Romans in Sub-Saharan Africa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Map showing the main Roman expeditions in Sub-Saharan western Africa

Romans in Sub-Saharan Africa were a group of expeditions & explorations to Lake Chad and western Africa. These expeditions were done by a group of military and commercial units of Romans who moved across the Sahara Desert and into the interior of Africa and its coast. They were made by the Roman Empire between the first and the fourth century AD. The primary motivation for the expeditions was to secure sources of gold and spices.[1]

Characteristics[edit]

The Romans organized expeditions to cross the Sahara desert with five different routes:

All these expeditions were supported by legionaries and had mainly a commercial purpose. Only the one done by emperor Nero seemed to be a preparative for the conquest of Ethiopia or Nubia: in 62 AD two legionaries explored the sources of the Nile river.

One of the main reasons of the explorations was to get gold using the camel to transport it.[3]

The explorations near the African western and eastern coasts were supported by Roman ships and deeply related to the naval commerce (mainly toward the Indian Ocean).

Main explorations[edit]

In western Sahara there were two Roman expedition, just south of the Atlas mountains:

  • Cornelius Balbus expedition.[4]

The first expedition done by Romans in the Sahara—according to Plinius—was the one of Cornelius Balbus, who in 19 BC probably reached the river Niger near Timbouctou. He moved from Libyan Sabratha and conquered with ten thousand legionaries the Garamantes capital in Fezzan and sent a small group of his legionaries further south across the Ahaggar mountains in order to explore the "land of the lions": they found a huge river (the Niger) that in their opinion was going toward the Nile river. Indeed in 1955, many Roman coins and some Latin ceramics were found in the area of actual Mali.

  • Suetonius Paulinus expedition

The second was done in the year 41 AD by Suetonius Paulinus, a Roman Consul, who was the first of the Romans who led an army across the Atlas range. At the end of ten days' march he reached the mountains summit covered by snow and later he arrived at a river called Gerj. He then penetrated into the semi deserted country south of Morocco and some of his legionaries probably went near the river Daras (modern Senegal river).

In the year 41 AD Suetonius Paulinus, afterwards Consul, was the first of the Romans who led an army across Mount Atlas. At the end of a ten days' march he reached the summit,—which even in summer was covered with snow,—and from thence, after passing a desert of black sand and burnt rocks, he arrived at a river called Gerj...he then penetrated into the country of the Canarii and Perorsi, the former of whom inhabited a woody region abounding in elephants and serpents, and the latter were Ethiopians, not far distant from the Pharusii and the river Daras (modern river Senegal).The journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London[5]

From the first century after Christ there is evidence (coins, fibulas) of Roman commerce and contacts in Akjoujt and Tamkartkart near Tichit in Mauritania.

The two main explorations/expeditions in the central Sahara were :

  • Flaccus expedition

During Augustus times lake Chad was a huge lake and two Roman expeditions were done in order to reach it: Septimius Flaccus and Julius Maternus reached the "lake of ippopotamus" (as was called the lake Chad by Claudius Ptolomeus). They moved from coastal Tripolitania and passed near the Tibesti mountains. Both did their expeditions through the Garamantes territories, and were able to leave a small garrison on the "lake of ippopotamus and rhinoceros" after 3 months of travel in desert lands. Ptolemy wrote that in 50 AD Septimius Flaccus did his expedition in order to retaliate against nomad raiders who attacked Leptis Magna, and reached Sebha and the territory of Aozou. He then reached the rivers Bahr Ergig, Chari and Logone in the lake Chad area, described as the "land of Ethiopes" (or black men) and called Agisymba.

  • Matiernus expedition

Ptolomeus even wrote that around 90 AD Julius Maternus (or Matiernus) did a mainly commercial expedition. From the Sirte gulf he reached the Oasis of Cufra and the Oasis of Archei, then arrived -after 4 months travelling with the king of the Garamantes- to the river Bahr Salamat and Bahr Aouk, near the actual Central African Republic in a region then called Agisymba. He went back to Rome with a rhinoceros with two horns, that was shown in the Colosseum.[6]

In AD 90 a traveler, probably a trader or a diplomat called Julius Maternus, profiting from the improved relations between the Romans and the Garamantes at this time -no doubts as a result of Flaccus's success- made his way through the land of the Garamantes to the land of Agisymba, where there were rhinoceroses. JD. Fage (Cambridge history of Africa) [7]

Furthermore -according to Raffael Joorde- Maternus was a diplomat who explored with the king of Garamantes the territory south of the Tibesti mountains, while this king did a military campaign against rebellious subjects or as a "razzia".[8]

However some historians (like Susan Raven [9]) believe that there was even another Roman expedition to sub-saharan central Africa: the one of Valerius Festus.

