding a kingdom which also included Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics. The Vandals controlled the country as a warrior-elite but faced strong resistance from the native Berbers. The Vandals also persecuted Chalcedonian Roman Africans and Berbers, as the Vandals were adherents of Arianism (the semi-trinitarian doctrines of Arius, a priest of Egypt). Towards the end of the 5th century, Vandal control over the area diminished, abandoning most of the interior territories to the Mauri and other Berber tribes of the region. In AD 533, emperor Justinian, using a Vandal dynastic dispute as pretext, sent an army under the general Belisarius to recover Africa. In a year-long campaign, Belisarius defeated the Vandals, entered Carthage in triumph and re-established 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. From AD 534–91, the northwest African provinces were grouped together with the Byzantine province of Spania into the Praetorian prefecture of Africa, this time separate from Praetorian prefecture of Italy. In AD 591, this was replaced by emperor Maurice with the Exarchate of Africa. The Exarchate prospered. Heraclius the Elder, the Exarch of Africa, and his son Heraclius, overthrew the emperor Phocas at Constantinople in AD 610. Heraclius briefly considered moving the imperial capital from Constantinople to Carthage. Following Heraclius' death in AD 641, the exarchate continued to operate. In AD 698, the Muslim Umayyad army, under general Hassan ibn al-Nu'man al-Ghassani conquered Carthage and defeated the Exarchate, ending Roman and Christian rule in Northwest Africa and establishing Islamic rule in the region. Timetable ;Legend • Mauretania Tingitana belonged to Diocese of Spain under Praetorian prefecture of Gaul, rather than Diocese of Africa under Praetorian prefecture of Italy, from Diocletianic provincial reforms to Vandalic conquest, i.e. during the rule of Western Roman Empire in a broader sense. == Roman Africans ==

) The Roman military presence of Northwest Africa was relatively small, consisting of about 28,000 troops and auxiliaries in Numidia and the two Mauretanian provinces. Starting in the 2nd century AD, these garrisons were manned mostly by local inhabitants. A sizable Latin-speaking population developed that was multinational in background, sharing the northwest African region with those speaking Punic and Berber languages. Imperial security forces began to be recruited from the local population, including the Berbers. Abun-Nasr, in his A History of the Maghrib, said: "What made the Berbers accept the Roman way of life all the more readily was that the Romans, though a colonizing people who captured their lands by the might of their arms, did not display any racial exclusiveness and were remarkably tolerant of Berber religious cults, be they indigenous or borrowed from the Carthaginians. However, the Roman territory in Africa was unevenly penetrated by Roman culture. Pockets of non-Romanized Berbers continued to exist throughout the Roman period, even such as in the rural areas of the deeply romanised regions of Tunisia and Numidia."By the end of the Western Roman Empire nearly all of the Maghreb was fully romanised, according to Mommsen in his The Provinces of the Roman Empire. Roman Africans enjoyed a high level of prosperity. This prosperity (and romanisation) touched partially even the populations living outside the Roman limes (mainly the Garamantes and the Getuli), who were reached with Roman expeditions to Sub-Saharan Africa. == Economy ==

of Hadrian, 136 AD. An allegory of Africa wearing an elephant headdress is depicted on the reverse. , king of Mauretania , detail of a vast mosaic from Cirta, Roman Africa (–325 AD, now at the Louvre) Red Slip flagons and vases, 2nd–4th centuries Red Slip dish with simple rouletted decoration, 4th century The prosperity of most towns depended on agriculture. Described as the "granary of the empire", it was said that Africa fed the Roman populace for eight months of the year, while Egypt provided the remaining four months' supply. Northwest Africa, according to one estimate, produced one million tons of cereals each year, one-quarter of which was exported. Additional crops included beans, figs, grapes, and other fruits. By the 2nd century BC, olive oil rivaled cereals as an export item. Principal production and export goods included textiles, marble, wine, timber, livestock, pottery (such as African Red Slip), and wool, as well as enslaved people, and the capture and transporting of exotic wild animals. The incorporation of colonial cities into the Roman Empire brought an unparalleled degree of urbanization to vast areas of territory, particularly in Northwest Africa. This level of rapid urbanization had a structural impact on the town economy, and artisan production in Roman cities became closely tied to agrarian spheres of production. As Rome's population grew, so did the city's demand for Northwest African produce. This flourishing trade allowed the Northwest African provinces to increase artisan production in rapidly developing cities, making them highly organized urban centers. Many Roman cities shared both consumer and producer model city aspects, as artisanal activity was directly related to the economic role cities played in long-distance trade networks. The urban population became increasingly engaged in the craft and service sectors and less in agrarian employment, until a significant portion of the town's vitality came from the sale or trade of products through middlemen to markets in areas both rural and abroad. The changes that occurred in the infrastructure for agricultural processing, like olive oil and wine production, as trade continued to develop both cities and commerce directly influenced the volume of artisan production. The innovative use of molds around the 1st century BC allowed workshops to produce pottery in a greater variety of shapes and decorative styles. The skill of the lamp maker was demonstrated by the quality of decoration typically found on the flat top of the lamp, or discus, and the outer rim, or shoulder. The production process took several stages. Decorative motifs were created using small individual molds, and were then added as appliqué to the plain archetype of the lamp. The embellished lamp was then used to make two plaster half-molds: one lower half and one upper half mold. Using this pair of molds, multiple copies could be mass-produced. Decorative motifs varied depending on the lamp's function and popular taste. Initially, the ARS lamp designs imitated the simple design of 3rd- to 4th-century coarseware lamps, often with globules on the shoulder or with fluted walls. More ornate designs appeared before the early 5th century as demand spurred on the creative process. The development and widespread distribution of ARS finewares marks the most distinctive phase of Northwest African pottery-making. == Christianity ==