1.
Sallust
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Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust, was a Roman historian, politician, and novus homo from an Italian plebeian family. Sallust was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines and was a popularis, an opponent of the old Roman aristocracy, throughout his career, and later a partisan of Julius Caesar. Sallust is the earliest known Roman historian with surviving works to his name, of which Catilines War, The Jugurthine War, Sallust was primarily influenced by the Greek historian Thucydides and amassed great wealth from his governorship of Africa. Sallust was probably born in Amiternum in Central Italy, though Eduard Schwartz takes the view that Sallusts birthplace was Rome and his birth date is calculated from the report of Jeromes Chronicon. But the New Zealander Ronald Syme suggests that Jeromes date has to be adjusted because of his carelessness, however, Sallusts birth is widely dated at 86 BC, and the Kleine Pauly Encyclopedia takes 1 October 86 BC as the birthdate. Michael Grant cautiously offers 80s BC, there is no information about Sallusts parents or family, except for Tacitus mention of his sister. The Sallustii were a noble family of Sabine origin. They belonged to the order and had full Roman citizenship. During the Social War Gaius parents hid in Rome, because Amiternum was under threat of siege by rebelling Italic tribes, because of this Sallust could have been raised in Rome He received a very good education. After an ill-spent youth, Sallust entered public life and may have won election as quaestor in 55 BC and he became a Tribune of the Plebs in 52 BC, the year in which the followers of Milo killed Clodius in a street brawl. Sallust then supported the prosecution of Milo, Sallust, Titus Munatius Plancus and Quintus Pompeius Rufus also tried to blame Cicero, one of the leaders of the Senators opposition to the triumvirate, for his support of Milo. Syme suggests that Sallust, because of his position in Milos trial, T. Mommsen states that Sallust acted in Pompeys interests. According to one inscription, some Sallustius was a proquaestor in Syria in 50 BC under Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus. Mommsen identified this Sallustius with Sallust the historian, though T. R. S. Broughton argued that Sallust the historian could not have been an assistant to Julius Caesars adversary. From the beginning of his career, Sallust operated as a decided partisan of Julius Caesar. In 50 BC, the censor Appius Claudius Pulcher removed him from the Senate on the grounds of gross immorality, in the following year, perhaps through Caesars influence, he was reinstated. During the Civil War of 49–45 BC Sallust acted as Caesars partisan and it was reported that Sallust dined with Caesar, Hirtius, Oppius, Balbus and Sulpicius Rufus on the night after Caesars famous crossing of the Rubicon river into Italy on 10 January. In 49 BC Sallust was moved to Illyricum and probably commanded at least one legion there after the failure of Publius Cornelius Dolabella, in 48 BC he was probably made quaestor by Caesar to re-enter the Senate
2.
Cirta
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Cirta was the capital city of the Berber Kingdom of Numidia in northern Africa. Its strategically important port city was Russicada, although Numidia was a key ally of the ancient Roman Republic during the Punic Wars, Cirta was subject to Roman invasions during the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. Eventually went under Roman dominion during the rule of Julius Caesar, vandals damaged Cirta, but emperor Justinianus I reconquered and improved the Roman city. Arabs finally captured it in 698 AD, pliny calls the city as the first century Roman colonia Cirta Sittianorum, together with Rusicade, Milevum and Chullu in what was an autonomous territory of the new province Africa Nova. Indeed, Rome allowed Publius Sittius and his Italian legionaries from Campania to rule the territory of Cirta, however, under Publius Sittius, Cirta was a special colony with some autonomy from Rome. Under the emperor Augustus, the city obtained full Roman status as colonia with the name Iulia Iuvenalis Honoris et Virtutis Cirta in 27 BC, since then Cirta started to grow enormously as an economic center of Roman Africa. The city by the end of the second century -when Christianity started to be important- had nearly 50,000 inhabitants, according to historian Robin Daniel. Cirtas populace was as diverse as the Roman Republic itself — alongside native Numidians were Carthaginians displaced by the Second and Third Punic Wars, as well as Greeks, Romans, and Italians. It served as a hub for Rome’s African empire, as it was inhabited by Roman and Italian merchants, bankers. Not only was Cirta an important economic site, it was also a key political, during the Second Punic War, the Battle of Cirta marked a decisive Roman victory for Scipio Africanus against Romes most formidable rival in the Mediterranean — Carthage. Moreover, Rome illustrated its willingness to defend its interests in Cirta into the late 2nd century BC following the death of Micipsa, King of Numidia, a power struggle ensued between his adopted son Jugurtha and his natural son Adherbal. Adherbal appealed to Rome to help broker a truce and to help evenly split the kingdom between the two heirs, despite a senatorial commission’s seemingly successful mediation, Jugurtha besieged Cirta, killing Adherbal and Italian elites who defended him. Subsequently, Rome declared war on the kingdom to assert its hegemony in the region, jugurtha’s defeat at Cirta at the hands of the Roman army is commonly referred to as the Jugurthine War. Caesars conquest of Northern Africa officially brought Cirta under direct Roman rule in 46 BC and it was during the rule of Augustus, however, when Cirtas territory expanded and assimilated into the empire. Augustus split Cirta into communities, or pagis, dividing Numidians and this helped facilitate Cirtas assumption into the Roman realm, culturally and economically. These settlers, of course, were augmenting those Romans who had inhabited the city since the earlier periods of the Punic Wars, in the first two centuries AD Christianity began to take root in Cirta. While little remains of African Christianity before 200 AD, records of martyred Christians at Cirta existed by mid-century, civil war in 311 marked the destruction of the city, however, the first Christian emperor Constantine rebuilt it in his own name in 313 AD, calling it Constantine. The town of Cirta had become a Roman colony, probably as early as the time of Sittius, at the beginning of the 2d c. it was the capital of a curious administrative district, one of those anomalies common to the administrative history of Africa
3.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
4.
History of Algeria
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Much of the history of Algeria has taken place on the fertile coastal plain of North Africa, which is often called the Maghreb. The region was conquered by the Muslims in the early 8th century AD, during the Ottoman period, Algiers was the center of the Barbary slave trade which led to many naval conflicts. The last significant events in the recent history have been the Algerian War. Evidence of the human occupation of Algeria is demonstrated by the discovery of 1.8 million year old Oldowan stone tools found at Ain Hanech in 1992. In 1954 fossilised Homo erectus bones were discovered by C, arambourg at Ternefine that are 700,000 years old. Neolithic civilization developed in the Saharan and Mediterranean Maghrib between 6000 and 2000 BC and this type of economy, richly depicted in the Tassili nAjjer cave paintings in southeastern Algeria, predominated in the Maghrib until the classical period. Since the 4000 BC, the peoples of northern Africa successfully resisted Phoenician, Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Arab, Turkish. Phoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 BC, during the classical period, Berber civilization was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and political organization supported several states. The Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in the Punic Wars, and in 146 BC, as Carthaginian power waned, the influence of Berber leaders in the hinterland grew. By the 2nd century BC, several large but loosely administered Berber kingdoms had emerged, after that, king Masinissa managed to unify Numidia under his rule. Madghacen was a king of independent kingdoms of the Numidians, between 12 and 3 BC, Berber territory was annexed by the Roman Empire in AD24. Increases in urbanization and in the area under cultivation during Roman rule caused wholesale dislocations of Berber society, the prosperity of most towns depended on agriculture, and the region was known as the breadbasket of the empire. Christianity arrived in the 2nd century, by the end of the 4th century, the settled areas had become Christianized, and some Berber tribes had converted en masse. According to historians of the Middle Ages, the Berbers are divided into two branches, two are from their ancestor Mazigh, in sum, the two branches Botr and Barnès are also divided into tribes. Each Maghreb region is made up of several tribes, the large Berber tribes or peoples are Sanhaja, Houaras, Zenata, Masmuda, Kutama, Awarba, Barghawata. Each tribe is divided into sub tribes, all these tribes have independence and territorial decisions. Several Berber dynasties have emerged during the Middle Ages to the Maghreb, Sudan, in Andalusia, Italy, in Mali, Niger, Senegal and Egypt. Ibn Khaldoun made a table of Berber dynasties, Zirid, Banu Ifran, Maghrawa, Almoravid, Hammadid, Almohad Caliphate, Marinid, Zayyanid, Wattasid, Meknes, Hafsid dynasty
5.
Prehistoric North Africa
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The Prehistory of North Africa spans the period of earliest human presence in the region to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt in c.3100 BC. Geographically, it can also be held to include the Saharan portions of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, as modern humans are generally believed to originate in Africa, prehistoric North Africa may hold important clues in understanding the evolution and spread of Homo sapiens. Human habitation in North Africa has been influenced by the climate of the Sahara. This is due to a 41000-year cycle in which the tilt of the changes between 22° and 24. 5°. At present, we are in a dry period, but it is expected that the Sahara will become again in 15000 years. During the last glacial period, the Sahara was much larger than it is today, the end of the glacial period brought more rain to the Sahara, from about 8000 BC to 6000 BC, perhaps because of low pressure areas over the collapsing ice sheets to the north. Once the ice sheets were gone, the northern Sahara dried out, in the southern Sahara, the drying trend was initially counteracted by the monsoon, which brought rain further north than it does today. By around 4200 BC, however, the monsoon retreated south to approximately where it is today, the Sahara is now as dry as it was about 13,000 years ago. These conditions are responsible for what has called the Sahara pump theory. During periods of a wet or Green Sahara, the Sahara becomes a savanna grassland and various flora and this separates populations of some of the species in areas with different climates, forcing them to adapt, possibly giving rise to allopatric speciation.8 million BC. Tools of this era, starting about 130,000 BCE, are called Aterian and are marked by a standard of workmanship, great variety. The earliest blade industries in North Africa belong to the Iberomaurusian or Oranian and this lithic industry appears to have spread throughout the coastal regions of North Africa between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. Neolithic society spread in the Saharan and Mediterranean North Africa after the Levante between 6000 and 2000 BC and this type of economy, so richly depicted in the Tassili nAjjer cave paintings, predominated in North Africa until the classical period. The pictures provide the most complete record of a prehistoric African culture, in 2013, Iberomaurusian skeletons from the prehistoric sites of Taforalt and Afalou in the Maghreb were analyzed for ancient DNA. The ancient Taforalt individuals carried the mtDNA haplogroups U6, H, JT and V, cultures producing rock art flourished during this period. In Prehistoric Egypt, Neolithic settlements appear from about 6000 BC, oher regions in Africa independently developed agriculture at about the same time, the Ethiopian highlands, the Sahel, and West Africa. The beginning of the Bronze Age in Egypt is conventionally identified as the Protodynastic Period, by the Iron Age, the historic record demonstrated the existence of the Berbers in North Africa from at least 10,000 B. C. While Egypt and Sudan had entered historicity since the Bronze Age, some Phoenician and Greek colonies were established along the Mediterranean coast during the 7th century BC
6.