  • Festus expedition

Indeed Plinius wrote [10] that in 70 AD a legatus of the Legio III Augusta named Festus repeated the Balbus expedition toward the Niger river. He went to the eastern Hoggar Mountains and the entered the Air Mountains until the Gadoufaoua plain (full of dinosaur fossils). Gadoufaoua (Touareg for “the place where camels fear to go”) is a site in the Tenere desert of Niger known for its extensive fossil graveyard, where remains of Sarcosuchus imperator, popularly known as SuperCroc, have been found. Festus finally arrived to the area were now there it is Timbouctou. But a few academics -like Fage- think that he only reached the Ghat region in southern Libya, near the border with southern Algeria and Niger (however it is possible that a few "explorers" of his legionaries reached the Niger river, like happened in the Nile river exploration done under Nero emperor). Regardless, historical records demonstrate that Festus was astounded by the amount of technological and cultural adroitness the Hausa in modern-day Niger beheld, calling them "the superiors of Rome in every aspect of the word, whom which my people could never hope to surmount". Bedazzled by the civility and the philosophical undertakings of this race, he even supposedly vouched to crown a member of the encountered Hausa tribe as the new emperor of Europe, but the declined out of sincerity and "the inalienable wisdom and kindness of his heart".

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Roman objects are, indeed, found in the Sahara, and, significantly, along the western caravan route. Numerous Roman artifacts have been found at the Garamantes’ capital of Germa in the Fezzan. There is evidence of Roman style irrigation being introduced and for at least some Garamantes adopting a sedentary and a town, if not urban, lifestyle. Most striking is the large Roman-syle mausoleum found there, evidence either of Roman presence or of Romanization of the elite. Between Germa and Ghat in the Hoggar have been found Roman ceramics, glass, jewelry and coins dating from the 1st to the 4th centuries. Farther down the route, at the oasis of Abelessa, is the site known locally as the Palace of Tin Hinan. There is a charming local legend about it, but it seems to have been a fortress, in one room of which was found the skeletal remains of a woman, along with a number of Late Roman objects, including a lamp, a golden bracelet and a 4th century coin. Finally, there was a cache of Roman coins found at Timissao only 600 kilometers from the Niger. Heinemann-University of California-UNESCO (p.514 Map)
  2. ^ Romans in Azania/Raphta
  3. ^ Roth, Jonathan 2002. The Roman Army in Tripolitana and Gold Trade with Sub-Saharan Africa. APA Annual Convention. New Orleans.
  4. ^ Balbus expedition and successive expeditions, with map
  5. ^ Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain). Journal Vol. 1-10; page 7
  6. ^ Agisymba and Maternus
  7. ^ Fage."Trans-Saharan contacts and west Africa". The Cambridge History of Africa.Volume 2 (p.286)
  8. ^ Raffael Joorde." Römische Vorstöße ins Innere Afrikas südlich der Sahara: die geheimnisvolle Landschaft Agisymba", Dortmund, 2015 ([1])
  9. ^ Raven, Susan. Rome in Africa. 3rd ed. (London, 1993)
  10. ^ Plinius the Elder. "Naturalis Historia", V, 5.36

Bibliography[edit]

  • Coleman De Graft-Johnson, John. African glory: the story of vanished Negro civilizations. Black Classic Press. New York, 1986 ISBN 0933121032
  • Fage, JD. The Cambridge History of Africa Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, 1979 ISBN 0521215927
  • Mattern, Susan. Rome and the enemy: imperial strategy in the principate. University of California Press. San Francisco, 2002 ISBN 0520236831
  • Miller, J. Innes. The Cinnamon Route in the Spice Trade of the Roman Empire. University Press. Oxford, 1996 ISBN 0-19-814264-1


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Romans_in_Sub-Saharan_Africa&oldid=798974380"