Africa

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). History 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.