Aterian
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The Aterian is a Middle Stone Age stone tool industry centered in the Maghreb, but also found in Oman and the Thar Desert. The earliest Aterian dates to c.145,000 years ago, however, most of the early dates cluster around the beginning of the Last Interglacial, around 130,000 years ago, when the environment of North Africa began to ameliorate. The Aterian disappeared around 30,000 years ago and it is not thought to have influenced subsequent archaeological cultures in the region. The Aterian is primarily distinguished through the presence of tanged or pedunculated tools, bifacially-worked, leaf-shaped tools are also a common artefact type, and so are racloirs and Levallois flakes and cores. Items of personal adornment are known from at least one Aterian site, the appropriateness of the term Mousterian is contested in a North African context, however. The technological character of the Aterian has been debated for almost a century, Levallois reduction is widespread across the whole of North Africa throughout the Middle Stone Age, and scrapers and denticulates are ubiquitous. Bifacial foliates moreover represent a huge taxonomic category and the form, there is also a significant variation of tanged tools themselves, with various forms representing both different tool types and the degree tool resharpening. For example, bifacial leaf points are found widely across North Africa in assemblages that lack tanged tools and this notwithstanding, the term still usefully denotes the presence of tanged tools in North African Middle Stone Age assemblages. Tanged tools persisted in North Africa until around 30,000 years ago, by this time, the Aterian lithic industry had long ceased to exist in the rest of North Africa due to the onset of the Ice Age, which in North Africa, resulted in hyperarid conditions. Assemblages with tanged tools, the Aterian, therefore have a significant temporal and spatial range, however, they have not yet been found east of the Nile and no Aterian sites are known from the Nile Valley. The Aterian is associated with early Homo sapiens at a number of sites in Morocco, the Aterian fossils also display similarities to the earliest modern humans found out of Africa at Skhul and Qafzeh in the Levant, and they are broadly contemporary to them. Such examples of shell beads have been found far inland, suggesting the presence of long distance social networks, such a subdivided population structure has also been inferred from the pattern of variation observed in early African fossils of Homo sapiens. Associated faunal studies suggest that the making the Aterian exploited coastal resources as well as engaging in hunting. It has so far been difficult to estimate whether Aterian populations further inland were exploiting freshwater resources as well, studies have suggested that hafting was widespread, perhaps to maintain flexibility in the face of strongly seasonal environment with a pronounced dry season. Scrapers, knives and points all seem to have been hafted and it is probably that plant resources were also exploited. Although there is no evidence from the Aterian yet, plant processing is evidenced in North Africa from as much as 182,000 years ago. Aterian lithic tools have also discovered in Middle Paleolithic deposits in Oman. Ifri nAmmar Contrebandiers Taforalt Rhafas Dar es Soltan I El Mnasra Kharga Oasis Uan Tabu Oued el Akarit Adrar Bous Oman Thar Desert Synoptic table of the old world prehistoric cultures
7.
Iberomaurusian
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The Iberomaurusian culture is a backed bladelet lithic industry found throughout the Tamazgha. The industry was originally described in 1909 by the French scholar Pallary, other names for the industry have included Mechta-Afalou, Mouillian and Oranian. Recent fieldwork indicates that the Iberomaurusian culture existed in the region from around the timing of the Last Glacial Maximum, at 20,000 BP, the industry is succeeded by the Capsian culture, which was originally thought to have spread into the Maghreb from the Near East. However, later studies suggest that the Iberomaurusian may have been the progenitors of the Capsian, despite suggestions that this minor element may be related to the Basques of southwestern Europe, there appear to be no vestiges of a Basque linguistic influence in the region. In 2013, Iberomaurusian skeletons from the sites of Taforalt. The ancient Taforalt individuals carried the mtDNA Haplogroup N subclades like U6, H, JT and V, which points to population continuity in the region dating from the Iberomaurusian period. In 2016 it has been identified mtDNA haplogroups H or U, T2b, JT or H14b1, J, J1c3f, H1, R0a1a, R0a2c, H2a1e1a, H2a2a1, H6a1a8, H14b1, U4a2b, U4c1, U6d3. A2003 sequencing on the mitochondrial DNA of two Cro-Magnons identified the mtDNA as Haplogroup N. Aterian
8.
Capsian culture
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The Capsian culture was a Mesolithic culture of the Maghreb, which lasted from about 10,000 to 6,000 BCE. It was named after the town of Gafsa in Tunisia, which was Capsa in Roman times, the Capsian industry was concentrated mainly in modern Tunisia and Algeria, with some sites attested in southern Spain to Sicily. It is traditionally divided into two horizons, the Capsien typique and the Capsien supérieur, which are found in chronostratigraphic sequence. They represent variants of one tradition, the differences between them being both typological and technological, during this period, the environment of the Maghreb was open savanna, much like modern East Africa, with Mediterranean forests at higher altitudes. The Capsian diet included a variety of animals, ranging from aurochs and hartebeest to hares and snails. During the succeeding Neolithic of Capsian Tradition, there is evidence from one site, for domesticated, probably imported, anatomically, Capsian populations were modern Homo sapiens, traditionally classed into two variegate types, Proto-Mediterranean and Mechta-Afalou on the basis of cranial morphology. Some have argued that they were immigrants from the east, whereas others argue for population continuity based on physical characteristics and other criteria. Nothing is known about Capsian religion, but their burial methods suggest a belief in an afterlife, decorative art is widely found at their sites, including figurative and abstract rock art, and ochre is found coloring both tools and corpses. Ostrich eggshells were used to make beads and containers, seashells were used for necklaces, the Ibero-Maurusian practice of extracting the central incisors continued sporadically, but became rarer. The Eburran industry which dates between 13,000 and 9,000 BCE in East Africa, was known as the Kenya Capsian due to similarities in the stone blade shapes
9.
Rock art of south Oran (Algeria)
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Comparable engravings have been described, even further east, around Djelfa and in the region of Constantine. Although in the past some archaeologists affirmed that these engravings derived from European Upper Paleolithic art, less famous than the rock art at the Tassili nAjjer site, the South Oran engravings have however been the subject of study since 1863. The most important works are notably those of A. Pomel, Stéphane Gsell, G. B. M. Flamand, Leo Frobenius and Hugo Obermaier, lAbbé Henri Breuil, L. Joleaud, and Raymond Vaufrey. A notable part of the work was devoted to the engravings of the El-Bayadh region. For Henri Lhote the South Oran region constitutes one of the three centres of art of the antelope age with Tassili and Fezzan. The oldest of these engravings, on the hand, show many affinities with those of Tassili which he proposes the minimum date of around 5000. There is therefore room, according to him, to adopt it also for the South-Oranian material until better information may be forthcoming, the region of El-Bayadh on WikiMapia. The classification proposed by G. B. M. Flamand based on a study of techniques and patinas distinguished a first group of naturalistic engravings, a second, libyco-berber group and two late groups. For Hugo Obermaier there exist two sub-groups in the engravings, the older being of naturalistic style, the more recent of sub-naturalistic style. The cult of the ram with the sphere was, according to him, Henri Breuil for his part distinguished three stages. In Stage I, contemporary with the end of the Capsian, he places the large hartebeest with ringed horns, the elephants, and the very style-accomplished as well as large human figures. Stage II, which he attributes to the Lower Neolithic, brings together the large ram of Bou Alem, the ram, for him, had not yet been domesticated but only tamed, and its cult is rather the origin than the reflex to the Egyptian belief. Stage III includes the figures in decadent style. C, the ram, which he considers domesticated, is only a transposition of the Egyptian cult of Ammon and the representations of it cannot be older than 2200 B. C. For Henri Lhote however, there is no any archaeological argument which should cause one to separate the rams, supposed to be later, from the giant hartebeest, Henri Lhote distinguished seven series in the mural art of the South Oranian. Large engravings of monumental naturalistic style, or Large-scale Hartebeest style, beside the great hartebeest, elephants and rhinoceros, Lhote placed the numerous ostriches and antelopes, boars, lions and panthers. The animals are represented absolutely in profile apart from the hartebeest, Lhote placed in this ensemble the human images which accompany them. No human figure with animal head having been found, he observed that the hartebeest ensembles of the Saharan Atlas differ from those of Tassili-n-Ajjer and of Fezzan where these figures are running. The author also thinks that the domestication of the dog was achieved in this period and this first stage also includes the mythic animals
10.
Rock art of the Djelfa region
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The rock art of the Djelfa region in the Ouled Naïl Range consists of prehistoric engravings of Neolithic age which have been recognized since 1914. Following the Saharan Atlas Mountains they follow on from those, to the west, of south Oran, comparable engravings have also been described further to the east, in the Constantine region. Some of the engravings of the Djelfa region seem to have known since the 1850s. Among the best-known, those of Zaccar were discovered in 1907, in total more than 1,162 engravings have been discovered in the region. It may therefore be possible to them making use of the hypotheses. Some belong to the earliest stage of the large-scale Hartebeest school, like The Apollo of Ouled Naïl, the region of Djelfa on Wikimapia. Around the road from Djelfa to Laghouat twenty-three stations are shown, three stations are in addition mentioned to the east of Djelfa, no 1,2,3. Three other sites are found to the west, n°37,36,35. Around the road from Djelfa to Messaad twelve stations follow roughly from north to south, to the east of Messad two final stations are named, no 43 and 15. They are by-and-large arranged in separate groups, the monumental friezes or very richly decorated murals like those of Oued el Hesbaïa or Aïn Naga being exceptions. Recognizing that the engravings of the Djelfa region are similar to those of south Oran by subject and technique, P. Huard and L. What is more The bovidian stage, which would only in the fourth place in the sequence of the south-Oranian. Deducing that these show that in the two sectors, its origin must certainly be more ancient, Huard and Allard prefer to speak of a pastoral stage of long duration, with cows. In the stage of Hunters the authors gather the depictions of the wild fauna, ancient buffalo, elephants, rhinoceros, lions, ostriches. Of the seventeen buffalo recorded in the region, twelve belong to the large and they are found at Oued el Hesbaïa, Aïn Naga, at Station de lAutruche, Djebel Doum, Safiet el Baroud, Hadjra Mokhotma north, Kheneg Hilal and Ben Hallouane. Large, medium or small, the twenty-two elephants seem to belong to various ages. The largest, naturalistic in style, are found at Aïn Naga, Theniet bou Mediouna I, Oued Remeilia, Aïn Mouilha, Oued el Hesbaïa, Safiet Bou Khenan, Zaccar, Feidjet Elleben and Bou Sekkin. Seven rhinoceros, of quality and often decadent in style, are recorded at five stations, at Oued Remeila, Feidjet Elleben, Bou Sekkin, Aïn Naga
11.
Tassili n'Ajjer
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It features over 300 rock arches, dense clusters of eroded sandstone rock pillars and steep cliffs and gorges where water pools permanently at the surface. Tassili nAjjer covers an area of over 72,000 km2, although sources vary considerably, the earliest pieces of art are assumed to be 12,000 years old. The vast majority date to the 9th and 10th millennia BP or younger, among the 15,000 engravings so far identified depicted are large wild animals including antelopes and crocodiles, cattle herds and humans that engage in activities such as hunting and dancing. According to UNESCO, The exceptional density of paintings and engravings. have made Tassili world famous, the Tassili nAjjer ranges from 26°20′N 5°00′E east-south-east to 24°00′N 10°00′E. Its highest point is the Adrar Afao that peaks at 2,158 m, the nearest town is Djanet, situated around 10 km southwest of Tassili nAjjer. The archaeological site has been designated a park, a Biosphere Reserve and was induced into UNESCOs World Heritage Site list as Tassili nAjjer National Park. The plateau is also of geological and aesthetic interest, as the panorama of geological formations of rock forests of eroded sandstone resembles a strange lunar landscape. The range is composed largely of sandstone, erosion in the area has resulted in nearly 300 natural rock arches being formed, along with many other spectacular landforms. The ecology of the Tassili nAjjer is more fully described in the article West Saharan montane xeric woodlands, the literal English translation of Tassili nAjjer is Plateau of the rivers referring to a time when the climate was repeatedly far wetter than it is today. Relict populations of the West African crocodile persisted in the Tassili nAjjer until the 20th century, Tassili is the recording location and the title of a 2011 album by the Tuareg-Berber band Tinariwen. Tassili Plain is a track on the 1994 album Natural Wonders of the World in Dub by dub group Zion Train. Rock-Art, Saharan Cypress and Landscapes of the Tassili List of Stone Age art Rock art of Figuig Rock art of south Oran Rock art of the Djelfa region Saharan rock art Bahn, the Cambridge Illustrated History of Prehistoric Art Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Bradley, R An archaeology of natural places London, Routledge, coulson, D and Campbell, Alec African Rock Art, Paintings and Engravings on Stone New York, Harry N Abrams. Lajoux, Jean-Dominique, Merveilles du Tassili nAjjer, Le Chêne, Le Quellec, J-L Art Rupestre et Prehistoire du Sahara. Le Messak Libyen Paris, Editions Payot et Rivages, Bibliothèque Scientifique Payot, lhote, Henri The Search for the Tassili Frescoes, The story of the prehistoric rock-paintings of the Sahara London. Lhote, Henri À la découverte des fresques du Tassili, Arthaud, mattingly, D The archaeology of the Fezzan. Muzzolini, A Saharan Rock Art, in Vogel, J O Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa Walnut Creek, Van Albada, A. and Van Albada, A. -M. La Montagne des Hommes-Chiens, Art Rupestre du Messak Lybien Paris, whitley, D S Handbook of Rock Art Research New York, Altamira Press
12.
