9781422271353

Sand dunes stretch as far as the eye can see in the Libyan Sahara Desert.

from sub-Saharan African cultures. Although various civilizations periodically controlled the area, they didn’t replace the local culture. For example, in the second century BCE, Rome waged war against Carthage (now present-day Tunisia), one of the most important trading ports on the Mediterranean. Rome won, and in the process, destroyed the city. Roman engineers eventually rebuilt Carthage under Julius Caesar and made it the capital of the Roman Empire’s Africa Province. During that period, the Amazigh co-existed with their conquerors but never adopted Roman culture in lieu of their own. Of course, conquerors came and usually went after a few centuries or so. That would change with the Arab conquest. Arabs Arrive In the seventh century CE, the prophet Mohammad urged his early followers to seek refuge in Africa to escape religious persecution.

African

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