North Africa: A History from Antiquity to the Present
Phillip C. Naylor
Language: English
Pages: 377
ISBN: 0292722915
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
North Africa has been a vital crossroads throughout history, serving as a connection between Africa, Asia, and Europe. Paradoxically, however, the region's historical significance has been chronically under-estimated. In a book that may lead scholars to re-imagine the concept of Western civilization, incorporating the role North African peoples played in shaping "the West," Phillip Naylor describes a locale whose trans-cultural heritage serves as a crucial hinge, politically, economically, and socially. Ideal for novices and specialists alike, North Africa begins with an acknowledgment that defining this area has presented challenges throughout history. Naylor's survey encompasses the Paleolithic period and early Egyptian cultures, leading readers through the Pharonic dynasties, the conflicts with Rome and Carthage, the rise of Islam, the growth of the Ottoman Empire, European incursions, and the postcolonial prospects for Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Western Sahara. Emphasizing the importance of encounters and interactions among civilizations, North Africa maps a prominent future for scholarship about this pivotal region.
REVIEW:
"Naylor's approach is innovative, his research thorough and balanced and most importantly, he exhibits an exceptional empathy for the peoples and cultures of the region whose history remains little understood in the United States. This is a work of exceptional insight that deserves the widest circulation possible."
-John Entelis, Professor of Political Science and Director, Middle East Studies Program, Fordham University
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admired their seafaring, claimed that they also circumnavigated Africa. The inhabitants of its most famous colony, Carthage, inherited their seamanship and enterprise. 2 6 ||| n o r t h a f r i c a Carthage’s History to the Punic Wars Located near today’s Tunis in Tunisia, Carthage was reputedly established by a renegade Phoenician queen named Elissa (also known as Dido) during the late ninth century BCE.15 Historians now place its actual founding by the city-state Tyre in the mid- to
his dream, the takeover of Carthage. Numidian aggression also persuaded Rome to launch the Third Punic War. The prospect of another dynamic North African state troubled the apprehensive and anxious Roman Senate. Once again, Masinissa provided Rome with Numidian military support. The destruction of Carthage brought more Romans to North Africa and Africa Proconsularis. The unbridled Roman profiteering and exploitation of former Carthaginian territory perturbed the Numidians. Furthermore,
death of Ptolemy in 40 CE and another Berber revolt (led by Aedemon), Rome disestablished the kingdom and divided it between two provinces: Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis. Tripolitania’s coastline was also renamed as Africa Proconsularis. Although Romans subdued the Numidians and the Mauretanians, the re- markable Garamantes of Fezzan in Libya remained independent and often hostile. Credited with introducing writing to the Sahara as well as the horse and wheeled transport,
Islam and the latter an internal struggle to become a better Muslim or, as Seyyid Hossein Nasr explains, “to battle the negative tendencies within the soul, tendencies that prevent us from living a life of sanctity and reaching the perfection God has meant for us” (Nasr 2003, 34). Muhammad’s preaching failed to appeal to the people of Mecca. Never- theless, he had important supporters, including his wife, Khadija (d. 619), his cousin and son-in-law Ali bn Abi Talib, and his best friend, Abu
India. Napoleon perceived Egypt as the most strategic country in the world whose resources and commercial opportunities promised to profit France at the expense of England. He informed the government of his intentions to invade Egypt.36 The Directory, pleased to have a popular general and a political threat distracted by an adventure, accepted the plan and outfitted Napoleon with a fleet and an army. Darrell Dykstra concluded: “The sheer size of the expeditionary force, the size of the war