Hoggar Mountains
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The Hoggar Mountains, also known as the Ahaggar Mountains, are a highland region in the central Sahara, southern Algeria, along the Tropic of Cancer. The Hoggar Mountains cover an area approximately 550,000 square km and this mountainous region is located about 1,500 km south of the capital, Algiers. The area is rocky desert with an average elevation of more than 900 m above sea level. The highest peak, Mount Tahat, is at 2,908 m, the mountains are primarily composed of metamorphic rock approximately 2 billion years old, although there are areas where more recent volcanic activity has laid down much newer rock. Several of the more dramatic peaks, such as Ilamen, are the result of erosion wearing away extinct volcano domes, assekrem is a famous and often visited point where Charles de Foucauld built a hermitage in 1911. The main city near the Hoggar Mountains is Tamanrasset, built in a valley or wadi. The Hoggar Mountain range typically experiences hot summers, with a winter climate. Temperatures fall below 0 °C in the winter, rainfall is rare and sporadic year-round. However, since the climate is less extreme than in most other areas of the Sahara, the Hoggar Mountains are part of the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands ecoregion. It is also one of the parks of the country. Slightly to the west of the Hoggar range, a population of the painted hunting dog remained viable into the 20th century. Analysis of collected scat in 2006 showed the presence of the Northwest African Cheetah in the region, relict populations of the West African crocodile persisted in the Hoggar Mountains until the early 20th century. Other plants may include Citrullus colocynthis and Calotropis procera, prehistoric settlement is evident from extant rock paintings dating to 6000 BC. The Hoggar Massif is the land of the Kel Ahaggar Tuareg, the tomb of Tin Hinan, the woman believed to be the matriarch of the Tuareg, is located at Abalessa, an oasis near Tamanrasset. According to legend, the Tim Lam are from the Tafilalt region in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, france and weapons of mass destruction, Saharan facilities Saharan rock art Teffedest Mountains Peter Haggett. Encyclopedia of World Geography, Published by Marshall Cavendish,3456 pages ISBN 0-7614-7289-4,9780761472896 C. Michael Hogan, painted Hunting Dog, Lycaon pictus, GlobalTwitcher. com, ed. N. Stromberg Jeremy Keenan. The Tuareg, People of Ahaggar, Published by Allen Lane, london,385 pages, ISBN 0-7139-0636-7 A website about the park Park data on UNEP-WPMC Ahaggar National Park - The Biodiverse Home of the Saharan Cheetah
13.
Jedars
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Jedars is the modern archaeological name given to thirteen monumental Berber mausoleums south of Tiaret city in Algeria. The name is derived from the Arabic, جدار jidār which is used locally to refer to ancient ruins and these pre-Islamic tombs date from Late Antiquity. The tombs are situated on the tops of two hills in the mountainous Frenda area, around 30 km south of Tiaret, there are three sepulchres on Jabal Lakhdar, and ten on Jabal Arawi 6 km south of the first group. The graves size and commanding situation indicate that they were built for royalty and they have been systematically plundered for many centuries, and hence are in a state of ruin. The monuments were erected straight onto the substratum or with very shallow excavation, some stone was quarried from local limestone and sandstone, some was recycled from nearby settlements and necropoli of earlier times. The materials vary widely, dressed stone blocks 1-1.5 m. long, partially dressed blocks up to 2.4 m. long, natural rock slabs with minimal dressing, old tombstones, most of the construction is dry stone, lime mortar is used sparingly. The 13 Jedars share many characteristics, there are also many similarities with much smaller Berber tombs called bazinas, which are common in the pre-Sahara zone. This shows that they represent an indigenous Berber tradition, in spite of their use of Roman architectural techniques and Mediterranean Christian iconography. The characteristics are, A square body, the largest being 46 m. on a side, in some cases, the body is solid stonework, in the largest examples it contains funerary chambers. A pyramidal top, which in all cases is very much ruined, most, perhaps all, were surrounded by a courtyard, square except for an extension in the middle of the side facing east. In the larger ones this extension contains a building modeled after the main monument. This building is believed to have used for obtaining divinatory dreams by sleeping in the vicinity of the tomb. Most if not all were further surrounded by a complex of low walls and it is believed that the solid jedars that do not contain funerary chambers may cover a single tomb excavated into the bedrock. The jedars of Jabal Lakhdar seem to have displayed a dedicatory inscription on one side of the top and this inscription was in Latin, but not deeply engraved and hence in every case is now almost illegible, the inscribed blocks are also very damaged. Enough remains only to confirm that these were tombs, but not whose they were, however, these jedars display an enormous range of stonecutters marks, from isolated letters to partial names. Most of these are also Latin, some have been postulated to be Tifinagh, there are a few unobtrusive Christian symbols, and a couple of roughly carved panels similar to many ancient Lybico-Berber rock carvings. The largest jedar at Ternaten is the one in that group sufficiently intact to display epigraphy and iconography. This jedar also contains many Latin inscriptions on recycled tombstones and other building material, the source of this recycled material is not known with certainty, but there are several large ruins of cities and necropoli in the surrounding districts
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North Africa during Antiquity
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The Roman Republic established the province of Africa in 146 BCE after the defeat of Carthage. The Roman Empire eventually controlled the entire Mediterranean coast of Africa, adding Egypt in 30 BCE, Creta et Cyrenaica in 20 BCE, and Mauretania in CE44. Initially, in the east, Egypt was under Persian rule during the phase of classical antiquity. Libya was inhabited by Berber tribes, while along the coast Phoenician, rome lost parts of Africa to the Vandals in the 5th century. The Byzantine Empire finally lost all control of Africa as the fell to the Umayyad conquest of North Africa by the close of the 7th century. After Alexanders death in 323 BCE, Egypt fell to Ptolemy I Soter who eventually established the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 305 BCE, in 2013, the first genetic analysis utilizing next-generation sequencing was conducted to ascertain the ancestral lineage of an Ancient Egyptian individual. DNA was extracted from the heads of five Egyptian mummies, all the specimens were dated to between 806 BC and 124 AD, a timeframe corresponding with the Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic periods. The researchers observed that one of the individuals likely belonged to the mtDNA haplogroup I2. Phoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 BC, by the 6th century BCE, a Punic presence existed at Tipasa. Hippo Regius and Rusicade are among the towns of Carthaginian origin on the coast of present-day Algeria, as Carthaginian power grew, its involvement in the indigenous population increased dramatically. Berber civilization was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, by the early 4th century BC, Berbers formed one of the largest element, with Gauls, of the Carthaginian army. Egypt was not considered part of Libya in Hellenistic geography, the boundary between Africa and Asia was at Catabathmus Magnus, separating Libya proper from the Libyan Nomos of western Egypt. In the Revolt of the Mercenaries, Berber soldiers participated from 241 to 238 BCE after being unpaid following the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War. Berbers succeeded in obtaining control of much of Carthages North African territory, the Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in the Punic Wars, in 146 BCE the city of Carthage was destroyed. As Carthaginian power waned, the influence of Berber leaders in the hinterland grew, by the 2nd century BCE, several large but loosely administered Berber kingdoms had emerged. Two of them were established in Numidia, behind the areas controlled by Carthage. West of Numidia lay Mauretania, which extended across the Moulouya River in Morocco to the Atlantic Ocean. The high point of Berber civilization, unequaled until the coming of the Almohads and Almoravids more than a later, was reached during the reign of Masinissa in the 2nd century BCE
15.
Gaetuli
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Gaetuli was the romanised name of an ancient Berber tribe inhabiting Getulia. The latter district covered the desert region south of the Atlas Mountains. Other documents place Gaetulia in pre-Roman times along the Mediterranean coasts of what is now Algeria and Tunisia, the Zenatas are believed to be descendants of the Gaetuli. The Gaetulian people were among the oldest inhabitants in northwestern Africa and they mainly occupied the area of modern-day Algeria as far north as Gigthis in the southwestern region of Tunisia. They were bordered by the Garamantes people to the right and were under the coastal Libyes people, the coastal region of Mauritania was above them and, although they shared many similar characteristics, were distinct from the Mauri people that inhabited it. The Gaetulians were exposed to the conditions of the harsh African interior near the Sahara and they were known for horse rearing, and according to Strabo had 100,000 foals in a single year. The writings of several ancient Roman histories, most notably Sallust, depict the various indigenous North African tribes as a state and refer to them collectively as the Libyans. The misinformation is partly due to language and cultural barrier, when the period of Roman colonization in North Africa took off, Sallust writes that the Gaetuli were ignarum nominis Romani, ignorant of the Roman name. Sallust also describes the Libyans and Gaetuli as a rude and uncivilized folk who were governed neither by institutions nor law, Pliny the Elder claims that the Gaetuli were essentially different from other indigenous North African Numidian tribes despite sharing the same language. Contemporary historians acknowledge the significant ethnic divisions between the Berber tribes and the existence of kings and separate political spheres. Roman records of the Gaetuli first emerge during the Jugurthine War when the group of tribes served as a force in Jugurtha’s army against the Romans. This was the first recorded contact between the Romans and the Gaetuli and is the earliest Roman record of the tribes, during the Jugurthine War the Gaetuli attacked and harassed Roman forces and possessed cavalry regiments that provided a significant challenge to the Roman legions. After a truce negotiated between the Numidians and the Romans led to the end of the war the Gaetuli forces were disbanded, Gaetulian forces next appear as forces loyal to Gaius Marius during the Sullas first civil war. Possibly in return for land the Gaetulian forces fought for Marius against Gnaeus Octavius, after almost 90 years of documented peace between the Gaetuli and Rome the tribes rebelled in what became known as the “Gaetulian War” in 3 AD. Modern historians describe the war more accurately as an uprising occurred as a result of possible land incursions. In 17 AD the Musulamii tribe, a Gaetulian sub-tribe, rebelled against the Romans over the building of a road across Musulamii territory by the Legio III Augusta, the Musulamii were joined in the conflict against the Romans by the Gaetuli and the neighboring Garamantes. This was the largest war in the Algeria region of Roman Africa in the history of Roman occupation, after the defeat of the Musulamii the Gaetuli ceased to appear in Roman military record. Records indicate that many of the used in Roman games were acquired through trade connections with the Gaetuli
16.
