Mauretania is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern Morocco, southward to the Atlas Mountains, its native inhabitants, seminomadic pastoralists of Berber ancestry, were known to the Romans as the Mauri and the Masaesyli. In 27 BC, the kings of Mauretania became Roman vassals until about 44 AD, when the area was annexed to Rome and divided into two provinces: Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis. Christianity had spread there from the 3rd century onwards According to one view it was extinguished when the Muslim Arabs subdued the region in the 7th century. Per another it continued to exist. Mauretania existed as a tribal kingdom of the Berber Mauri people. Yevgenii Pospelov records a Phoenician naming of the area which became known as Mauretania: the Phoenicians called the country at the extreme western edge of their known world Mauharim, meaning "Western land". In the early 1st century Strabo recorded Mauri as the native name.

This appellation was adopted into Latin. The Mauri would bequeath their name to the Moors on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, from at least the 3rd century BC; the Mediterranean coast of Mauretania had commercial harbours for trade with Carthage from before the 4th century BC, but the interior was controlled by Berber tribes, who had established themselves in the region by the Iron Age. King Atlas was a legendary king of Mauretania credited with inventing the celestial globe; the first known historical king of the Mauri, ruled during the Second Punic War of 218-201 BC. The Mauri were in close contact with Numidia. Bocchus I was father-in-law to the redoubted Numidian king Jugurtha. Mauretania became a client kingdom of the Roman Empire in 33 BC; the Romans installed Juba II of Numidia as their client-king. When Juba died in AD 23, his Roman-educated son Ptolemy of Mauretania succeeded him; the Emperor Caligula had Ptolemy executed in 40. The Roman Emperor Claudius annexed Mauretania directly as a Roman province in 44, placing it under an imperial governor.

In the 1st century AD, Emperor Claudius divided the Roman province of Mauretania into Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana along the line of the Mulucha River, about 60 km west of modern Oran: Mauretania Tingitana was named after its capital Tingis. Mauretania Caesariensis was named after its capital Caesarea and comprised western and central Algeria. Mauretania gave the empire the equestrian Macrinus, he seized power after the assassination of Caracalla in 217 but was himself defeated and executed by Elagabalus the next year. Emperor Diocletian's Tetrarchy reform further divided the area into three provinces, as the small, easternmost region of Sitifensis was split off from Mauretania Caesariensis; the Notitia Dignitatum mentions themas still existing, two being under the authority of the Vicarius of the diocese of Africa: A Dux et praeses provinciae Mauritaniae et Caesariensis, i.e. a Roman governor of the rank of Vir spectabilis, who held the high military command of dux, as the superior of eight border garrison commanders, each styled Praepositus limitis... followed by Columnatensis, inferioris, Muticitani, Audiensis and Augustensis.

A Praeses in the province of Mauretania Sitifensis. And, under the authority of the Vicarius of the diocese of Hispaniae: During the crisis of the 3rd century, parts of Mauretania were reconquered by Berber tribes. Direct Roman rule became confined to a few coastal cities by the late 3rd century. Historical sources about inland areas are sparse, but these were controlled by local Berber rulers who, maintained a degree of Roman culture, including the local cities, nominally acknowledged the suzerainty of the Roman Emperors; the Western kingdom more distant from the Vandal kingdom was the one of Altava, a city located at the borders of Mauretania Tingitana and Caesariensis.... It is clear that the Mauro-Roman kingdom of Altava was inside the Western Latin world, not only because of location but because it adopted the military-religious-sociocultural-administrative organization of the Roman Empire... In an inscription from Altava in western Algeria, one of these rulers, described himself as rex gentium Maurorum et Romanorum.

Altava was the capital of another ruler, Garmul or Garmules, who resisted Byzantine rule in Africa but was defeated in 578. The Byzantine historian Procopius mentions another independent ruler, who controlled most of Mauretania Caesariensis in the 530s. In the 7th century there were eight Romano-Moorish kingdoms: Altava, Hodna, Nemenchas, Capsa and Cabaon; the last resistance against the Arab invasion was sustained in the second half of the 7th century by the Roman-Moorish kingdoms -with the last Byzantine troops in the region- under the leadership of the Christian king of Altava Caecilius, but ended in complete defeat in 703 AD. The Vandals conquered the Roman province beginning in the 420s; the city of Hippo Regius fell to the Vandals in 431 after a prolonged siege, Carthage fell in 439. Theodosius II dispatched an expedition to deal with the Vandals in 441, which failed to progress

Steven Martens is a Belgian sports executive and the ex-CEO of the Royal Belgian Football Association. He obtained a master's degree in classical philology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and became a top trainer in tennis at the Flemish trainers' school Bloso. In his youth years he played tennis, he is a brother of the sp.a-politician Bart Martens. He became a tennis coach in 1987 within the Belgian Tennis Federation with players as Sabine Appelmans, Laurence Courtois, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Kirsten Flipkens, Xavier Malisse, Olivier Rochus, Kristof Vliegen and Steve Darcis. In 1997 he was awarded the ITF Coach fair play award. Afterwards he became technical coordinator of the VTV training centre from 1998 to 2005, to keep the function of technical director until 2006. Additionally, Steven Martens was captain from Belgian national tennis teams in the Fed Cup team and the Davis Cup team. In 2004 he was coach from the national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the tournament at which Justine Henin would win Olympic tennis gold for Belgium.

