Roman expeditions to lake Chad and western Africa

The main roman expeditions south of the western Sahara

The Roman expeditions to lake Chad and western Africa were a group of military and commercial expeditions undertaken by the Roman Empire in order to explore the area of western and central Africa south of the Sahara desert.

Historical background

These explorations were undertaken between the first century BC and the second century AD, when the Roman limes from Roman Mauritania to Roman Libya were created.

There were five recorded by Roman historians:

The four main expeditions (Balbus, Paulinus, Flaccus, Matiernus)

In detail, there were four main Roman expeditions in western Africa and lake Chad, under the leadership of Balbus, Paullinus, Flaccus and Matiernus:

In 19 BC Lucius Cornelius Balbus defeated the Garamantes, and on March 27 in that year received the honor of a triumph, which was then for the first time granted to one who was not a Roman citizen by birth (and for the last time to a private individual, until the triumph of Belisarius in 534). He later built a magnificent theatre at Rome, which was dedicated on the return of Augustus from Gaul in 13 BCChisholm 1911, Balbus cites Dio Cassius liv. 25; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 12. 60.

According to Plinius this expedition started with the conquest of Gadames and later of Rapsa, actual Ghat. After the conquest of Garama and surrounding area, Plinius wrote that the Roman legionaries went further south to the Tassili mountains: the Legio III Augusta of Cornelius Balbus reached the oasis of Bistra in southern Algeria, and then reached Alasi (Abalessa in the Ahaggar) and Balsa (actual Ilezy), until some rivers then existing (but now disappeared) like the Dasibari river. According to the scholar Henri Lhote, Balbus probably used the old "road of carts", an old caravan route on the east side of the Bahr Attla, the "Atlantis sea", named even in the Bible. Along this road there are some stone inscription showing the Garamantes charriots. The Romans then crossed the Tamanrasset area on the actual border between Algeria and Niger, and reached the river Niger near actual Gao after crossing the caravan center of Tabemekka (in Mali). Some roman coins have been recently discovered in the Mali northern region, confirming this expedition Roman objects are, indeed, found in the Sahara, and, significantly, along the western caravan route. Numerous Roman artifacts have been found at the Garamantes’ capital of Germa in the Fezzan. There is evidence of Roman style irrigation being introduced and for at least some Garamantes adopting a sedentary and a town, if not urban, lifestyle. Most striking is the large Roman-syle mausoleum found there, evidence either of Roman presence or of Romanization of the elite. Between Germa and Ghat in the Hoggar have been found Roman ceramics, glass, jewelry and coins dating from the 1st to the 4th centuries. Farther down the route, at the oasis of Abelessa, is the site known locally as the Palace of Tin Hinan. There is a charming local legend about it, but it seems to have been a fortress, in one room of which was found the skeletal remains of a woman, along with a number of Late Roman objects, including a lamp, a golden bracelet and a 4th-century coin. Finally, there was a cache of Roman coins found recently at Timissao, only 600 kilometers from the Niger river.Jonathan Roth. San Jose State University.

In the year 41 AD Suetonius Paulinus went to roman Mauretania as legatus legionis to suppress a revolt. He was the first Roman to cross the Atlas Mountains, and Pliny the Elder quotes his description of the area in his Natural History.

In the year 41 AD Suetonius Paulinus, afterwards Consul, was the first of the Romans who led an army across Mount Atlas. At the end of a ten days' march he reached the summit,—which even in summer was covered with snow,—and from thence, after passing a desert of black sand and burnt rocks, he arrived at a river called Gerj...he then penetrated into the country of the Canarii and Perorsi, the former of whom inhabited a woody region abounding in elephants and serpents, and the latter were Ethiopians, not far distant from the Pharusii and the river Daras (modern river Senegal)The journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol. 1-10. Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain). page 7

Gaius Suetonius Paulinus with his expedition south of the Atlas mountains was one of the first European explorers of Saharan Africa. Indeed from the first century after Christ there are evidences (coins, fibulas) of Roman commerce and contacts in Akjoujt and Tamkartkart near Tichit in actual Mauritania.

During Augustus times lake Chad was a huge lake and two Roman expeditions were done in order to reach it: Septimius Flaccus and Julius Maternus reached the "lake of ippopotamus" (as was called the lake Chad by Claudius Ptolomeus). They moved from coastal Tripolitania and passed near the Tibesti mountains. Both did their expeditions trough the Garamantes territories, and were able to leave a small garrison on the "lake of ippopotamus and rhinoceros" after 3 months of travel in desert lands.

Ptolemy wrote that in 50 AD Septimius Flaccus did his expedition in order to retaliate against nomad raiders who attacked Leptis Magna, and reached Sebha and the territory of Aozou. http://books.google.com/books?id=LY5Lmc-... Septimius Flaccus] He then reached the rivers Bahr Ergig, Chari and Logone in the lake Chad area, described as the "land of Ethiopes" (or black men).

Ptolomeus even wrote that around 90 AD Julius Maternus (or Matiernus) did a mainly commercial expedition. From the Sirte gulf he reached the Oasis of Cufra and the Oasis of Archei, then arrived to the river Bahr Salamat and Bahr Aouk, near the actual Central African republic. He went back to Rome with a rhinoceros with two horns, that was showed in the Colosseum.

The fifth: Valerius Festus

Some historians believe that there was even a fifth Roman expedition to sub-saharan west Africa: the one of Valerius Festus.