Numidia
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Numidia was an ancient kingdom of the Numidians, located in what is now Algeria and a smaller part of Tunisia and Libya in the Maghreb. The polity was divided between Massylii in the east and Masaesyli in the west. During the Second Punic War, Massinissa, king of the Massylii, the kingdom began as a sovereign state and later alternated between being a Roman province and a Roman client state. It was bordered by the kingdom of Mauretania to the west, Africa Proconsularis to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and it is considered to be the first major state in the history of Algeria and the Berber territories. The Greek historians referred to these peoples as Νομάδες, which by Latin interpretation became Numidae, the name appears first in Polybius to indicate the peoples and territory west of Carthage including the entire north of Algeria as far as the river Mulucha, about 160 kilometres west of Oran. The Numidians were conceived of two tribal groups, the Massylii in eastern Numidia, and the Masaesyli in the west. During the first part of the Second Punic War, the eastern Massylii, under their king Gala, were allied with Carthage, while the western Masaesyli, under king Syphax, were allied with Rome. However, in 206 BC, the new king of the eastern Massylii, Masinissa, allied himself with Rome, at the end of the war, the victorious Romans gave all of Numidia to Masinissa of the Massylii. After the death of the long-lived Masinissa around 148 BC, he was succeeded by his son Micipsa, Hiempsal and Jugurtha quarrelled immediately after the death of Micipsa. Jugurtha had Hiempsal killed, which led to war with Adherbal. By 112, Jugurtha resumed his war with Adherbal and he incurred the wrath of Rome in the process by killing some Roman businessmen who were aiding Adherbal. After a brief war with Rome, Jugurtha surrendered and received a favourable peace treaty. The local Roman commander was summoned to Rome to face charges brought by his political rival Gaius Memmius. War broke out between Numidia and the Roman Republic and several legions were dispatched to North Africa under the command of the Consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, the war dragged out into a long and seemingly endless campaign as the Romans tried to defeat Jugurtha decisively. Frustrated at the apparent lack of action, Metellus lieutenant Gaius Marius returned to Rome to seek election as Consul, Marius was elected, and then returned to Numidia to take control of the war. He sent his Quaestor Lucius Cornelius Sulla to neighbouring Mauretania in order to eliminate their support for Jugurtha, with the help of Bocchus I of Mauretania, Sulla captured Jugurtha and brought the war to a conclusive end. Jugurtha was brought to Rome in chains and was placed in the Tullianum, Jugurtha was executed by the Romans in 104 BC, after being paraded through the streets in Gaius Marius Triumph. After the death of Jugurtha, the far west of Numidia was added to the lands of Bocchus I, a rump kingdom continued to be governed by native princes
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Punic Wars
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The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. At the time, they were probably the largest wars that had taken place. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus, meaning Carthaginian, the main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflicts of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily, part of which lay under Carthaginian control, at the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire. Rome was a rapidly ascending power in Italy, but it lacked the power of Carthage. The Roman victories over Carthage in these wars gave Rome a preeminent status it would retain until the 5th century AD, during the mid-3rd century BC, Carthage was a large city located on the coast of modern Tunisia. Founded by the Phoenicians in the mid-9th century BC, it was a powerful thalassocratic city-state with a vast commercial network, of the great city-states in the western Mediterranean, only Rome rivaled it in power, wealth, and population. While Carthages navy was the largest in the ancient world at the time, it did not maintain a large, permanent, instead, Carthage relied mostly on mercenaries, especially the indigenous Numidians, to fight its wars. However, most of the officers who commanded the armies were Carthaginian citizens, in 200 BC, the Roman Republic had gained control of the Italian peninsula south of the Po river. Unlike Carthage, Rome had large disciplined armed forces, on the other hand, at the start of the First Punic War, the Romans had no navy, and were thus at a disadvantage until they began to construct their own large fleets during the war. The First Punic War was fought partly on land in Sicily and Africa and it began as a local conflict in Sicily between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines of Messina. The Mamertines enlisted the aid of the Carthaginian navy, and then subsequently betrayed them by entreating the Roman Senate for aid against Carthage, the Romans sent a garrison to secure Messina, so the outraged Carthaginians then lent aid to Syracuse. With the two powers now embroiled in the conflict, tensions escalated into a full-scale war between Carthage and Rome for the control of Sicily. In 260 BC, they defeated the fledgling Roman navy at the Battle of the Lipari Islands, Rome responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. Within two months, the Romans had a fleet of one hundred warships. Because they knew that they could not defeat the Carthaginians in the tactics of ramming and sinking enemy ships, the Romans added the corvus. The hinged bridge would swing onto enemy vessels with a sharp spike, Roman legionaries could then board and capture Carthaginian ships. This innovative Roman tactic reduced the Carthaginian navys advantage in ship-to-ship engagements, however, the corvus was also cumbersome and dangerous, and was eventually phased out as the Roman navy became more experienced and tactically proficient
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Jugurthine War
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The Jugurthine War took place in 112–106 BC, between Rome and Jugurtha of Numidia, a kingdom on the north African coast approximating to modern Algeria. Jugurtha was the nephew and adopted son of Micipsa, King of Numidia, whom he succeeded on the throne, overcoming his rivals through assassination, war, and bribery. The war constituted an important phase in the Roman subjugation of Northern Africa, following Jugurthas usurpation of the throne of Numidia, a loyal ally of Rome since the Punic Wars, Rome felt compelled to intervene. Numidia was a located in North Africa not far from Romes arch enemy. King Micipsa died in 118 BC and he was survived by two natural sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and his adopted nephew, Jugurtha. It was Micipsas wish that all three would share his kingdom after his death, after King Micipsas death, Jugurtha proved to be a ruthless and unscrupulous man who would do anything to achieve what he wanted, including murder, bribery, treachery, and assassination. Jugurtha learned Roman ways and military tactics while commanding the Numidian army under Scipio Aemilianus at the Siege of Numantia, after Micipsa died, Jugurtha ordered Hiempsal assassinated and Adherbal fled to Rome for assistance against his half-brother. A Roman commission was sent to Numidia in 116 BC to make peace, however, Jugurtha bribed the Roman officials in the commission and the best regions of Numidia were given to Jugurtha. Nevertheless, it was accepted and peace was made, shortly after, in 113 BC, Jugurtha provoked a war with his brother and cornered Adherbal in Adherbals capital city of Cirta. Adherbal along with the Italians living there resisted, a second Roman commission was sent and, after being bribed, allowed Jugurtha to take the city. Jugurtha then executed his brother, Adherbal, along many of the Italians who helped Adherbal defend Cirta. This execution of Italians and Romans moved the Roman Senate to declare war on Numidia in 112 BC, the Roman consul Lucius Calpurnius Bestia led an army against Jugurtha but Jugurtha surrendered and was given unusually favorable terms. It appears that Bestia was bribed, so favorable were Jugurthas terms of surrender that it led to an investigation in Rome. Upon his arrival in Rome, Jugurtha bribed two Roman Tribunes of the Plebs who in turn protected him and prevented him from testifying, Jugurtha then attempted to arrange for the assassination of a potential rival and was expelled from the city. In late 110 or early 109 Jugurtha defeated a Roman army led by the praetor Aulus Postumius Albinus Magnus, brother of the consul of that year, apparently by using bribery, treachery and he then demanded to be recognized as the rightful ruler of Numidia. The consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus was sent to North Africa to defeat Jugurtha, for his efforts Metellus was later given the title Numidicus. Quintus Caecilius Metellus was honest and able as a commander but was buying time in order to maximize his glory when he did actually defeat them and his successful war plan was to destroy Jugurthas supply lines and this forced Jugurtha to guerilla tactics. An internal Roman struggle developed between Metellus and his commander, Gaius Marius
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Mauretania Caesariensis
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Mauritania Caesariensis was a Roman province located in what is now Algeria in the Maghreb. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea in order to distinguish it from neighboring Mauretania Tingitana, in the 1st century AD, Roman emperor Claudius divided the westernmost Roman province in Africa, named Mauretania, into Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana. Caesarea was a center of Judaism before 330, and Sitifis was one of the centres of the soldier cult of Mithraic mysteries. Christianity spread throughout in the 4th and 5th centuries, among the ruling class, Trinitarian Christianity was replaced by Arianism under the Germanic kingdom of the Vandals, which was established in 430, when the Vandals crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. Bishoprics were wiped out by Islam, while many town faded and they produced one of Trajans best generals, Lusius Quietus, and the emperor Macrinus. Notitia Dignitatum Pauly-Wissowa Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgschichte
20.
Africa (Roman province)
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The Roman province of Africa Proconsularis was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of modern-day Algeria, and it was one of the wealthiest provinces in the western part of the empire, second only to Italia. The Arabs later named roughly the same region as the original province Ifriqiya, the land acquired for the province of Africa was the site of the ancient city of Carthage. Other large cities in the region included Hadrumetum, capital of Byzacena, the province was established by the Roman Republic in 146 BC, following the Third Punic War. Rome established its first African colony, Africa Proconsularis or Africa Vetus, governed by a proconsul, utica was formed 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 from rising on the far side of Sicily. In 118 BC, the Numidian prince Jugurtha attempted to reunify the smaller kingdoms, however, upon his death, much of Jugurthas territory was placed in the control of the Mauretanian client king Bocchus, and, by that time, the romanization of Africa was firmly rooted. In 27 BC, when the Republic had transformed into an Empire, several political and provincial reforms were implemented by Augustus and later by Caligula, but Claudius finalized the territorial divisions into official Roman provinces. After Diocletians administrative reforms, it was split into Africa Zeugitana in the north, the region remained a part of the Roman Empire until the Germanic migrations of the 5th century. 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, the Vandals controlled the country as a warrior-elite. They also persecuted Catholicism, as the Vandals were adherents of Arianism, towards the end of the 5th century, the Vandal state fell into decline, abandoning most of the interior territories to the Mauri and other Berber tribes of the desert. In AD533, Emperor Justinian, using a Vandal dynastic dispute as pretext, in a short campaign, Belisarius defeated the Vandals, entered Carthage in triumph and re-established Roman rule over the province. 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 emperor Phocas by Heraclius in 610. Heraclius briefly considered moving the capital from Constantinople to Carthage. After 640, the managed to stave off the Muslim Conquest, but in 698. Historian Theodore Mommsen estimated that under Hadrian nearly 1/3 of the eastern Numidia population was descended from Roman veterans, even so, the Roman military presence of North 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 north African region with those speaking Punic and Berber languages. Imperial security forces began to be drawn from the local population, however, the Roman territory in Africa was unevenly penetrated by Roman culture
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Vandalic War
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The Vandalic War was a conflict fought in North Africa between the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Vandalic Kingdom of Carthage, in 533–534. It was the first of Justinian Is wars of reconquest of the lost Western Roman Empire, the Vandals had occupied Roman North Africa in the early 5th century, and established an independent kingdom there. Under their first king, Geiseric, the formidable Vandal navy carried out attacks across the Mediterranean, sacked Rome. In 530, a coup in Carthage overthrew the pro-Roman Hilderic. Justinian took advantage of, or even instigated, rebellions in the remote Vandal provinces of Sardinia and Tripolitania, the Vandal king gathered his forces and met the Roman army at the Battle of Ad Decimum, near Carthage, on 13 September. Gelimers elaborate plan to encircle and destroy the Roman army came close to success, Gelimer withdrew to Bulla Regia, where he gathered his remaining strength, including the army of Tzazon, which returned from Sardinia. In December, Gelimer advanced towards Carthage and met the Romans at the Battle of Tricamarum, the battle resulted in a Roman victory and the death of Tzazon. Gelimer fled to a mountain fortress, where he was blockaded until he surrendered in the spring. Imperial control scarcely reached beyond the old Vandal kingdom, however, the new province was shaken by the wars with the Moors and military rebellions, and it was not until 548 that peace was restored and Roman government firmly established. Thus, in May 429, Geiseric crossed the straits of Gibraltar with his entire people, geiserics Vandals and Alans, however, had their own plans, and aimed to conquer the African provinces outright. Their possession of Mauretania Caesariensis, Mauretania Sitifensis and most of Numidia was recognized in 435 by the Western Roman court, warfare soon recommenced, and in October 439, the capital of Africa, Carthage, fell to the Vandals. These events marked the foundation of the Vandalic Kingdom, as the Vandals made Carthage their capital, Sicily barely escaped the same fate through the presence there of Ricimer. In the aftermath of disaster, and following further Vandal raids against the shores of Greece. Whereas the kings of Western Europe continued to pay deference to the emperors and minted coinage with their portraits, in addition, the Vandals—like most Germanics, adherents of Arianism—persecuted the Chalcedonian majority of the local population, especially in the reigns of Huneric and Gunthamund. In 523, Hilderic, the son of Huneric, ascended the throne at Carthage, Justinian evidently hoped that this rapprochement would lead to the peaceful subordination of the Vandal state to his empire. Justinian seized the opportunity, demanding Hilderics restoration, with Gelimer predictably refusing to do so, Justinian then demanded Hilderics release to Constantinople, threatening war otherwise. Geiseric was unwilling to surrender a rival claimant to Justinian, who could use him to stir up trouble in his kingdom and he consequently refused Justinians demand on the grounds that this was an internal matter among the Vandals. Justinian now had his pretext, and with peace restored on his eastern frontier with Sassanid Persia in 532, he started assembling an invasion force
22.
