North Africa 200 CE

What is happening in North Africa in 200CE

Roman control in North Africa was completed under the emperor Claudius, when the kingdom of Mauritania was annexed. 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 reigning 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.