History of North Africa 500BC to 500AD
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North Africa
500BC
Carthage was founded shortly after 1000 BC by Phoenician colonists from Syria. In the following centuries the city flourished, and has become the great trade emporia of the western Mediterranean, dominating not only with its merchant ships but with its fighting navy as well.
To secure its position, commercially and militarily, Carthage has set up colonies along the North African coast, in the Balearic Islands and in Spain, and has established control over the cities of western Sicily.
North Africa 200BC »
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Spain and Portugal
Phoenician and Greek colonies cling to the Spanish coast
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Italy
The peoples of Italy, including the Romans, have come under the influence of Greek and Etruscan civilization
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Greece and the Balkans
A great civilization has emerged in Greece, based on hundreds of small city-states
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Africa
Bantu farmers from West Africa are beginning to spread out across the continent
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North Africa
200BC
The great city-state of Carthage has recently been defeated in two long, bitter wars with her arch-rival, Rome. In the second war (218 – 202 BC), her great general, Hannibal, came near to utterly destroying Roman power. He was unable to do so because Rome's allies remained largely loyal to her, and, after years of fruitless campaigning, he returned to Carthage, only to lead the Carthaginians to final defeat at the battle of Zama (202 BC).
As a result of her defeats, Carthage’s overseas dominions have been stripped from her, and have come under Roman control. Nearer home, Berber kingdoms have emerged in North Africa. These have been drawn into the struggles between Carthage and Rome, as allies of one side or the other. The best known of these kingdoms is Numidia, which has become Rome’s main ally in the region.
« North Africa 500BC | North Africa 30BC »
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Italy
The cities and tribes of central and southern Italy have come under the firm leadership of Rome
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Spain and Portugal
Carthaginian and Roman armies have contested much of Spain
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Africa
Trade routes across the Sahara desert are being pioneered, while, to the south, Bantu farmers continue their swift expansion across the continent
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North Africa
30BC
Carthage began to recover her commercial prosperity after defeat in the 2nd Punic War, but this only aroused the fear of the Romans. In 146 BC they destroyed the city once and for all, selling 50,000 of her people into slavery. Other Carthaginian cities such as Utica and Hadrumetum sided with Rome in this struggle and survived under Roman authority. During the first century the Berber kingdom of Numidia was brought under Roman control after prolonged fighting, but remained a client kingdom until the time of Julius Caesar, when it was brought into the Roman province of Africa. At that same time a Roman colony was planted on the site of the old city of Carthage. Beyond the Roman frontier nomadic Berber tribes continue to carry out small-scale raids, whilst the kingdom of Mauritania, emerging in the late 2nd century BC, has become a virtually a client state of the Romans.
« North Africa 200BC | North Africa 200AD »
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Italy
The free inhabitants of Italy all now enjoy full Roman citizenship, and provide Rome with the bulk of its soldiers and officials
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Spain and Portugal
Roman armies have slowly conquered most of Spain
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Africa
North Africa has all fallen under Roman rule, while in central Africa the Bantu expansion continues
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North Africa
200AD
Roman control in North Africa was completed under the emperor Claudius, when the kingdom of Mauritania was annexed. The rest of the region is disturbed now and again by small-scale raids by the nomadic Berber tribes of the desert, but the imperial frontier has been pushed out to the south and the border tribes settled on farmland to form a buffer between the desert and the Romanized zone. This has experienced a general peace for the past two centuries. North Africa has become one of the most prosperous regions within the Roman Empire, with many flourishing cities. Carthage is one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the Roman world. By this date many Roman senators are from North African backgrounds, and the current emperor, Septimius Severus, is himself an African. Much of Rome’s grain comes from the region, which also produces olive oil and fish, as well as wild animals for the circus.
« North Africa 30BC | North Africa 500AD »
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Italy
Italy holds a privileged position within the Roman empire
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Spain and Portugal
Spain and Portugal have become thoroughly Romanized after centuries of Roman rule
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North Africa
500AD
Carthage began to recover her commercial prosperity after defeat in the 2nd Punic War, but this only aroused the fear of the Romans. In 146 BC they destroyed the city once and for all, selling 50,000 of her people into slavery. Other Carthaginian cities such as Utica and Hadrumetum sided with Rome in this struggle and survived under Roman authority. During the first century the Berber kingdom of Numidia was brought under Roman control after prolonged fighting, but remained a client kingdom until the time of Julius Caesar, when it was brought into the Roman province of Africa. At that same time a Roman colony was planted on the site of the old city of Carthage. Beyond the Roman frontier nomadic Berber tribes continue to carry out small-scale raids, whilst the kingdom of Mauritania, emerging in the late 2nd century BC, has become a virtually a client state of the Romans.
« North Africa 200AD
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Italy
In Italy, Roman admininstration and society remains largely intact under the rule of the Ostrogoths
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Spain and Portugal
Spain and Portugal have experienced much destruction, but the old Roman civilization endures under Visigothic rule
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- North Africa (500BC)
- North Africa (200BC)
- North Africa (30BC)
- North Africa (200AD)
- North Africa (500AD)
- Assyria (1350BC - 600BC)
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