Praetorian prefecture of Africa
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It continued to exist until the late 580s, when it was replaced by the Exarchate of Africa. In 533, the Roman army under Belisarius defeated and destroyed the Vandal Kingdom that had existed in the former Roman territories of Northern Africa, immediately after the victory, in April 534, the emperor Justinian published a law concerning the administrative organization of the newly acquired territories. It is also noteworthy that Sardinia was formally detached from Italy, justinians intent was to, in the words of the historian J. B. Bury, wipe out all traces of the Vandal conquest, as if it had never been. The churches were restored to the Chalcedonian clergy, and the remaining Arians suffered persecution, the military administration was headed by the new post of magister militum Africae, with a subordinate magister peditum and four regional frontier commands under duces. This organization was gradually established, as the Romans pushed the Mauri back. When the Romans landed in Africa, the Moors maintained a neutral stance, the most significant tribes were the Leuathae in Tripolitania, and the Frexi in Byzacena. The Frexi and their allies were led by Antalas, while other tribes in the area followed Cutzinas, the Aurasii in Numidia were ruled by Iaudas, and the Mauretanian Moors were led by Mastigas and Masuna. After Belisarius departed for Constantinople, he was succeeded as magister militum Africae by his domesticus, the tribes of Mauri living in Byzacena and Numidia almost immediately rose up, and Solomon set out with his forces, which included allied Moorish tribes, against them. The situation was so critical that Solomon was also entrusted with civil authority, replacing the first prefect, Archelaus, Solomon was able to defeat the Mauri of Byzacena at Mamma, and again, decisively, at the battle of Mt. Bourgaon in early 535. In the summer, he campaigned against Iabdas and the Aurasii, who were ravaging Numidia, Solomon then set about erecting forts along the borders and the main roads, hoping to contain the raids of the Moors. In the Easter of 536 however, a military revolt broke out. Solomon, together with Procopius, who worked as his secretary, was able to escape to Sicily, solomons lieutenants Martinus and Theodore were left behind, the first to try to reach the troops at Numidia, and the second to hold Carthage. Upon hearing about the mutiny, Belisarius, with Solomon and 100 picked men, Carthage was being besieged by 9,000 rebels, including many Vandals, under a certain Stotzas. Theodore was contemplating capitulation, when Belisarius appeared, the news of the famous generals arrival were sufficient for the rebels to abandon the siege and withdraw westwards. Belisarius, although able to muster only 2,000 men, immediately gave pursuit and caught up, the bulk of the rebels however was able to flee, and continued to march towards Numidia, where the local troops decided to join them. Belisarius himself was forced to return to Italy, and Justinian appointed his cousin Germanus as magister militum to deal with the crisis, Germanus managed to win over many of the rebels to his side by appearing conciliatory and paying their arrears. Eventually, in the spring of 537, the two clashed at Scalae Veteres, resulting in a hard-won victory for Germanus. Stotzas fled to the tribesmen of Mauretania, and Germanus spent the two years in re-establishing discipline in the army
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Exarchate of Africa
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It was created by emperor Maurice in the late 580s and survived until the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in the late 7th century. It included the provinces of Africa Proconsularis, Byzacena, Tripolitania, Numidia, Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Sitifensis, in the 560s, a Roman expedition succeeded in regaining parts of southern Spain, which were administered as the new province of Spania. Under Justinian I, the process was reversed for provinces which were judged to be especially vulnerable or in internal disorder. Two exarchates were established, one in Italy, with seat at Ravenna, the first African exarch was the patricius Gennadius. The Visigothic Kingdom was also a continuous threat, the African exarch was in possession of Mauretania II, which was little more than a tiny outpost in southern Spain. The conflict continued until the final conquest of the last Spanish strongholds in c.624 by the Visigoths, the Byzantines retained only the fort of Septum, across the Strait of Gibraltar. Due to religious and political ambitions, the Exarch Gregory the Patrician declared himself independent of Constantinople in 647, the first Islamic expeditions began with an initiative from Egypt under the emir Amr ibn al-As and his nephew Uqba ibn Nafi. Sensing Roman weakness they conquered Barca, in Cyrenaica, then successively on to Tripolitania where they encountered resistance, due to the unrest caused by theological disputes concerning Monothelitism and Monoenergism the Exarchate under Gregory the Patrician distanced itself from the empire in open revolt. Carthage being flooded with refugees from Egypt, Palestine and Syria exacerbated religious tensions, afterwards the Exarchate became a semi-client state under a new Exarch called Gennadius. Attempting to maintain tributary status with Constantinople and Damascus strained the resources of the Exarchate, the peak of resistance reached by the Exarchate with assistance from the Berber allies of king Kusaila was the victory over the forces of Uqba ibn Nafi at the Battle of Vescera in 682. This victory caused the Muslim forces to retreat to Egypt, giving the Exarchate a decades respite, the repeated confrontations took their toll on the dwindling and ever-divided resources of the Exarchate. In 698, the Muslim commander Hasan ibn al-Numan and a force of 40,000 men crushed Roman Carthage, many of its defenders were Visigoths sent to defend the Exarchate by their king, who also feared Muslim expansion. Many Visigoths fought to the death, in the ensuing battle Roman Carthage was again reduced to rubble and it was also an enormous blow because it permanently ended Roman presence in Africa. Histoire de la Domination Byzantine en Afrique, Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. Histoire de lAfrique du Nord, vol.1 - Des origines a la conquête arabe,1961 edition, Paris, Payot Pringle, Denys. The Defence of Byzantine Africa from Justinian to the Arab Conquest, An Account of the Military History, oxford, United Kingdom, British Archaeological Reports
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Early African Church
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The evangelization of Africa followed much the same lines as those traced by Roman civilization. The delimitation of the boundaries of the African Church is a matter of great difficulty. These limits, however, were not only liable to successive rectification, parts of Mauretania always remained independent, the mountainous region to the west of the Aurès Mountains, and the plateau above the Tell never became Roman. Christianity filtered in, so to speak, little by little, bishoprics were founded among the converts, as the need for them arose, were moved, possibly, from place to place, and disappeared, without leaving a trace of their existence. The historical period of the African Church begins in 180 with groups of martyrs, at a somewhat later date the writings of Tertullian tell us how rapidly African Christianity had grown. It had passed the Roman military lines, and spread among the peoples to the south, about the year 200 there was a violent persecution at Carthage and in the provinces held by the Romans. We gain information as to its various phases from the martyrdom of St. Perpetua, Christianity, however, did not even then cease to make distant conquests, Christian epitaphs are to be found at Sour El-Ghozlane, dated 227, and at Tipasa, dated 238. If we rely on texts less definite we may admit that the evangelization of Northern Africa began very early. By the opening of the 3rd century there was a large Christian population in the towns and even in the districts, which included not only the poor. A council held at Carthage about the year 220 was attended by eighteen bishops from the province of Numidia, another council, held in the time of Cyprian, about the middle of the 3rd century, was attended by eighty-seven bishops. At this period the African Church went through a grave crisis. The Emperor Decius published an edict that made many martyrs and confessors, a certain bishop, followed by his whole community, was to be seen sacrificing to the gods. Yet the Church of Africa had martyrs, even at such a time, the accession of Constantine found the African Church torn apart by controversies and heresies, Catholics and Donatists contended not only in polemics, but also in a violent and bloody way. A law of Constantine deprived the Donatists of their churches, most of which they had taken from the Catholics and they had, however, grown so powerful that even such a measure failed to crush them. They were so numerous that a Donatist Council, held at Carthage, attempts at reconciliation, suggested by the Emperor Constantius II, only widened the breach and led to armed repression, an ever-growing disquiet, and an enmity that became increasingly embittered. Yet, in the very midst of these troubles, the Primate of Carthage, Gratus, declared, julians accession and his permission to all religious exiles to return to their homes added to the troubles of the African Church. A Donatist bishop sat in the see of Carthage, in opposition to the orthodox bishop. One act of violence followed another and begat new conflicts, about this period, Optatus, Bishop of Milevi, began to combat the sect by his writings
25.
Parthenia (place)
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Parthenia was a Roman-Berber town in the former Roman province of Mauretania Sitifensis, the easternmost part of ancient Mauretania. It was located in what is now northern Algeria, Parthenia is one of the Maghreb cities of the Roman period whose toponym recalls the cognomen of a prominent family, usually of the patrician class, in this case the family of the Parthenii. It says that the bishop Rogatus was one of those exiled by the Vandal king Huneric when he took action against the Catholic bishops in his dominions, morcelli remarks that he could find no other mention of Parthenia in the works of the ancient geographers or other writers. No other map of Roman North Africa attempts to indicate where it stood, the detailed map of ancient Africa and Mauretania made available on the Internet by the Associazione Storico-Culturale S. Agostino shows no town of similar name. The name that comes closest is Ad Partum in an 1842 map of ancient Africa, Numidia, Ad Partum lay to the east of ancient Setifis, southeast of Cuiculum and southwest of Cirta. Parthenia is also a Titular See of the Roman Catholic Church and it could be described as the most active titular see in the world due to the online activities of its current bishop, Jacques Gaillot. In February 484, Rogatus, Bishop of Parthenia, was one of the Catholic bishops whom the Arian Vandal Huneric summoned to a meeting at Carthage, no longer a residential bishopric, Parthenia is now listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. The other French bishops complained to him for breaching the confidentiality of the meetings of the episcopal conference, the president of the conference appealed to him, if not to retract, then at least to cease making declarations opposed to the teachings and doctrine of the Catholic Church. Religion and the internet Sitifis Cuicul Mauretania Caesariensis Caesarea Jacques Gaillot, EGLISE VIRTUELLE, januar 1999, ISBN 978-2226106735 Laffi, Umberto. Colonie e municipi nello Stato romano Ed. di Storia e Letteratura, roma,2007 ISBN8884983509 Mommsen, Theodore. The Provinces of the Roman Empire Section, Roman Africa, new York,1996 Pierre Pierrard, A nous la parole, Partenia, dix ans. Oktober 2012, Kindle Edition, ASIN B00814BKFQ
26.
Fossatum Africae
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It is considered to have many similarities of construction to Hadrians Wall at the northern border of the Empire in Britain. There is only a mention of the Fossatum in historical literature prior to the 20th century. This occurs in a written by the co-emperors Honorius and Theodosius II to Gaudentius, the vicarius Africae, in 409. Consequently, it is not known with certainty when the Fossatum was constructed, current opinion has not advanced since the discussion by Baradez in 1949, who concluded that construction probably began after the first visit of Hadrian to Africa in 122. This conclusion is based on the similarities with Hadrians Wall in Britain, Baradez also postulated a pulse of construction during the reign of Gordian III in the 3rd century, and finally abandonment of the Fossatum in 430-440 after the Vandal invasion. Having been built in a region of strong winds and blowing sand. Elsewhere the remains of an associated with the Fossatum was attributed to al-Faraun. However, the extent of the Fossatum was not known until after World War II. He followed up the work with traverses on the ground. His resultant book, with aerial and ground photographs, remains the standard work of reference. Ideas on the purpose of the Fossatum have evolved since Baradez time, whereas Baradez was a military man, and World War II just having finished with the military use of ditches very much in mind, the military aspect of the Fossatum was emphasized. In the more modern era, the use of the Fossatum as a customs and migration control has been brought to the fore, suggested by inscriptions at Zaraï giving long lists of products. The length of segment is about 100 km. It probably criss-crosses the border between Numidia and Mauretania Sitifensis, length of this section is about 50 km. Gemellae section, runs for about 60 km parallel to and 4–5 km. south of the Wad Jadi, south and southwest of the Roman city of Vescera, a major Roman military establishment is at the center. The fossatum is close to, but slightly north of, the border in the Roman administrative district known as the limes Gemellensis and it marks the end of the irrigable area and beginning of the Sahara desert. Ad Majores section, begins at Ad Majores and runs eastwards for about 70 km, following a range of hills, however, a more recent examination has shown that the fossatum is probably a Roman road, not a ditch. There may also be a segment north of Tobna
27.
