The Garamantes and Trans-Saharan Enterprise in Classical Times

1967 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. C. Law
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Second Century ◽  
The South ◽  
South West ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Central Sahara ◽  
Rock Paintings ◽  
Precious Stones

The sources for pre-Arab trans-Saharan contacts are poor, but at least for the central Sahara a picture can be made out. The alignment of rock paintings and engravings of chariots along two trans-Saharari routes has been supposed to prove regular traffic across the desert. The inference is unjustified, but literary and archaeological sources indicate that the conclusion is correct. Herodotus attests the use of a route running west from Egypt to the Fezzan, then apparently south-west via Tassili and Hoggar to the Niger. This corresponds with the central Saharan ‘chariot-route’.There was also a route to the Garamantes of the Fezzan from the Punic settlements on the coast of Tripolitania. Carthage imported from the Garamantes the precious stones known as ‘carbuncles’, which were apparently brought to the Fezzan from the south-west. Other possible imports are slaves and gold. Carthage imported gold from West Africa by sea, and it seems likely that her explorations down the coast were inspired by an overland trade in gold. But there is no direct evidence for such a trade.In the second century B.C. Rome replaced Carthage in control of the coast of Tripolitania. Between 20 B.C. and A.D. 86 she fought a series of wars with the Garamantes. Later friendly relations were established, but further trouble led to the organization of the ‘limes Tripolitanus’ after A.D. 201. Trade is attested by imported Roman material in tombs of the Fezzan dating from the late first to the fourth centuries. There is evidence that the Romans imported ivory from the Garamantes, and slaves are now attested directly.The commodities exported north by the Garamantes came not from the Fezzan, but from farther south. Literary sources refer to hunting expeditions and raids to the south, and finds of Roman material have been made along the ‘chariot-route’ south-west of the Fezzan as far as Ti-m-Missao.Trade ended with the collapse of Roman rule in North Africa. It was revived with the Byzantine reconquest after A.D. 533, and Christianity penetrated to the Fezzan. In 666 the Arabs overran the Fezzan.

The South West Africa Case: What Happened?

1966 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest A. Gross
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
The South ◽  
South West ◽  
South West Africa

Epilogue

2020 ◽  
pp. 321-324
Author(s):  
Federico De Romanis
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
South India ◽  
Second Century ◽  
The South ◽  
South Indian ◽  
Import And Export ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
The Ganges ◽  
Precious Stones

The epilogue summarizes what the two texts of the Muziris papyrus tell us about the pepper and ivory production of the ancient Cēra kingdom, South Indian commercial connections with the Ganges Valley, the logistics of the Red Sea–Alexandria transports, the complex relationships between the South India traders and the contractors of the Red Sea tax, and the assessment and payment of the import and export customs duties. It also looks at what the two texts do not mention—the part of pearls and precious stones in the South India trade of the mid-second century ad. Furthermore, a speculative estimate of the commercial venture final balance is attempted.

The region and its resources

2021 ◽  
pp. 180-190
Author(s):  
Dominic Perring
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Potential Importance ◽  
Arable Farming ◽  
Economic Relationship ◽  
Land Holdings ◽  
Military Engineering ◽  
The City ◽  
Tenant Farming

This chapter describes the landscapes of production found around London. Salterns and stone quarries in the Thames estuary, managed woodlands upriver of the city, and the ironworking sites of the High Weald are considered, along with the evidence for livestock and arable farming. These extraction industries responded to the creation of the Roman city, and saw considerable intensification from the Flavian period into the second century. This drew on the development of a supporting infrastructure that benefitted from military engineering and management, and is argued to have responded to elevated procuratorial demand. Some surplus may have been raised by taxes and rents in kind, and parallels are drawn with sharecropping arrangements for tenant farming documented in North Africa. The potential importance of imperial and other estates is also reviewed. Whilst direct evidence is lacking it is argued that imperial land-holdings would have been extensive in conquered territories, and this may account for some of the particularities of the economic relationship between London and its hinterland.

The Origins of the South West Africa Dispute: The Versailles Peace Conference and the Creation of the Mandates System

1968 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 115-143
Author(s):  
S. Slonim
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
West Africa ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
World War ◽  
The South ◽  
South West ◽  
Tiered System ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
Sliding Scale ◽  
The Creation

The roots of the South West Africa dispute relate back to the events that took place at the end of World War I and led to the creation of the League of Nations mandates system. More particularly, the conflict between the United Nations and South Africa cannot be understood except by tracing the manner in which South West Africa became a part of that system. The “great compromise” hammered out by President Wilson and the Dominion ministers at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 produced a three-tiered system of mandates which reflected in a sliding scale a varied balancing of national and international interests. The result of the compromise was a divergency of interpretation that has endured to this day and in considerable measure has fostered and sustained the dispute in its present-day dimensions.

Caesar: De Bello Gallico, Book I, cc. 1–41

1935 ◽  
Vol 5 (13) ◽  
pp. 12-21
Author(s):  
A. G. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Military Intervention ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Lake Geneva ◽  
The South ◽  
Jura Mountains ◽  
Maritime Alps ◽  
South West ◽  
The Mediterranean

From about the fourth century b.c. Rome had a long-standing alliance with the Greek colony of Massilia (Marseilles) whose territory was constantly raided by southern Gallic tribes; these incursions called for military intervention from the Romans from the middle of the second century, culminating in a series of successful campaigns, the enlargement of Massilia's territory, the founding of the colony of Aquae Sextiae (Aix, 30 miles north of Marseilles), and the annexation of southern Gaul in 121 b.c. after the defeat of the Allobroges and Arverni. The province stretched from the Pyrenees up to Tolosa (Toulouse), then the frontier skirted the Cevennes to the Jura Mountains and the south-west corner of Lacus Lemannus (Lake Geneva); then it came in a south-south-easterly line to the Mediterranean coasts, by the Maritime Alps. It formed a very valuable corridor from Italy to Spain, and through it ran the Via Domitia beyond the Rhone; in 118 b.c. Narbo Martius (Narbonne) was founded, and so flourishing a Roman civilization grew up that Pliny later described it as ‘Italia verius quam provincia’.

The South-West Africa Case, the New Nations, and International Law

1966 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-380
Author(s):  
Sol Picciotto
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
International Law ◽  
The South ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
South West ◽  
International Court ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
Proper Analysis

The judgment of the International Court of Justice of 18 July 1966 in the South-West Africa case throws revealing light on the role of that Court in the international community. A proper analysis of this case may also help to dispel some of the mystification about international law and the attitude of the new nations to it.

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