Mauretania

Mauretania was a Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa (named after the Mauri tribe, after whom the Moors were named), corresponding to western Algeria and northern Morocco. The kingdom of Mauretania was not sited where modern Mauritania lies, on the Atlantic coast south of Morocco.

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With the rise of the Roman Empire it became a Roman client kingdom. The Romans placed Juba II of Numidia there as client-king; when Juba died in AD 23, his Roman-educated son Ptolemy of Mauretania succeeded him on the throne, but Caligula killed him in AD 40, and annexed Mauretania directly as a Roman province, divided into Mauretania Tingitana named after its capital Tingis (now Tangier) corresponding to Morocco, and Mauretania Caesariensis, comprising western and central Algeria as far as Kabylie.

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Not depriving the Mauri of their line of kings would have contributed to preserving loyalty and order, it appears: "The Mauri, indeed, manifestly worship kings, and do not conceal their name by any disguise," Cyprian observed, in AD 247, doubtless quoting a geographer rather than personal observation, in his brief euhemerist exercise on deflating the gods, "On the Vanity of Idols".

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The province gave to the empire an emperor, Macrinus.

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Berber: The Berbers (also called Imazighen, "free men", singular Amazigh) are an ethnic group indigenous to Northwest Africa, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. There are between 14 and 25 million speakers of Berber languages in North Africa (see population estimation), principally con...

Mediterranean: REDIRECT Mediterranean Sea...

North Africa: North Africa is a region generally considered to include:...

Mauretania related Images and Photos (experimental)

Mauretania at Cherbourg

Cunard Line Mauretania to Cherbourg