Gemellae
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Gemellae was a Roman fort and associated camp on the fringe of the Sahara Desert in what is today part of Algeria. It is now a site,25 km south and 19 km west of Biskra. It was connected by military Roman road to Castellum Dimmidi and Capsa, apparently there was a fortification at Gemellae prior to the coming of the Romans. The Romans seem to have occupied the site and made it one of the southernmost outposts. The earliest epigraph retrieved from the site is an inscription for a statue of Emperor Hadrian, in about the year 126 AD, the presence of this army unit in Africa is attested by inscriptions elsewhere dating from as early as 78 AD and as late as 164 AD. A second very large dedication to Hadrian, which faced the central courtyard, also present in the sacellum were statues of Antoninus Pius, Pertinax and Gordian, the latter two with inscriptions indicating the presence of the Ala I Pannoniorum. Altars to the Dii Campestres were dedicated by Marcus Celerius Augendus, prefect of the Pannonians and it is likely that the Pannonians were substitutes for the Legio III Augusta regiment until its reinstatement in 253 AD. The establishment of the fort and surrounding settlement is linked to the construction of the Fossatum Africae. Gemellae is the largest of several forts in the area follow the line of the Fossatum. In the 5th century there is mention of a sector of the limes called Gemellensis just prior to the Vandal invasion. Other than that, the history of Gemellae after 253 AD remains uncertain, no Christian artefacts have been recovered, so there is no current archaeological evidence for a Byzantine presence. However, Justinian is known to have ordered Belisarius in 534 AD to restore the fortifications of the limes as they were before the Vandal invasion, the 6th-century historian Procopius mentions a Meleon as one of those forts rebuilt as a result, which may have been Gemellae. The 9th-century Arab historian Khalifa ibn Khayyat relates that when Abu al-Muhajir Dinar was emir of Ifriqiya he conquered Mila which may have been Gemellae, Gemellae has now been reclaimed by the desert, and excavators have complained about the continually blowing sand. The remains of the fort are known locally as al-Qasba, the great fort of Gemellae is rectangular with sides oriented to the cardinal directions, constructed in a manner common to most Roman castra. It measures 150 m. north to south and 190 m. east to west, for the most part, the masonry wall was about 3 m. thick, using stone from a quarry 14 km. distant. However, the corners were rounded and reinforced to a thickness of 4.85 m. Just outside the wall was an earth wall. There was a gate in each side, and a number of towers, the towers had no external bastions, interiorly they reduced the wall thickness by about 1.5 m
28.
Muslim conquest of the Maghreb
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The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb continued the century of rapid Arab Muslim military expansion following the death of Muhammad in 632 AD. It was at point that Arab military expeditions into North African regions west of Egypt were first launched, continuing for years. The Byzantine navy would be defeated in the eastern Mediterranean, beginning in the 12th century, scholars at Kairouan began to construct a new version of the history of the conquest, which was finalised by ar-Raqiq. This version was copied in its entirety, and sometimes interpolated, by authors, reaching its zenith in the 14th century with scholars such as Ibn Idhari, Ibn Khaldun. It differs from the earlier version not only in the greater detail and this, however, is the best-known version and is the one given below. There is ongoing regarding the relative merits of the two versions. For more information, refer to the works cited below by Brunschvig, Modéran and Benabbès, the first invasion of North Africa, ordered by Caliph Umar, commenced in 647. 20,000 Arabs marched from Medina in Arabia, another 20,000 joined them in Memphis, Egypt, Count Gregory, the local Byzantine governor, had declared his independence from the Byzantine Empire in North Africa. He gathered his allies, confronted the Islamic invasion force and suffered defeat at the Battle of Sufetula, with the death of Gregory his successor, probably Gennadius, secured the Arab withdrawal in exchange for tribute. The campaign lasted fifteen months and Abdallahs force returned to Egypt in 648, all further Muslim conquests were soon interrupted, however, by a civil war between rival Arab factions that resulted in the murder of Caliph Uthman in 656. He was replaced by Ali Ibn Abi Talib, who in turn was murdered in 661 and he put a governor in place in Egypt at al-Fustat, creating a subordinate seat of power that would continue for the next two centuries. He then continued the invasion of neighbouring states, attacking Sicily. In 664 Kabul, Afghanistan, fell to the invading Muslim armies, the years 665 to 689 saw a new Arab invasion of North Africa. It began, according to Will Durant, to protect Egypt from flank attack by Byzantine Cyrene. So an army of more than 40,000 Muslims advanced through the desert to Barca, took it, next came a force of 10,000 Arabs led by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi and enlarged by thousands of others. Departing from Damascus, the army marched into North Africa and took the vanguard, in 670 the city of Kairouan was established as a refuge and base for further operations. This would become the capital of the Islamic province of Ifriqiya, which would cover the regions of todays western Libya, Tunisia. In his conquest of the Maghreb he besieged the city of Bugia as well as Tingi or Tangier
29.
Umayyad Caliphate
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The Umayyad Caliphate, also spelled Omayyad, was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. This caliphate was centred on the Umayyad dynasty, hailing from Mecca, Syria remained the Umayyads main power base thereafter, and Damascus was their capital. The Umayyads continued the Muslim conquests, incorporating the Caucasus, Transoxiana, Sindh, the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula into the Muslim world. At its greatest extent, the Umayyad Caliphate covered 11,100,000 km2 and 62 million people, the Umayyad Caliphate was secular by nature. At the time, the Umayyad taxation and administrative practice were perceived as unjust by some Muslims, Muhammad had stated explicitly during his lifetime that Abrahamic religious groups, should be allowed to practice their own religion, provided that they paid the jizya taxation. The welfare state of both the Muslim and the poor started by Umar ibn al Khattab had also continued, financed by the zakat tax levied only on Muslims. Muawiyas wife Maysum was also a Christian, the relations between the Muslims and the Christians in the state were stable in this time. Prominent positions were held by Christians, some of whom belonged to families that had served in Byzantine governments, the employment of Christians was part of a broader policy of religious assimilation that was necessitated by the presence of large Christian populations in the conquered provinces, as in Syria. This policy also boosted Muawiyas popularity and solidified Syria as his power base, the rivalries between the Arab tribes had caused unrest in the provinces outside Syria, most notably in the Second Muslim Civil War of AD 680–692 and the Berber Revolt of 740–743. During the Second Civil War, leadership of the Umayyad clan shifted from the Sufyanid branch of the family to the Marwanid branch. A branch of the family fled across North Africa to Al-Andalus, where they established the Caliphate of Córdoba, according to tradition, the Umayyad family and Muhammad both descended from a common ancestor, Abd Manaf ibn Qusai, and they originally came from the city of Mecca. Muhammad descended from Abd Manāf via his son Hashim, while the Umayyads descended from Abd Manaf via a different son, Abd-Shams, the two families are therefore considered to be different clans of the same tribe. However Muslim Shia historians suspect that Umayya was a son of Abd Shams so he was not a blood relative of Abd Manaf ibn Qusai. Umayya was later discarded from the noble family, Sunni historians disagree with this and view Shia claims as nothing more than outright polemics due to their hostility to the Umayyad family in general. While the Umayyads and the Hashimites may have had bitterness between the two clans before Muhammad, the rivalry turned into a case of tribal animosity after the Battle of Badr. The battle saw three top leaders of the Umayyad clan killed by Hashimites in a three-on-three melee and this fueled the opposition of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, the grandson of Umayya, to Muhammad and to Islam. Abu Sufyan sought to exterminate the adherents of the new religion by waging another battle with Muslims based in Medina only a year after the Battle of Badr and he did this to avenge the defeat at Badr. The Battle of Uhud is generally believed by scholars to be the first defeat for the Muslims, as they had incurred greater losses than the Meccans
30.
Banu Ifran
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The Ifranids, also called Banu Ifran, Ifran, or the children of the Ifran, were a Zenata Berber tribe prominent in the history of pre-Islamic and early Islamic North Africa. The Banu Ifran resisted or revolted against the foreign occupiers—Romans, Vandals, in the seventh century, they sided with Kahina in her resistance against the Muslim Umayyad invaders. In the eighth century they mobilized around the dogma of sufri in revolting against the Arab Umayyads and Abbasids, in the 10th century they founded a dynasty opposed to the Fatimids, the Zirids, the Umayyads, the Hammadids and the Maghraoua. The Banu Ifran were defeated by the Almoravids and the invading Arabs to the end of the 11th century, the Ifranid dynasty was recognized as the only dynasty that has defended the indigenous people of the Maghreb, by the Romans referred to as the Africani. In 11th century Iberia, the Ifrenid founded a Taifa of Ronda since 1039 at Ronda in Andalusia, the Banu Ifran were one of the four major tribes of the Zenata or Gaetulia confederation, and were known as expert cavalrymen. According to Ibn Khaldoun, Ifrinides or Ait Ifren were successfully resisting Romans, Vandals, according to Corippus in his Iohannis, during the reign of Justinian I between 547 and 550, the Banu Ifran challenged the Byzantine armies under John Troglita to war. Their chief Abu Qurra rebuilt the city of Tlemcen in Algeria in 765 and they opposed the Egyptian Fatimid Caliphate, aligning themselves with the Maghrawa tribe and the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, although they themselves became Kharijites. Led by Abu Yazid, they surged east and attacked Kairouan in 945, another leader, Yala ibn Muhammad captured Oran and constructed a new capital, Ifgan, near Mascara. Some settled in regions of Spain, such as Málaga, others, led by Hammama, managed to gain control of the Moroccan province of Tadla. Later, led by Abu al-Kamāl, they established a new capital at Salé on the Atlantic coast, during the 11th century, the Banu Ifran contested with the Maghrawa tribe for the control of Morocco after the fall of the Idrisid dynasty. Yalas son Yaddū took Fes by surprise in January 993 and held it for months until the Maghrawa ruler Ziri ibn Atiyya returned from Spain. In May or June 1033, Fes was recaptured by Yalas grandson Tamīm, sometime in the period 1038-1040 the Maghrawa tribe retook Fes, forcing Tamīm to flee to Salé. Soon after that time, the Almoravids began their rise to power, Ifran is a plural for Afar, Efri or Ifri, it is probably derived from the last of these, which means cave in Berber. The banu- was added by the Arab writers, who called them ben ifren or Ifrinid, among the Ifran, animism was the principal spiritual philosophy. Ifri was also the name of a Berber deity, and their name may have an origin in their beliefs, ifru rites symbolized in caves were held to gain favor or protection for merchants and traders. The myth of this protection is befittingly depicted on Roman coins, ifru was regarded as a sun goddess, cave goddess and protector of the home. Ifru or Ifran was regarded as a Berber version of Vesta, dehia, usually referred to as The Kahina was the Dejrawa Berber queen, prophetess, and leader of the non-Muslim response to the advancing Arab armies. Ibn Khaldun simply states that Ifran were Berbers, and says nothing of their religion before the advent of Islam, the Banu Ifran were opposed to the Sunnis of the Arab armies
31.
Muhallabids
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The founders of the familys fortunes were al-Muhallab ibn Abi Suffrah and his son Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, governor of Khurasan and Iraq, who led an unsuccessful anti-Umayyad rebellion in Basra in 720. Despite his defeat and death, the family remained influential in their base of Basra. Ifriqiya under their rule enjoyed a period of prosperity, above all agriculture was reinvigorated by the expansion of irrigation systems, the Muhallabids of Ifriqiya enjoyed a great deal of autonomy and were able to maintain Arab rule in the face of revolts by the Berbers. They were unable however to prevent the formation of the kingdoms of the Idrisids in Morocco, the family fell from power during and after the Fourth Fitna, when the traditional Arab families began to be increasingly sidelined by Caliph al-Mamuns Turkish and Iranian generals. One of the few members of the family who rose to prominence after that was Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Muhallabi, list of Sunni Muslim dynasties Al-Muhallab ibn Abi Suffrah Yazid ibn al-Muhallab Crone, P. Muhallabids. The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume VII, Mif–Naz
32.
Rustamid dynasty
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Their realm extended mostly to current central Algeria, but also Libya, Morocco and Mauritania. The Ibāḍī movement reached North Africa by 719, when the missionary Salma ibn Sad was sent from the Ibādī jamaa of Basra to Kairouan. By 740, their efforts had converted the major Berber tribes of Huwara around Tripoli, in the Nafusa Mountains, on his death, the Tripolitanian Ibādiyya elected Abu l-Hatim al-Malzuzi as Imām, he was killed in 772 after launching a second unsuccessful revolt in 768. The new imamate was centered on the newly built capital of Tiaret, several Ibādī tribes displaced from Tunisia and Tripolitania settled there and it became a major stop on the newly developing trade routes with sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Ibn as-Saghir also describes the Imām as ascetic, repairing his own house and refusing gifts, religious ethics were strictly enforced by law. The Rustamids fought the Kairouan-based Aghlabids of Ifriqiya in 812, but otherwise reached a modus vivendi, this displeased Ibādī tribes on the Aghlabid border, the Rustamid dynasty, developed a cosmopolitan reputation in which Christians, non-Kharijite Muslims, and adherents of different sects of Kharijism lived. The Encyclopedia of World History Card of Rustamid or Tahert Kingdom
33.