Indeed Plinius wrotePlinius the Elder. "Naturalis Historia", V, 5.36 that in 70 AD a legatus of the Legio III Augusta named Festus repeated the Balbus expedition toward the Niger river. He went to the eastern Hoggar Mountains and the entered the Air Mountains until the Gadoufaoua plain (full of dinosaur fossils). Gadoufaoua (Touareg for “the place where camels fear to go”) is a site in the Tenere desert of Niger known for its extensive fossil graveyard, where remains of Sarcosuchus imperator, popularly known as SuperCroc, have been found. Festus finally arrived to the area were now there it is Timbouctou. But a few academics -like Fage- think that he only reached the Ghat region in southern Libya http://books.google.com/books?id=ZTNTz3P... Valerius Festus], near the border with southern Algeria and Niger (however it is possible that a few "explorers" of his legionaries reached the Niger river, like happened in the Nile river exploration done under Nero emperor).

Further south

Romans explored the coast of western Africa and reached even the Gulf of Guinea.

Indeed the western coast of Africa was explored by the Romans after the conquest of northern Maroc (then called Mauretania Tingitana): the Roman vassal king Juba II organized a successful trade from the area of Volubilis. Pliny the Elder, a 1st-century Roman author and military officer, drawing upon the accounts of Juba II, king of Mauretania, stated that a Roman expedition from Mauritania visited the islands of the archipelago of the Canaries and Madeira around 10 AD and found great ruins but no population, only dogs (from those animals he called the islands, using the Latin word "canarius" or "canis" for dog).

According to Pliny the Elder, an expedition of Mauretanians sent by Juba II to the archipelago visited the islands: when King Juba II dispatched a contingent to re-open the dye production facility at Mogador (historical name of Essaouira, Morocco) in the early 1st century AD Juba's naval force was subsequently sent on an exploration of the Canary Islands, Madeira and probably the Cape Verde islands, using Mogador as their mission base.

We have even recorded historically that, according to Pliny the Elder, the Greek Xenophon of Lampsacus stated that the Gorgades (Cape Verde islands) were situated two days from "Hesperu Ceras" (today called Cap-Vert), the westernmost part of the African continent, showing a knowledge of the area by the Romans. They even knew of the Hesperides.

Furthermore, according to Pliny the Elder and his citation by Gaius Julius Solinus, the sea voyage time crossing the Gorgades (Cape Verde islands) to the islands of the Ladies of the West ("Hesperides", actual São Tomé and Príncipe and Fernando Po) was around 40 days: this fact has created academic discussions about the possibility of further Roman travels toward Guinea and even the Gulf of Guinea. A Roman coin of the emperor Trajan has been found in Congo.

Emperor Augustus decided that the circumnavigation of Africa should also be attempted (in 1 BC). Romans had two naval outposts in the Atlantic coast of Africa: Sala near actual Rabat and Mogador in actual southern Morocco (north of Agadir). The island of Mogador prospered for the local exploitation of purple (highly esteemed in imperial Rome) from Augustus until Septimius Severus times. Augustus, based even in the discovery of a sunken merchant ship from southern Spain in the Djibuti area (a ship used by his adoptive son Gaius Caesar when he sailed toward Aden), wanted to organize an expedition from Egypt to Mogador and Sala around Africa.

Characteristics

The Romans organized expeditions to cross the Sahara desert (not only in the western section) with five different routes:

All these expeditions were supported by legionaries and had mainly a commercial utility. Only the one done by emperor Nero seemed to be a preparative for the conquest of Ethiopia or Nubia: in 62 AD two legionaries explored the sources of the Nile river.

One of the main reasons of the explorations, according to academics like Jonathan Roth, was to procure gold using the camel to transport it.[6] Indeed Roth thinks that camel was widely used by the Roman military to cross the Sahara.[7]

The explorations near the African western and eastern coasts were supported by Roman ships and deeply related to the naval commerce (mainly toward the Indian Ocean because of the Indo-Roman trade and relations).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Plinio, Naturalis historia 5.10
  2. ↑ Virgilio Boccardi e Cino Boccazzi: "Il cimitero dei dinosauri". Sugarco Editore, 1972
  3. ↑ Sahara in classical antiquity: Map of Roman presence and archeological findings in the Western Sahara region (p. 514)
  4. ↑ Focus Storia N°. 78 / 2013; pp. 36 -42.
  5. ↑ Article about Agisymba with a map
  6. ↑ Roman objects are, indeed, found in the Sahara, and, significantly, along the western caravan route. Numerous Roman artifacts have been found at the Garamantes’ capital of Germa in the Fezzan. There is evidence of Roman style irrigation being introduced and for at least some Garamantes adopting a sedentary and a town, if not urban, lifestyle. Most striking is the large Roman-syle mausoleum found there, evidence either of Roman presence or of Romanization of the elite. Between Germa and Ghat in the Hoggar have been found Roman ceramics, glass, jewelry and coins dating from the 1st to the 4th centuries. Farther down the route, at the oasis of Abelessa, is the site known locally as the Palace or Tomb of Tin Hinan. There is a charming local legend about it, but it seems to have been a possible Roman fortress, in one room of which was found the skeletal remains of a woman, along with a number of Late Roman objects, including a lamp, a golden bracelet and a 4th century Roman coin. Finally, there was a cache of Roman coins found at Timissao only 600 kilometers from the Niger.Jonathan Roth. San Jose State University.
  7. ↑ Jonathan Roth. The Roman Army in Tripolitana and Gold Trade with Sub-Saharan Africa. APA Annual Convention. New Orleans, 2002

Bibliography