Mauretania
| Mauretania | ||||||||||
| Tribal Berber kingdom (3rd century BC-44 BC) Roman Empire province (44 BC-431 AD) |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Mauretania Tingitana province (borders in AD 116).
|
||||||||||
| Capital | Volubilis | |||||||||
| Languages | Berber, Latin | |||||||||
| Religion | Roman paganism, local beliefs | |||||||||
| Political structure | Tribal Berber kingdom (3rd century BC-44 BC) Roman Empire province (44 BC-431 AD) |
|||||||||
| King | ||||||||||
| • | 110–80 BC | Bocchus I | ||||||||
| • | AD 23–40 | Ptolemy of Mauretania | ||||||||
| Historical era | Classical Antiquity | |||||||||
| • | Established | before 200 BC | ||||||||
| • | client state of the Roman Empire | 33 BC | ||||||||
| • | Roman province | 44 AD | ||||||||
| • | Vandal conquest | 430s | ||||||||
| • | Roman reconquest | 533 | ||||||||
| • | Muslim conquest of the Maghreb | 698 | ||||||||
|
||||||||||
Mauretania (also spelled Mauritania) was in ancient times a part of North Africa corresponding to the Mediterranean coast of what is today Morocco (and the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla).
Mauretania originally was an independent tribal Berber kingdom from around the 3rd century BC. It became a client state of the Roman Empire in 33 BC, then a full Roman province after the death of its last king Ptolemy of Mauretania in AD 40.
Mauretania fell to the Vandal invasion in the 430s, but was reconquered by the Eastern Roman Empire in 533. There was a time of weak Byzantine rule when the territory was practically independent. The province was finally conquered by the Arab Umayyad Caliphate Muslim conquest of the Maghreb around AD 698. In 743, the Berbers defeated the Umayyads in the Berber Revolt, regained full independence and founded many Muslim Berber kingdoms.
Mauretania existed as a tribal kingdom of the Mauri people. Mauri (Μαῦροι) is recorded as the native name by Strabo in the early 1st century. This appellation was also adopted into Latin, whereas the Greek name for the tribe was Maurusii (Μαυρούσιοι). The Mauri would later bequeath their name to the Moors on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, from at least the 3rd century BC. The Mediterranean coast of Mauretania had commercial harbours for trade with Carthage since before the 4th century BC, but the interior was controlled by Berber tribes, who had established themselves in the region by the beginning of the Iron Age.
...
Wikipedia