Idrisid dynasty
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The Idrisids were an Arab Zaydi-Shia dynasty of Morocco, ruling from 788 to 974. Named after the founder Idriss I, the grandchild of Hasan ibn Ali. The founder of the dynasty was Idris ibn Abdallah, who traced his ancestry back to Ali ibn Abi Talib and his wife Fatimah, daughter of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. After the Battle of Fakhkh, near Mecca, between the Abbasids and a Shiite party, Idris ibn Abdallah fled to the Maghreb and he first arrived in Tangier, the most important city of Morocco at the time, and by 788 he had settled in Volubilis. The powerful Awraba Berbers of Volubilis took him in and made him their imam, the Awraba tribe was originally from the Tlemcen region and had supported Kusayla in his struggle against the Ummayad armies in the 670s and 680s. By the second half of the 8th century they had settled in northern Morocco, by this time the Awraba were already Muslim, but lived in an area where most tribes were either Christian, Jewish, Khariji or pagan. The Awraba seem to have welcomed a Sharifi imam as a way to strengthen their political position, Idris I, who was very active in the political organization of the Awraba, began by asserting his authority and working toward the subjugation of the Christian and Jewish tribes. In 789 he founded a settlement south east of Volubilis, called Medinat Fas, in 791 Idris I was poisoned and killed by an Abbasid agent. Even though he left no heir, shortly after his death, his concubine Lalla Kanza bint Uqba al-Awrabi, bore him his only son and successor. Idris loyal Arab ex-slave and companion Rashid brought up the boy and took on himself the regency of the state, in 801 Rashid was killed by the Abbasids. In the following year, at the age of 11 years, even though he had spread his authority across much of northern Morocco, as far west as Tlemcen, Idris I had been completely dependent on the Awraba leadership. Idris II began his rule with the weakening of Awraba power by welcoming Arab settlers in Walili, thus he transformed himself from a protégé of the Awraba into their sovereign. The Awraba leader Ishak responded by plotting against his life with the Aghlabids of Tunisia, Idris reacted by having his former protector Ishak killed, and in 809 moved his seat of government from the Awraba dominated Walili to Fes, where he founded a new settlement named Al-Aliya. Idriss II developed the city of Fez, established earlier by his father as a Berber market town, here he welcomed two waves of Arab immigration, one in 818 from Cordoba and another in 824 from Aghlabid Tunisia, giving Fes a more Arab character than other Maghrebi cities. Muhammad himself came to rule Fes, with nominal power over his brothers. During this time Islamic and Arabic culture gained a stronghold in the towns and Morocco profited from the trans-Saharan trade, the Idrisids were principally rulers of the towns and had little power over the majority of the countrys population. The Idrisid family in turn was heavily berberised, with its members aligning itself with the Zenata tribes of Morocco, already in the 870s the family was described by Ibn Qutaybah as being berberised in customs. By the 11th century this process had developed to such an extant, in the 11th century the Hammudid family arose among these Berber Idrisids, which was able to gain power in several cities of northern Morocco and southern Spain
34.
Aghlabids
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The Aghlabids were an Arab dynasty of emirs from Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimids. At that time there were perhaps 100,000 Arabs living in Ifriqiya, Ibrahim was to control an area that encompassed eastern Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania. Although independent in all but name, his dynasty never ceased to recognise Abbasid overlordship, the Aghlabids paid an annual tribute to the Abbasid Caliph and their suzerainty was referenced in the khutba at Friday prayers. Additionally, border defenses were set up in Sousse and Monastir, the Aghlabids also built up the irrigation of the area and enhanced the public buildings and mosques of al-Abbasiya. Ibn Kathir recorded that a joint force of 300 Umayyad and Aghlabid ships were present, Theodotus retreated to Enna and the siege of Mineo was broken. The combined Ifriqiyan and Andalusian army then torched Mineo and laid siege to another town, however, a plague broke out in their camp causing the death of Asbagh and many others. The town fell later, in autumn, but the Arabs numbers were depleted subsequently they had to abandon it, Theodotus launched a pursuit and inflicted heavy casualties, so that most of the Andalusians departed the island. However, Theodotus too was killed at this time, possibly in one of these skirmishes, under Ziyadat Allah I came the crisis of a revolt of Arab troops in 824, which was not quelled until 836 with the help of the Berbers. Plundering raids into mainland Italy, which included the sack of the Roman basilicas in 846, gradually the Aghlabids lost control of the Arab forces in Sicily and a new dynasty, the Kalbids, emerged there. The Aghlabid kingdom reached its high point under Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Aghlabi, Ifriqiya was a significant economic power thanks to its fertile agriculture, aided by the expansion of the Roman irrigation system. It became the point of trade between the Islamic world and Byzantium and Italy, especially the lucrative slave trade. Kairuan became the most important centre of learning in the Maghreb, most notably in the field of Theology and Law, the decline of the dynasty began under Ibrahim II ibn Ahmad. An attack by the Tulunids of Egypt had to be repelled, in addition, in 893 there began amongst the Kutama Berbers the movement of the Shiite Fatimids to overthrow the Aghlabids. Ubaydalla Said captured the cities of Qairawan and Raqqada and took an oath of allegiance from the people, by 909, the Aghlabid Dynasty was overthrown and replaced with the Fatimids. Mohamed Talbi, Emirat Aghlabide, Paris, Adrien Maisonneuve,1967, maurice Vonderheyden, La Berbérie orientale sous la dynastie des Benoû l-Aṛlab, 800-909, Paris, Geuthner,1927
35.
Fatimid Caliphate
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The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shia Islamic caliphate that spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The dynasty ruled across the Mediterranean coast of Africa and ultimately made Egypt the centre of the caliphate, at its height the caliphate included in addition to Egypt varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz. The Fatimids claimed descent from Fatima bint Muhammad, the daughter of Islamic prophet Muhammad, in 921 the Fatimids established the Tunisian city of Mahdia as their new capital. In 948 they shifted their capital to Al-Mansuriya, near Kairouan in Tunisia, in 969 they conquered Egypt and established Cairo as the capital of their caliphate, Egypt became the political, cultural, and religious centre of their empire. The ruling class belonged to the Ismaili branch of Shiism, as did the leaders of the dynasty, the existence of the caliphate marked the only time the descendants of Ali through Fatimah were united to any degree and the name Fatimid refers to Fatimah. The different term Fatimite is sometimes used to refer to the caliphates subjects, after the initial conquests, the caliphate often allowed a degree of religious tolerance towards non-Ismaili sects of Islam, as well as to Jews, Maltese Christians, and Egyptian Coptic Christians. The Fatimid caliphate was also distinguished by the role of Berbers in its initial establishment and in helping its development, especially on the military. During the late eleventh and twelfth centuries the Fatimid caliphate declined rapidly and he founded the Ayyubid dynasty and incorporated the Fatimid state into the Abbasid Caliphate. The Fatimid regime lasted until the twelfth century, though its leaders made little headway in persuading the Egyptian population. The Fatimid Caliphates religious ideology originated in an Ismaili Shia movement launched in the 9th century in Salamiyah, Syria by their eighth Imam and he claimed descent through Ismail, the seventh Ismaili Imam, from Fatimah and her husband ʻAlī ibn-Abī-Tālib, the first Shīʻa Imām. Thus his name was al-Fātimiyyūn Fatimid, the eighth to tenth Imams, remained hidden and worked for the movement against the periods times rulers. According to legend, Abdullah and his son were fulfilling a prophecy that the mahdi would come from Mesopotamia to Sijilmasa. They hid among the population of Sijilmasa, then an independent emirate, for four years under the countenance of the Midrar rulers, al-Mahdi was supported by dedicated Shiite Abu Abdullah al-Shii, and al-Shii started his preaching after he encountered a group of Muslim North African during his hajj. These men bragged about the country of the Kutama in western Ifriqiya, and the hostility of the Kutama towards, and their independence from. This triggered al-Shii to travel to the region, where he started to preach the Ismaili doctrine, the Berber peasants, who had been oppressed for decades by the corrupt Aghlabid rule, would prove themselves to be a perfect basis for sedition. Instantly, al-Shii began conquering cities in the region, first Mila, then Sétif, Kairouan, and eventually Raqqada, in 909 Al-Shii sent a large expedition force to rescue the Mahdi, conquering the Khariji state of Tahert on its way there. After gaining his freedom, Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah became the leader of the state and assumed the position of imam. The Fatimids existed during the Islamic Golden Age, the dynasty was founded in 909 by the eleventh Imam ʻAbdullāh al-Mahdī Billah
36.
