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MAURETANIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 908 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAURETANIA , the See also:

ancient name of the See also:north-western See also:angle of the See also:African See also:continent, and under the See also:Roman See also:Empire also of a large territory eastward of that angle. The name had different significations at different times; but before the Roman occupation, Mauretania comprised a considerable See also:part of the See also:modern See also:Morocco i.e. the See also:northern portion bounded on the See also:east by See also:Algiers. Towards the See also:south we may suppose it bounded by the See also:Atlas range, and it seems to have been regarded by geographers as extending along the See also:coast to the See also:Atlantic as far as the point where that See also:chain descends to the See also:sea, in about 30 N. See also:lat. (See also:Strabo, p. 825). The magnificent See also:plateau in which the See also:city of Morocco is situated seems to have been unknown to ancient geographers, and was certainly never included in the Roman Empire. On the other See also:hand, the Gaetulians to the south of the Atlas range, on the date-producing slopes towards the See also:Sahara, seem to have owned a See also:precarious subjection to the See also:kings of Mauretania, as afterwards to the Roman See also:government. A large part of the See also:country is of See also:great natural fertility, and in ancient times produced large quantities of See also:corn, while the slopes of Atlas were clothed with forests, which, besides other kinds of See also:timber, produced the celebrated ornamental See also:wood called citrum (Plin. Hist. Nat. 13—96), for tables of which the See also:Romans gave fabulous prices. (For See also:physical See also:geography, see MoRocco.) Mauretania, or Maurusia as it was called by See also:Greek writers, signified the See also:land of the Mauri, a See also:term still retained in the modern name of See also:Moors (q.v.).

The origin and ethnical See also:

affinities of the See also:race are uncertain; but it is probable that all the inhabitants of this northern See also:tract of See also:Africa were kindred races belonging to the great See also:Berber See also:family, possibly with an intermingled See also:fair-skinned race from See also:Europe (see See also:Tissot, Geographie comparee de la See also:province romaine d'Afrique, i. 400 seq.; also See also:BERBERS). They first appear in See also:history at the See also:time of the Jugurthine See also:War (See also:Ito–1o6 B.c.), when Mauretania was under the government of See also:Bocchus and seems to have been recognized as organized See also:state (See also:Sallust, Jugurtha, 19). To this Bocchus was given, after the war, the western part of Jugurtha's See also:kingdom of See also:Numidia, perhaps as far east as Saldae (See also:Bougie). Sixty years later, at the time of the See also:dictator See also:Caesar, we find two Mauretanian kingdoms, one to the See also:west of the See also:river Mulucha under Bogud, and the other to the east under a Bocchus; as to the date or cause of the See also:division we are ignorant. Both these kings took Caesar's part in the See also:civil See also:wars, and had their territory enlarged by him (See also:Appian, B.C. 4, 54). In 25 B.C., after their deaths, See also:Augustus gave the two kingdoms to See also:Juba IT. of Numidia (see under JUBA), with the river Ampsaga as the eastern frontier (Plin. 5. 22; Ptol. 4. 3.

1). Juba and his son See also:

Ptolemaeus after him reigned till A.D. 40, when the latter was put to See also:death by Caligula, and shortly afterwards See also:Claudius incorporated the kingdom into the Roman state as two provinces,viz. Mauretania Tingitana to the west of the Mulucha and M. Caesariensis to the east of that river, the latter taking its name from the city Caesarea (formerly Iol), which Juba had thus named and adopted as his See also:capital. Thus the dividing See also:line between the two provinces was the same as that which had originally separated Mauretania from Numidia (q.v.). These provinces were governed until the time of See also:Diocletian by imperial procurators, and were occasionally See also:united for military purposes. Under and after Diocletian M. Tingitana was attached administratively to the dioicesis of See also:Spain, with which it was in all respects closely connected ; while M. Caesariensis was divided by making its eastern part into a See also:separate government, which was called M. Sitifensis from the Roman See also:colony Sitifis. In the two provinces of Mauretania there were at the time of See also:Pliny a number of towns, including seven (possibly eight) Roman colonies in M.

Tingitana and eleven in M. Caesariensis; others were added later. These were mostly military See also:

foundations, and served the purpose of securing See also:civilization against the inroads of the natives, who were not in a See also:condition to be used as material for See also:town-See also:life as in See also:Gaul and Spain, but were under the immediate government of the procurators, retaining their own See also:clan organization. Of these colonies the most important, beginning from the west, were Lixus on the Atlantic, Tingis (See also:Tangier), Rusaddir (Melila, See also:Melilla), Cartenna (Tenes), Iot or Caesarea (See also:Cherchel), Icosium (Algiers), Saldae (Bougie), Igilgili (Jijelli) and Sitifis (Setif). All these were on the coast but the last, which was some distance inland. Besides these there were many municipia or oppida civium romanorum (Plin. 5. 19 seq.), but, as has been made clear by See also:French archaeologists who have explored these regions, Roman settlements are less frequent the farther we go west, and M. Tingitana has as yet yielded but scanty See also:evidence of Roman civilization. On the whole Mauretania was in a flourishing condition down to the irruption of the See also:Vandals in A.D. 429; in the Notitia nearly a See also:hundred and seventy episcopal See also:sees are enumerated here, but we must remember that See also:numbers of these were See also:mere villages. In 1904 the term Mauretania was revived as an See also:official designation by the French government, and applied to the territory north of the See also:lower See also:Senegal under French See also:protection (see SENEGAL).

To the authorities quoted under AFRICA, ROMAN, may be added here See also:

Gobel, See also:Die West-kuste Afrikas See also:im Alterthum. (W. W.

End of Article: MAURETANIA

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