From 2007 on he was active as player director with the LTA, the tennis federation of the United Kingdom. There, he was busy with scouting and education from younger players and coaches and he took care of the support and guidance for top players. Martens was a regular co-commentator during tennis matches at the Belgian public broadcast VRT. On 1 May 2011, he was assigned as new Secretary-General of the Royal Belgian Football Association, as successor of Jean-Marie Philips. In an interview one year after his entry as Secretary-General he explained his long-term vision to increase the Belgian interest for playing football and to improve the Belgian FA's image and Belgian stadiums. Martens resigned on 9 February 2015 after accusations of bad financial losses. Website Royal Belgian Football Association

The Lakes in Copenhagen, Denmark are a row of three rectangular lakes curving around the western margin of the City Centre, forming one of the oldest and most distinctive features of the city's topography. The paths around them are popular with strollers and runners; the area, which the lakes now form, was one long stream. It was just outside the city levees. In the early Middle Ages, a need of water for watermills was determined; as a result of this a dam was built and the Peblinge Sø was created. As a result of a siege of Copenhagen in 1523, it was decided to expand the entrenchments in order to improve the fortifications of the city; the levee at Peblinge Sø was expanded and another was created, which resulted in the creation of Sortedams Sø. In the beginning of the 16th century, Sankt Jørgens Sø was created, by further damming; this made it possible to flood the lakes in case of an attack. Peblinge Sø and Sortedams Sø served as reservoirs for the city, in the period 1705-1727 they were cleaned and dug deeper.

The edges were straightened, giving them their current shape. In the middle of the 18th century they were discontinued as a source of drinking water, due to poor water quality. Sankt Jørgens Sø was to be used instead and it was cleaned and straightened in a similar manner as had the two other lakes 120 years earlier; until the end of World War II, it played a central role in as a reservoir in Copenhagen and as a backup reservoir until 1959. The first Fredensbro was built across Sortedams Sø in 1878 as a small wooden bridge; the current Fredensbro is a wide levee. It was created in 1976-1977; the vertical slopes of Peblinge Sø and Sortedams Sø were made in 1929, where the pathways surrounding the lakes were made. In the 60's it was suggested a four lane city ring be constructed, but the project was disbanded and the lakes were granted the a status of a protected area in 1966. Fugleøen is located within the northern basin of Sortedams Sø, it was raised to fame in 1967, when it was "liberated" by a group of activists, who declared it an independent state, separate from Denmark.

There are plans to create a park around Sankt Jørgens Sø, with the dual use of acting as a detention basin for cloudburst flood waters. As a consequence of Global Warming, cloudbusts have become much more common in Denmark, making the sewerage pipes designed for the old weather patterns insufficient; the municipality of Copenhagen together with Nordic Innovation, an organisation under Nordic Council of Ministers, is launching an extensive climate adaptation and urban space initiative with objectives such as redirecting rainwater from cloudbursts, purifying the water running into the Peblinge City Lake, creating new and more liveable urban spaces. Ramboll is Technical Lead this project team, led by the design studio SLA; the landmark consist of three artificial lakes, which are divided into five basins: Sankt Jørgens Sø is made of two basins with the southernmost point at the Tycho Brahe Planetarium and northernmost point at Gyldenløvesgade. The two basins are divided by a levee. Peblinge Sø.

A single basin between Gyldenløvesgade and Dronning Louises Bro, the continuation of Nørrebrogade. The word pebling means little priest, was used metaphorically for any student in the elementary and secondary schools in Denmark during the time when the church was the sole provider of education. Sortedams Sø consists of two basins; the southernmost point is by the Dronning Louises Bro. The lakes are separated by Fredensbro; the lakes inlet is through piped streams. These streams jointly provide water from the wet-area Utterslev Mose, the lake Emdrup Sø and to a lesser degree the lake Damhussøen. Ladegårdsåen was converted from an open stream to a piped stream in 1925 and is located below the streets Ågade and Åboulevarden, it has its endpoint near the pavilion Søpavillonen. From the lakes the water is streamed further on, with an endpoint at the north end of Sortedams Sø, to the lakes in Østre Anlæg, the Fredrikshavn Entrenchment and Øresund; the water has an average time in the lakes of 1 year. The water in Utterslev Mose and Emdrup Sø is high in nutrients.

As a result of this, large quantities of algae formed in the lakes and the water became rather unclear as well as hindering animal and plant life. In 1999 the municipality of Copenhagen erected a water treatment plant by Emdrup Sø, to clean the water, being led to the lakes; this allowed for the re-creation of the water environment. The water is much more clear and animal and plant life are present; the lakes serve as a recreational area and the paths surrounding them are popular for strolls and a favoured running route. The total distance around the lakes is 6.4 km. Sankt Jørgens Sø has a depth of 4–5 metres with sloped sides; the other lakes have a depth of 2.5 metres, with hard vertical edges. In Sortedams Sø, two artificial islands has been created, they are named Fiskeøen and Fugleøen and both serve as sanctuary for birds. Søtorvet, Copenhagen Sortedam Lake Visit Copenhagen informatio