North Africa was populated in ancient times by Libyan peoples (Berbers) scattered across the vast territory of ancient Libya (present-day Maghreb). In ancient times, it was divided between the kingdoms of Numidia and Mauritania. Archaeological sites such as Medracen and inscriptions in the Tifinagh alphabet bear witness to this period. This region was in contact with other civilizations in the Mediterranean area, such as the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans.
On the coast, the city-state of Utica (in present-day Tunisia) was founded by the Phoenicians in 1100 BC; Carthage, the base of a major civilization on the north coast, was founded by Phoenician colonists from Tyre in 814 BC. Utica was later absorbed by Carthage as the latter developed. Cyrene, in present-day Libya, was founded in 644 BC by the Greeks. It would become the political center of Cyrenaica, which would eventually become part of Ptolemaic Egypt. In 332 BC, Alexander the Great was welcomed as a liberator by Egypt, then occupied by the Persians. He founded Alexandria, which would become the prosperous capital of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.
The prosperity of Carthaginian civilization was based on Mediterranean trade, but also on trade with the interior of Africa, notably with the cities of Sabratha and Leptis Magna (in present-day Libya), located at the end of the trans-Saharan routes. From the point of view of social and political organization, Carthage did not form an “empire” as solid and structured as that of the Romans, which would explain its defeat.
Gradually, from 146 BC, after Rome’s victory over Carthage at the end of the Punic Wars which gave birth to the Roman province of Africa, the entire northern coast of the continent was incorporated into the Roman Empire.
Timeline
Approximate periods given for graphic illustration purposes.
For more information :
- https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portail:Afrique
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa
- https://africacenter.org/
- https://journals.openedition.org/etudesafricaines/
- https://etudes-africaines.cnrs.fr/
- https://journals.openedition.org/etudesafricaines/
- https://www.afdb.org/fr/documents-publications/economic-perspectives-en-afrique-2024