Zirid dynasty
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The Zirid dynasty, also called Banu Ziri, was a Sanhaja Berber dynasty from current Algeria, which ruled the central Maghreb from 972 to 1014 and Ifriqiya from 972 to 1148. Descendants of Ziri ibn Menad, a leader who rallied to the Cairo-based Fatimids and gave his name to the dynasty. In fact they reinforced their independence until officially breaking with the Fatimids in the mid-11th century, transmitting power by hereditary means, they constituted a true dynasty. They were the first dynasty of Berber origin in the Maghreb during the Middle Ages and it opened the way to a period in Maghrebi where political power was held by Berber dynasties. Continuing their conquests to Fez and to all of modern-day Morocco in 980, they encountered resistance from the local Zenata Berbers, various Zirid branches did however rule the central Maghreb. This branch of the Zirids, at the beginning of the 11th century, following various family disputes, broke away as the Hammadids, the Zirids proper were then designated as Badicides and occupied only Ifriqiyah between 1048 and 1148. Part of the dynasty fled to al-Andalus and later founded, in 1019, the Zirids of Granada were again defeated by the expansion of the Almoravids, who annexed their kingdom in 1090, while the Badicides and the Hammadids remained independent. In the 12th century, the Hilalian invasions combined with the attacks of the Normans of Sicily on the littoral weakened Zirid power, the Almohads finally conquered the central Maghreb and Ifriqiya in 1152, thus unifying the whole of the Maghreb and ending the Zirid dynasties. The Zirids were Sanhaja Berbers originating from the area of modern Algeria, in the 10th century this tribe served as vassals of the Fatimid Caliphate, defeating the Kharijite rebellion of Abu Yazid, under Ziri ibn Manad. Ziri was installed as the governor of central Maghreb and founded the gubernatorial residence of Ashir south-east of Algiers, when the Fatimids moved their capital to Egypt in 972, Ziris son Buluggin ibn Ziri was appointed viceroy of Ifriqiya. The removal of the fleet to Egypt made the retention of Kalbid Sicily impossible, while Algeria broke away under the governorship of Hammad ibn Buluggin, Buluggins son. In 1049 the Zirids broke away completely by adopting Sunni Islam and recognizing the Abbasids of Baghdad as rightful Caliphs, management of the area by later Zirid rulers was neglectful as the agricultural economy declined, prompting an increase in banditry among the rural population. When the Zirids renounced Shia Islam and recognized the Abbasid Caliphate in 1048, the Fatimids sent the Arab tribes of the Banu Hilal, the Zirids were defeated, and the land laid waste by the Bedouin conquerors. After the loss of Kairouan the rule of the Zirids was limited to a strip with Mahdia as the capital. Between 1146 and 1148 the Normans of Sicily conquered all the coastal towns, the Zirid period is a time of great economic prosperity. The departure of the Fatimids to Cairo, far from ending this prosperity, referring to the government of the Zirid Emir al-Muizz, the historian Ibn Khaldun describes, It never seen by the Berbers of that country a kingdom more vast and more flourishing than his own. Other crops such as cane, saffron, cotton, sorghum, millet. The breeding of horses and sheep was flourishing and fishing was active and they did, however, face blockade attempts by the Venetians and Normans who sought to reduce their wood supply and thus their dominance in the region
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Hammadid dynasty
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The Hammadid dynasty was a Sanhaja Berber dynasty that ruled an area roughly corresponding to north-eastern modern Algeria between 1008 and 1152. Its realm was conquered by the Almohad Caliphate, soon after coming to power, they rejected the Ismaili doctrine of the Fatimid Caliphate, and returned to Maliki Sunnism, acknowledging the Abbasids as rightful Caliphs. The Hammadid dynastys first capital was at Qalaat Beni Hammad and it was founded in 1007, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. When the area was sacked by the Banu Hilal tribe, the Hammadids moved their capital to Béjaïa in 1090, in 1014, Hammad ibn Buluggin, a Berber who had been placed as governor of the central Maghreb, declared himself independent from the Zirid dynasty. The kingdom at the time ruled most of the region from Morocco to Tunisia, Hammad obtained recognition from the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad. The Zirids sent an army, but two later a peace was signed, although the Zirid recognized the Hammadid legitimacy only in 1018. Hammad founded a new capital in Qalaat Beni Hammad, with the Banu Hilal menace rising, they moved it to Béjaïa, which became one of the most prosperous cities in the medieval Mediterranean
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Almoravid dynasty
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The Almoravid dynasty was a Berber imperial dynasty of Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that stretched over the western Maghreb, founded by Abdallah ibn Yasin, the Almoravid capital was Marrakesh, a city they founded in 1062. The dynasty originated among the Lamtuna and the Gudala, nomadic Berber tribes of the Sahara and this enabled them to control an empire that stretched 3,000 kilometers north to south. However, the rule of the dynasty was relatively short-lived, the Almoravids fell—at the height of their power—when they failed to quell the Masmuda-led rebellion initiated by Ibn Tumart. As a result, their last king Ishaq ibn Ali was killed in Marrakesh in April 1147 by the Almohad Caliphate, who replaced them as a ruling dynasty both in Morocco and Al-Andalus. The term Almoravid comes from the Arabic al-Murabitun, which is the form of al-Murabit—literally meaning one who is tying. The term is related to the notion of Ribat, a frontier monastery-fortress, another theory states that the name Almoravid comes from a school of Malikite law called Dar al-Murabitin founded in Sus al-Aksa, modern day Morocco, by a certain scholar named Waggag Ibn Zallu. Ibn Zallu sent his student Abdallah ibn Yasin to preach Malikite Islam to the Sanhaja Berbers of the Adrar, hence, the name of the Almoravids comes from the followers of the Dar al-Murabitin, the house of those who were bound together in the cause of God. It is uncertain exactly when or why the Almoravids acquired that appellation, al-Bakri, writing in 1068, before their apex, already calls them the al-Murabitun, but does not clarify the reasons for it. Ibn Idhari wrote that the name was suggested by Ibn Yasin in the persevering in the fight sense,1054, in which they had taken many losses. Whichever explanation is true, it seems certain the appellation was chosen by the Almoravids for themselves, the name might be related to the ribat of Waggag ibn Zallu in the village of Aglu, where the future Almoravid spiritual leader Abdallah ibn Yasin got his initial training. Contemporaries frequently referred to them as the al-mulathimun, the Almoravids veiled themselves below the eyes with a tagelmust, a custom they adapted from southern Sanhaja Berbers. Although practical for the desert dust, the Almoravids insisted on wearing the veil everywhere, as a badge of foreignness in urban settings and it served as the uniform of the Almoravids. Under their rule, sumptuary laws forbade anybody else from wearing the veil, in turn, the succeeding Almohads made a point of mocking the Almoravid veil as symbolic of effeminacy and decadence. The western Sanhaja had been converted to Islam some time in the 9th century and they were subsequently united in the 10th century and, with the zeal of neophyte converts, launched several campaigns against the Sudanese. Under their king Tinbarutan ibn Usfayshar, the Sanhaja Lamtuna erected the citadel of Awdaghust, after the collapse of the Sanhaja union, Awdagust passed over to the Ghana empire, and the trans-Saharan routes were taken over by the Zenata Maghrawa of Sijilmassa. The Maghrawa also exploited this disunion to dislodge the Sanhaja Gazzula and Lamta out of their pasturelands in the Sous, around 1035, the Lamtuna chieftain Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tifat, tried to reunite the Sanhaja desert tribes, but his reign lasted less than three years. Around 1040, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, a chieftain of the Gudala, on his return, he stopped by Kairouan in Ifriqiya, where he met Abu Imran al-Fasi, a native of Fes and a jurist and scholar of the Sunni Maliki school
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Almohad Caliphate
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The Almohad Caliphate was a Moroccan Berber Muslim movement founded in the 12th century. The Almohad movement was founded by Ibn Tumart among the Berber Masmuda tribes of southern Morocco, around 1120, the Almohads first established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains. They succeeded in overthrowing the ruling Almoravid dynasty governing Morocco by 1147 and they then extended their power over all of the Maghreb by 1159. Al-Andalus followed the fate of North Africa and all Islamic Iberia was under Almohad rule by 1172, nearly all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon after, with the great Moorish cities of Cordova and Seville falling to the Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively. The Almohads continued to rule in Africa until the loss of territory through the revolt of tribes and districts enabled the rise of their most effective enemies. The Almohad movement originated with Ibn Tumart, a member of the Masmuda, at the time, Morocco, and much of the rest of North Africa and Spain, was under the rule of the Almoravids, a Sanhaja Berber dynasty. Early in his life, Ibn Tumart went to Spain to pursue his studies, in Baghdad, Ibn Tumart attached himself to the theological school of al-Ashari, and came under the influence of the teacher al-Ghazali. He soon developed his own system, combining the doctrines of various masters, Ibn Tumarts main principle was a strict unitarianism, which denied the independent existence of the attributes of God as being incompatible with His unity, and therefore a polytheistic idea. Ibn Tumart represented a revolt against what he perceived as anthropomorphism in Muslim orthodoxy and his followers would become known as the al-Muwahhidun, meaning those who affirm the unity of God. After his return to the Maghreb c.1117, Ibn Tumart spent some time in various Ifriqiyan cities, preaching and agitating, heading riotous attacks on wine-shops and on other manifestations of laxity. He laid the blame for the latitude on the dynasty of the Almoravids. His antics and fiery preaching led fed-up authorities to him along from town to town. After being expelled from Bejaia, Ibn Tumart set up camp in Mellala, in the outskirts of the city, where he received his first disciples - notably, al-Bashir and Abd al-Mumin. In 1120, Ibn Tumart and his band of followers proceeded to Morocco, stopping first in Fez. He even went so far as to assault the sister of the Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf, in the streets of Fez, because she was going about unveiled, after the manner of Berber women. After the debate, the scholars concluded that Ibn Tumarts views were blasphemous and the man dangerous, but the emir decided merely to expel him from the city. Ibn Tumart took refuge among his own people, the Hargha, in his village of Igiliz. He retreated to a cave, and lived out an ascetic lifestyle, coming out only to preach his program of puritan reform
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Marinid dynasty
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The Marinid dynasty or Banu abd al-Haqq was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Zenata Berber descent that ruled Morocco from the 13th to the 15th century. In 1244, the Marinids overthrew the Almohad dynasty, which controlled Morocco and it briefly held sway over all the Maghreb in the mid-14th century. The Marinids were overthrown after the 1465 revolt, the Wattasids, a related dynasty, came to power in 1472. The Marinids were a branch of the Wassin, a nomadic Zenata Berber tribe that lived in Ifriqiya, the tribe had first frequented the area between Sijilmasa and Figuig. The Marinids took their name from their ancestor, Marin ibn Wartajan al-Zenati, after arriving in Morocco, they initially submitted to the Almohads, the ruling dynasty at the time. After successfully contributing to the Battle of Alarcos, in central Spain, starting in 1213, they began to tax farming communities of north-eastern Morocco. The relationship between them and the Almohads became strained and starting in 1215, there were outbreaks of fighting between the two parties. In 1217 they tried to occupy eastern Morocco, but they were expelled, after which they pulled back, here they remain for nearly 30 years. Between 1244 and 1248 the Marinids were able to take Taza, Rabat, Salé, the Marinid leadership installed in Fes declared war on the Almohads, fighting with the aid of Christian mercenaries. Abu Yusuf Yaqub captured Marrakech in 1269, after the Nasrids ceded Algeciras to the Marinids, Abu Yusuf went to Al-Andalus to support the ongoing struggle against the Kingdom of Castile. The Marinid dynasty then tried to extend its control to include the traffic of the Strait of Gibraltar. It was in period that the Spanish Christians were first able to take the fighting to Morocco, in 1260 and 1267 they attempted an invasion of Morocco. After gaining a foothold in Spain, the Marinids became active in the conflict between Muslims and Christians in Iberia, in 1276 they founded Fes Jdid, which they made their administrative and military centre. It is from the Marinid period that Fes reputation as an important intellectual centre largely dates, they established the first madrassas in the city, the principal monuments in the medina, the residences and public buildings, date from the Marinid period. Despte internal infighting, Abu Said Uthman II initiated huge construction projects across Morocco, several madrassas were built, the Al-Attarine Madrasa being the most famous. The building of these madrassas were necessary to create a dependent bureaucratic class, in order to undermine the marabouts, the Marinids also strongly influenced the policy of the Emirate of Granada, from which they enlarged their army in 1275. In the 13th century, the Kingdom of Castile made several incursions into Morocco, in 1260, Castilian forces raided Salé and, in 1267, initiated a full-scale invasion of Morocco, but the Marinids repelled them. At the height of their power, during the rule of Abu al-Hasan Ali and it consisted of 40.000 Zenata cavalry, while Arab nomads contributed to the cavalry and Andalusians were included as archers
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Hafsid dynasty
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The Hafsids were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descent who ruled Ifriqiya from 1229 to 1574. The dynasty was named after Muhammad bin Abu Hafs a Berber from the Masmuda tribe of Morocco and he was appointed governor of Ifriqiya by Muhammad an-Nasir, Caliph of the Almohad empire between 1198-1213. The Banu Hafs, were a powerful group amongst the Almohads, their ancestor is Omar Abu Hafs al-Hentati, a member of the council of ten and a close companion of Ibn Tumart. The Hafsids as governors on behalf of the Almohads faced constant threats from Banu Ghaniya who were descendants of Almoravid princes which the Almohads had defeated and replaced as a ruling dynasty, the Hafsids were Ifriqiya governors of the Almohads until 1229, when they declared independence. After the split of the Hafsids from the Almohads under Abu Zakariya, Abu Zakariya organised the administration in Ifriqiya and built Tunis up as the economic, at the same time, many Muslims from Al-Andalus fleeing the Spanish Reconquista of Castile and Aragon were absorbed. He also conquered the Kingdom of Tlemcen in 1242 and made the Abdalwadids his vassals and his successor Muhammad I al-Mustansir took the title of Caliph. In the 14th century the empire underwent a temporary decline, although the Hafsids succeeded for a time in subjugating the empire of the Abdalwadids of Tlemcen, between 1347 and 1357 they were twice conquered by the Merinids of Morocco. The Abdalwadids however could not defeat the Bedouin, ultimately, the Hafsids were able to regain their empire, during the same period plague epidemics caused a considerable fall in population, further weakening the empire. Under the Hafsids, commerce with Christian Europe grew significantly, however piracy against Christian shipping grew as well, in 1429, the Hafsids attacked the island of Malta, and took 3000 slaves although they did not conquer the island. The profits were used for a building programme and to support art. However, piracy also provoked retaliation from Aragon and Venice, which several times attacked Tunisian coastal cities, under Utman the Hafsids reached their zenith, as the caravan trade through the Sahara and with Egypt was developed, as well as sea trade with Venice and Aragon. The Bedouins and the cities of the empire became independent, leaving the Hafsids in control of only Tunis. In the 16th century the Hafsids became increasingly caught up in the struggle between Spain and the Ottoman Empire-supported Corsairs. The Ottomans conquered Tunis in 1534 and held it for one year, a year later the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor seized Tunis, drove the Ottomans out and restored Muley Hassan as a Hapsburg tributary. Due to the Ottoman threat, the Hafsids were vassals of Spain after 1535, the Ottomans again conquered Tunis in 1569 and held it for four years. Don Juan of Austria recaptured it in 1573, the Hafsid lineage survived the Ottoman massacre by a branch of the family being taken to the Canary Island of Tenerife by the Spanish
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