Roman Africa, also known as Roman North Africa, refers to the culture of Roman Africans that developed from 146 BC, when the Roman Republic defeated Carthage and the Punic Wars ended. This period extended through the 5th and 6th centuries AD under Byzantine Imperial control.
Map of Roman Africa within the Roman Empire.
In referring to "Africa", the Romans themselves meant mainly northern Africa or Mediterranean Africa. Roman Egypt was a separate province with a distinct Greco-Egyptian culture and society, and Aethiopia represented the largely unknown bounds of sub-Saharan Africa. The Roman Imperial and later the Byzantine presence manifested in a series of evolving but defined administrative provinces.
The Roman Imperial presence manifested in a series of evolving but defined administrative provinces. Byzantine North Africa existed from AD 533 through approximately AD 698.
Origins and Establishment
Africa was a Roman province on the northern coast of the continent of Africa. It was established in 146 BC, following the Roman Republic's conquest of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of Algeria, and the coast of western Libya along the Gulf of Sidra.
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The territory was originally inhabited by Berbers, known in Latin as the Numidae and Maurii, indigenous to all of North Africa west of Egypt. In the 9th century BC, Semitic-speaking Phoenicians from the Levant built coastal settlements across the Mediterranean to support and expand their shipping networks. In the 8th century BC, the settlement of Carthage became the predominant Phoenician colony.
Utica, which had sided with Rome against Carthage, was made the administrative capital. The remaining territory was left in the domain of the Berber Numidian king Massinissa. In 118 BC, the Numidian king Micipsa died and split the kingdom among his three heirs: Jugurtha, Hiempsal I and Adherbal. Hiempsal was assassinated in 117 BC; Adherbal fled to Rome to request protection and the intervention of the Roman Senate. In 112 BC, Jugurtha resumed the civil war and defeated Adherbal at Cirta, and embarked on the Jugurthine War against Rome (111-106 BC).
Expansion and Division
During Caesar's civil war (49-45 BC), Caesar created a new African province, Africa nova, from territory taken from the Numidians. The original province was called Africa vetus. During the Second Triumvirate, the two provinces were unified, possibly in 35 BC, in consequence of border conflicts. Roman governors of the province won three triumphs between 34 and 28 BC.
After Diocletian's administrative reforms, the province was split into:
- Africa Zeugitana (which retained the name Africa Proconsularis, as it was governed by a proconsul) in the north
- Africa Byzacena (corresponding to eastern Tunisia) to the south
- Africa Tripolitania (corresponding to southern Tunisia and northwest Libya) to the south and southeast of Africa Byzacena
All of these were part of the Dioecesis Africae.
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Military Presence and Romanization
The Roman military presence in Northwest Africa was relatively small, consisting of about 28,000 troops and auxiliaries in Numidia and the two Mauretanian provinces. Starting in the 2nd century AD, these garrisons were manned mostly by local inhabitants.
According to Mommsen in his "The Provinces of the Roman Empire", by the end of the Western Roman Empire nearly all of the Maghreb was fully Romanized.
Abun-Nasr, in his "A History of the Maghrib," noted that the Romans did not display any racial exclusiveness and were remarkably tolerant of Berber religious cults. However, the Roman territory in Africa was unevenly penetrated by Roman culture, with pockets of non-Romanized Berbers continuing to exist throughout the Roman period.
The Roman African populations kept their Latin language and Nicene-Chalcedonian Christian religion under the Germanic Vandal occupation, the Byzantine restoration, and the Islamic conquest. They progressively converted to Islam until the near-extinction of Christianity in the Maghreb in the 12th Century under the Almohads.
After their conquest, the Muslim conquerors distinguished three distinct categories of population in Northwest Africa:
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- The foreign population from Rūm ((Eastern) Roman Empire).
- The Afāriqah: the Roman Africans, the native Latin-speaking community in the urban areas.
- The Barbar, the Berber farmers that populated most of the rural countryside.
Economy and Prosperity
Africa was one of the wealthiest provinces in the Roman Empire, second only to Italy. Roman Africans enjoyed a high level of prosperity. The prosperity of most towns depended on agriculture. Described as the "granary of the empire," it was said that Africa fed the Roman populace for eight months of the year, while Egypt provided the remaining four months' supply.
Northwest Africa, according to one estimate, produced one million tons of cereals each year, one-quarter of which was exported. Additional crops included beans, figs, grapes, and other fruits. By the 2nd century BC, olive oil rivaled cereals as an export item.
