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Chapter 18: The southern continent during the 8 th century
Now let us look at the southern continent of the Old World during the eighth century. The Tamazigh area is preserving its subroman Berber culture, with gradually various realms consolidating their hold over the highland regions of the Atlas, and even extending their rule northwards into the coastal plains. The regions of Duđana and Bisdakena were the only ones outside of Berber hold, and swore fealty to the Rhomaic emperor; the area acted as a southern prolongation of the isle of Sicily; the regions of Numidia remained however outside of Rhomaic control throughout the entire century. Formerly united as tribal confederation of Queen Kahina to halt the advancements of the Banu Hilal, the Aures confederacy managed to conquer their hold in Tibwitana and Fazana - the refugees being dispersed paradoxically into the Rhomaic held exarchate in Tafirca and to the kingdom of Warsenis.Its chiefs now proclaimed themselves as the heirs of the old kingdom of Numidia, for they controlled much of the eastern Tamazgha(1). Its western neighbour was the kingdom of Warsenis - which extended into the Chilemath (2) basin. This kingdom controlled much of the Kešreš region (Mauritania Ceasarensis), while Sitifensis (Išfeši) became part of Numidia. In contrast to its eastern and western neighbours, though, this kingdom was far more "barbaric", that is, less influenced by Rome. Further west was lay the kingdom of Altava (3), which was declining. Yet Altava adopted Catholicism in the 720s, not long before its conquest by the Moors (Mauri), a tribal confederation of West Atlas Berbers, who were pushing eastwards along the Atlas due to unification movements in Tiźtana - most notably, the rise of the Barghawata confederacy in the areas to the southwest of the former Limes (4). The Barghawata were notable for reforming the traditional Berber religion and taking up Jewish, Donatist and Catholic influences. Those they took from the Mawrtaňan kingdom, whose establishment is tied to a certain Julian, Count of Išeftu. He managed to unify the Latin-speakers in the region and extended to the area of place called Rabat in an alternate history (5).
All in all, the Latin speaking world adopted Catholicism, while Donatism prevails among most of the Berber states (with exception of Barghatawa).
The coastal region of Tibwitana has had a shift in culture and language - the urban areas preserved their Latinate speach, yet the hinterlands were settled by mostly Berbers from the inlands, from the encroaching Sahara; yet there were still some Banu Hilal Arabs, though most of them settled in the lowlands of Warsenis or in Tafirka. The easternmost parts of the Tibwitana were home to a Semitic peoples, the Chanani, a living testimony to the long-passed Carthaginian empire, speaking a Punic tongue.
Other Banu Hilal returned to Egypt, which had become a stable monarchy under the Yaqubid dynasty. While Coptic remained the everyday tongue of most of the populace, occassionaly one could here Arabic spoken in Middle Egypt or the eastern parts of Lower Egypt by descendants of the the original Misraim Arabs. In Fustat, Arabic was written with Coptic letters. Apart from Arabs, Egypt hosted a large number of Greeks and Jews, while the military was strengthened by Berber and Armenian mercenaries as well.
Further upstream the Nile river were two Miaphysite Nubian kingdoms - Makuria and Dongola ; to their east on the coasts of the Red Sea dwellt the Blemmyes and the Beja. These tribes have for long been resisting attempts to accept Christendom, for their rituals were akin to those of Egypt in the days of the pharaohs, yet little by little they began to accept the Messiah, at least in the harbour towns. And while some of their chieftains did accept baptism, in secret they maintained their pagan idols. As one moved further south, the cultural influence of Egypt waned, until one reached an impassable marshland inhabited by the Fur people; to the east of the upper Nile basin arose the Ethiopian highland. In its northern part lay the empire of Axum (6), extending its political influence to the other side of the Red Sea, into Himyar, and culturally even furthern northwards, to Mecca and Yathrib, where it once more met with Syrian influence from the north. In the mid 8th century, Himyar would break free once more, and Himyar would become a Christian kingdom of the Miaphysite creed.
South of the Sahara lay the Sahel, a first hospitable place to settle for many travellers across the Sahara. The trans-saharan trade-routes maintained contact between the Mediterranean coast and the Niger river valley, and ocassionally Donatist priest would travel along with the merchants. However it was thanks to the Touaregs that Christianity arrived in the Sahel , yet for it to make a deep inroad, ome must wait a couple of centuries
(1) Maghreb
(2) Original Latin name, moder Chelif river
(3) in eastern Morrocco and westernmost Algeria
(4) Much of west-central Morrocco
(5) That is, OTL
(6) Covering Eritrea, Djibouti and the northern parts of Ethiopia
All in all, the Latin speaking world adopted Catholicism, while Donatism prevails among most of the Berber states (with exception of Barghatawa).
The coastal region of Tibwitana has had a shift in culture and language - the urban areas preserved their Latinate speach, yet the hinterlands were settled by mostly Berbers from the inlands, from the encroaching Sahara; yet there were still some Banu Hilal Arabs, though most of them settled in the lowlands of Warsenis or in Tafirka. The easternmost parts of the Tibwitana were home to a Semitic peoples, the Chanani, a living testimony to the long-passed Carthaginian empire, speaking a Punic tongue.
Other Banu Hilal returned to Egypt, which had become a stable monarchy under the Yaqubid dynasty. While Coptic remained the everyday tongue of most of the populace, occassionaly one could here Arabic spoken in Middle Egypt or the eastern parts of Lower Egypt by descendants of the the original Misraim Arabs. In Fustat, Arabic was written with Coptic letters. Apart from Arabs, Egypt hosted a large number of Greeks and Jews, while the military was strengthened by Berber and Armenian mercenaries as well.
Further upstream the Nile river were two Miaphysite Nubian kingdoms - Makuria and Dongola ; to their east on the coasts of the Red Sea dwellt the Blemmyes and the Beja. These tribes have for long been resisting attempts to accept Christendom, for their rituals were akin to those of Egypt in the days of the pharaohs, yet little by little they began to accept the Messiah, at least in the harbour towns. And while some of their chieftains did accept baptism, in secret they maintained their pagan idols. As one moved further south, the cultural influence of Egypt waned, until one reached an impassable marshland inhabited by the Fur people; to the east of the upper Nile basin arose the Ethiopian highland. In its northern part lay the empire of Axum (6), extending its political influence to the other side of the Red Sea, into Himyar, and culturally even furthern northwards, to Mecca and Yathrib, where it once more met with Syrian influence from the north. In the mid 8th century, Himyar would break free once more, and Himyar would become a Christian kingdom of the Miaphysite creed.
South of the Sahara lay the Sahel, a first hospitable place to settle for many travellers across the Sahara. The trans-saharan trade-routes maintained contact between the Mediterranean coast and the Niger river valley, and ocassionally Donatist priest would travel along with the merchants. However it was thanks to the Touaregs that Christianity arrived in the Sahel , yet for it to make a deep inroad, ome must wait a couple of centuries
(1) Maghreb
(2) Original Latin name, moder Chelif river
(3) in eastern Morrocco and westernmost Algeria
(4) Much of west-central Morrocco
(5) That is, OTL
(6) Covering Eritrea, Djibouti and the northern parts of Ethiopia
- Tomislav Addai
- Word Count: 830