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Concept
Africa (Roman province)
Summary
Africa was a Roman province on the northern coast of what is now known as the African continent. 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 Sirte. The territory was originally and still is inhabited by Berber people, known in Latin as Mauri, indigenous to all of North Africa west of Egypt. In the 9th century BC, Semitic Phoenicians from Western Asia built settlements along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to facilitate shipping. Carthage, rising to prominence in the 8th century BC, became the predominant of these.
Africa was one of the wealthiest provinces in the western part of the Roman Empire, second only to Italy. In addition to Carthage, other large settlements in the province were Hadrumetum (modern Sousse, Tunisia), the capital of Byzacena, and Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Algeria).
Rome's first province in northern Africa was established by the Roman Republic in 146 BC, following its conquest of Carthage by Scipio Aemilianus in the Third Punic War. It is possible that the name "Africa" comes from the Berber word "afer", "ifri" or "Aourigha" (whose name would have been pronounced Afarika) that designated a tribe.
Utica, which had fought on the side of the Romans in the war, was formed as the administrative capital. The remaining territory was left in the domain of the Berber Numidian client king Massinissa. At this time, the Roman policy in Africa was simply to prevent another great power from rising on the Northwest Africa.
In 118 BC, the Numidian prince Jugurtha attempted to reunify the smaller kingdoms. However, upon his death, much of Jugurtha's territory was placed in the control of the Berber Mauritanian client king Bocchus; and, by that time, the romanisation of Africa was firmly rooted.
During Caesar's civil war, Caesar created a new African province from territory taken from the Numidians.
Official source
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