The incorporation of colonial cities into the Roman Empire brought an unparalleled degree of urbanization to vast areas of territory, particularly in Northwest Africa. This level of rapid urbanization had a structural impact on the town economy, and artisan production in Roman cities became closely tied to agrarian spheres of production. As Rome's population grew, so did the city's demand for Northwest African produce. This flourishing trade allowed the Northwest African provinces to increase artisan production in rapidly developing cities, making them highly organized urban centers.
The urban population became increasingly engaged in the craft and service sectors and less in agrarian employment, until a significant portion of the town's vitality came from the sale or trade of products through middlemen to markets in areas both rural and abroad.
The Northwest African provinces spanned across regions rich with olive plantations and potters' clay sources, which led to the early development of fine Ancient Roman pottery, especially African Red Slip terra sigillata tableware and clay oil lamp manufacture, as a crucial industry. Lamps provided the most common form of artificial illumination in Rome.
Pine forests, with a herb layer of grasses, were widespread and economically significant, especially in the humid zone, the northeast of modern Tunisia (the areas known as the Tell and parts of the Dorsal mountains). Many areas are described as saltus, land used for non-agricultural exploitation. Timber, pitch (used to line amphorae and waterproof ships), firewood, pine nuts, and charcoal would all have been produced. Grazing was also practiced on forested land. Olive plantations were also widespread, usually on land previously forested, and the pomace residue after oil extraction was also locally important as fuel.
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Vandal Rule and Byzantine Restoration
The region remained part of the Roman empire until the Germanic migrations of the 5th century AD. The Vandals crossed into Northwest Africa from Spain in AD 429, had conquered the region by AD 439, founding a kingdom which also included Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics.
The Vandals controlled the country as a warrior-elite but faced strong resistance from the native Berbers. The Vandals also persecuted Chalcedonian Roman Africans and Berbers, as the Vandals were adherents of Arianism (the semi-trinitarian doctrines of Arius, a priest of Egypt).
In AD 533, emperor Justinian, using a Vandal dynastic dispute as pretext, sent an army under the general Belisarius to recover Africa. In a year-long campaign, Belisarius defeated the Vandals, entered Carthage in triumph and re-established Roman rule over the province.
From AD 534-91, the northwest African provinces were grouped together with the Byzantine province of Spania into the Praetorian prefecture of Africa, this time separate from Praetorian prefecture of Italy. In AD 591, this was replaced by emperor Maurice with the Exarchate of Africa. The Exarchate prospered. Heraclius the Elder, the Exarch of Africa, and his son Heraclius, overthrew the emperor Phocas at Constantinople in AD 610. Following Heraclius' death in AD 641, the exarchate continued to operate.
Decline
They existed from the Roman conquest until their language gradually faded after the Arab conquest of North Africa in the Early Middle Ages (approximately the 8th Century A.D.).
Roman Africans lived in all the coastal cities of Tunisia, Western Libya, Eastern Algeria, and Northern Morocco, though in a more limited fashion, mainly concentrated in the coastal areas and large towns.
Many Roman Africans were generally local Berbers or Punics, but also the descendants of the populations from Rome and Roman Italy, or the Empire's diverse regions, as legionaries and senators.
Culture and Characteristics
The Roman-Africans first adopted the Roman pantheon under the rule of the Roman Republic and were one of the first provinces to convert to Christianity.
The African province was among the wealthiest regions in the Empire, and therefore, people from all over the Empire migrated into the province. Many Roman Army veterans settled in Northwest Africa on farming plots promised for their military service.
By the second Century A.D., the Fossa Regia province of North Africa had a population of three-fourths Italic, was fully Latinized, and embraced the Hellenic Religion.
A sizable Latin-speaking population developed from a multinational background, sharing the northwest African region with those speaking Punic and Berber languages.
Imperial security forces began with the local population, including the Berbers.
Characteristics: The Roman-Africans first adopted the Roman pantheon under the rule of the Roman Republic and were one of the first provinces to convert to Christianity.
Table: Administrative Divisions of Roman Africa after Diocletian's Reforms
| Province | Region | Governance |
|---|---|---|
| Africa Zeugitana (Africa Proconsularis) | Northern Tunisia | Proconsul |
| Africa Byzacena | Eastern Tunisia | - |
| Africa Tripolitania | Southern Tunisia and Northwest Libya | - |
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