Roman colonies in Berber Africa


Roman colonies in Berber Africa are the cities —populated by Roman citizens— created in Berber North Africa by the Roman Empire, mainly in the period between the reigns of Augustus and Trajan. These colonies were created in the area—now called Tamazgha by the Berbers—located between Morocco and Libyan Tripolitania.

Characteristics

Since the second half of the first century BC and as a result of increasing communities of Roman citizens living in the North African centers, Rome started to create colonies in North Africa. The main reason was to control the area with Roman citizens, who had been legionaries in many cases. The second reason was to give land and urban properties to the Roman military troops who had fought for the Roman Empire and so decrease the demographic problem in the Italian peninsula. The third reason was to facilitate the Romanization of the area and so the integration of the local Berbers -through marriage and other relationships- in the Roman Empire's social and cultural world.
It is indicative that two of the main characteristics of the Roman world, Latin language and Christianity, were increased to nearly full acceptance by the Berber autochthonous population after the four centuries of Roman dominance in what is now called "Maghreb": this was done even through the creation and development of the Roman colonies, according to historian Theodore Mommsen.
Indeed under Theodosius the area east of the Fossa regia was fully Romanized with one third of the population made of Italian colonists and their descendants, according to historian Theodore Mommsen. The other two thirds were Romanized Berbers, who were all Christians and nearly all Latin speaking.
Furthermore in the same century in the area between Fossa Regia and the Fossatum Africae of the Roman limes, where was expanded -further west of the Fossa Regia- the process of Romanization after Augustus, the Roman colonists and descendants were nearly 20% of the population. They were concentrated around Cirta with surrounding confederated cities and around Thamugadi in the Aures region, while the remaining 80% was made of Berbers of whom only 25% were not fully assimilated and still spoke autochthonous berber language. Nearly all of them worshipped Christianity.
The prosperity of most towns depended on agriculture. Called the "Granary of the Empire", Romano-berber North Africa produced one million tons of cereals each year, one-quarter of which was exported. Additional crops included beans, figs, grapes, and other fruits. By the second century, olive oil rivaled cereals as an export item. In addition to the cultivation of slaves, and the capture and transporting of exotic wild animals, the principal production and exports included the textiles, marble, wine, timber, livestock, pottery such as African Red Slip, and wool.
The incorporation of colonial cities into the Roman Empire brought an unparalleled degree of urbanization to vast areas of territory, particularly in North Africa. This level of rapid urbanization had a structural impact on the town economy, and artisan production in Roman cities became closely tied to the agrarian spheres of production. As Rome's population grew, so did her demand for North African produce. This flourishing trade allowed the North African provinces to increase artisan production in rapidly developing cities, making them highly organized urban centers. Many Roman cities shared both consumer and producer model city aspects, as artisanal activity was directly related to the economic role cities played in long-distance trade networks.
The urban population became increasingly engaged in the craft and service sectors and less in agrarian employment even Byzantine times, until a significant portion of the town’s vitality came from the sale or trade of products through middlemen to markets in areas both rural and abroad. The changes that occurred in the infrastructure for agricultural processing, like olive oil and wine production, as trade continued to develop both cities and commerce directly influenced the volume of artisan production. The scale, quality, and demand for these products reached its acme in Roman North Africa.
Berber Africa -from northern Morocco to Tripolitania- had a population of more than 3 million inhabitants in the third century, according to historian Hilario Gomez, and nearly 40% were living in more than 500 cities. But in the sixth century -after the Byzantine reconquest- the population was reduced to less than 2.5 millions and after the Arab conquest in the eighth to tenth centuries there remained only one million. Roman northwestern Africa with its cities and civilization had practically disappeared in just two centuries of Arab domination.

Different kinds of colonies

Roman coloniae were of two kinds, Roman and Latin: the first and most important were the Roman Coloniae that characterized by full rights of Roman citizenship. Then there were the "Municipia" and finally the "Civitates peregrinae". Romans called "municipia" their normal administrative entities in their empire.
The citizens of municipia of the first order held full Roman citizenship and their rights included the right to vote, which was the ultimate right in Rome, and a sure sign of full rights. In many case these cities had reduced or even no tax duties. The second order of municipia comprised important tribal centres which had come under Roman control. Residents of these did not become full Roman citizens. They were given the duties of full citizens in terms of liability to taxes and military service, but not all of the rights: most significantly, they had no right to vote.

List of the main Roman Coloniae

There were 20 cities in the territory of actual Tunisia with the title and privileges of "Roman Coloniae" or similar, while in Algeria there was nearly the same amount and in Morocco and Libya only a few. The most important was the "capital" new Carthago, with more than 300,000 inhabitants during Septimius Severus times.
According to historian De Ruggiero in his famous "Dizionario epigrafico di antichita' romane", the "Roman Coloniae" in Berber Africa verified academically were:
Following is a list of 10 of the main and most important "Roman Coloniae":