INTRODUCTION

The Medersa Slimania in Tunisia, shown here around 1895, was at that time a Qur’ānic school for girls. The stucco and tile building was built in the mid-1700s. LL/Roger Viollet/Getty Images

Serving as an interface between African, European, and Arab cultures, northern Africa has been a crucible of both conflict and exchange. The region, which encompasses the Maghrib countries of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria as well as Libya, Egypt, and Sudan, has in many ways been insulated from the crises that have plagued much of the African continent. However, as the histories recounted in this volume will attest, these countries have been subject to their own share of turbulence over the centuries. Still, amidst the volatility, northern Africans have displayed their remarkable adaptability and enduring import to Africa, the Middle East, and the world.

Prehistoric evidence of Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures suggests that the early societies of the Maghrib and Libya supported themselves initially by hunting and gathering and later by rearing animals and cultivating food production techniques. The region began to thrive after the arrival of the Phoenicians from the area that is now present-day Lebanon.

By establishing numerous communities around the Mediterranean in the 1st millennium BCE, Phoenician traders instituted an enduring link between northern Africa and Europe. After successfully staving off hostile Greek forces that threatened their Sicilian settlements in 580 BCE, the Phoenicians secured their footing in parts of Sardinia, Corsica, and southern Spain as well. With large stores of wealth accumulated via the extensive trading networks it had instituted, the city of Carthage, located in present-day Tunisia, proved to be the most powerful Phoenician settlement and became the centre of western Phoenician power.

By the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, Carthaginian success foundered as Carthage and Rome were involved in territorial disputes in Sicily and Spain that led to the three Punic Wars. The destruction of Carthage marked the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BCE, and propelled the ascendancy of Roman influence in northern Africa. After Carthage was reconstituted as a Roman colony, the region witnessed an influx of migrants from Italy who influenced the administration, infrastructure, and culture of the land.

Even as native settlements retained much of their autonomy under Roman authority, Roman culture pervaded Tunisia as well as parts of Algeria and Morocco, many areas of which were highly urbanized. The Romanization of the Maghrib was accompanied by the proliferation of Christianity, which attracted a substantial following among both the wealthy and poor. Following a schism over doctrine and social issues, the Christian community of northern Africa was divided between orthodox Christians, who typically were wealthier than the general population, and Donatists, who tended to be among the poor. While the Donatist movement was largely suppressed beginning in 411 CE, the controversy generated by this schism weakened Roman administration.

Still, the Roman grip on northern Africa outlasted the rest of the Roman Empire. However, nearly two decades after the Visigoths captured Rome in 410 CE and opened the floodgates to other Germanic invaders, the Maghrib fell to the Vandals as well. Eventually the Vandals were defeated by the Byzantine emperor Justinian’s forces in 533–34, and they were supplanted, in turn, by the Arabs in the 7th century.

The Arab conquests marked a new phase in the history of the Maghrib. As the locus of power shifted to Damascus—the seat of the Umayyad caliphate—and Islam began to spread throughout the region, the hegemony once enjoyed by the Christians there dissolved. The early stages of Arab power were characterized by constant struggles with the native Berbers (now known by their preferred name, Imazighen), who despite their conversion to Islam, were classified as inferior to their Arab conquerors. After the Abbāsids assumed caliphal authority, the Berbers allied with other Muslims who opposed caliphal rule. As a result, four Muslim states were created, each ruled from the 8th until 11th centuries by Muslim dynasties with either weak ties to the caliphate or none at all. In the 11th century, the Maghrib was finally unified under Berber Muslims by the Almoravids.

In the centuries that followed, the Maghrib was variously divided by its different rulers, experiencing a series of internal and international conflicts. Tensions between the Muslims of the region and Iberian Christians led to the establishment of Spanish and Portuguese strongholds on the Maghribi coast. In the early 16th century, the clash between the Muslims and Christians drew the attention of the Ottoman Turks, who had recently occupied Egypt. As the Ottomans proceeded to capture much of Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, Muslims retained primacy in the region, and European threats receded until 1830.

After ousting the Ottoman ruler of Algeria in 1830—and ending three centuries of Ottoman authority there—the French would go on to sustain more than a century of colonial rule in the Maghrib. As such, they were critical in shaping the region as it stands today. The French went on to colonize Tunisia, while Libya became a province of the Ottoman Empire and Morocco was able to retain its independence in the 19th century. By 1939, however, the French and Italians had settled Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya. Only after World War II did nationalist movements in each of the four countries become strong enough to finally shake foreign rule.

When the Algerian city of Algiers succumbed to French advances in 1830, the rulers of northern Africa effectively lost the hope of regaining their power in the Maghrib. Massive miscommunication between the French and the Algerians they ruled as well as excessive violence cost many Algerians their livelihoods, if not their lives. With resources and infrastructure disproportionately available to the wealthier European settlers, native Algerians residing in rural areas, who were largely Muslim, often remained unemployed.

In 1947 Algerians were finally granted French citizenship with the right to maintain their personal status under Islamic law as well as the opportunity to work in France. Dissatisfied with the enforcement of these rights and vying for full independence from the French, the National Liberation Front waged the Algerian War of Independence in 1954. The war ended in 1962 when an agreement was reached to hold a referendum on independence for Algeria that would allow French aid to continue and would provide European residents with the option to remain, either with foreigner status or by requesting Algerian citizenship, or leave Algeria; the referendum was overwhelmingly approved.

A stable government, however, did not necessarily accompany independence. Although unstable leadership was eventually followed by a move towards democracy, a civil war launched in 1992 between Islamists and the army renewed violence in the country. Algeria’s often contentious foreign policies have also strained its relations with the international community. By partnering with the European Union, the United Nations, and other international organizations in recent years, however, Algeria continues to move forward by seeking peaceful and mutually beneficial solutions to its problems.

The history of Egypt has followed a different trajectory than the countries of the Maghrib. Despite the differences, however, it too was variously held by the Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans, and was later subject to European imperialism. Resistance to British occupation, which began in 1882, culminated in independence in 1922. The British retained certain powers with respect to Egypt’s foreign relations, however, which created tension between the British and the Egyptian monarchs who assumed power after independence. Egyptian independence consequently remained tenuous for the next few decades.

Following World War II, Egypt began assuming a greater role in the Arab world. With its support of Arab opposition to the creation of the Jewish state of Israel in Palestine, Egypt gained new international commitments that would become central to the leaders of the next half century and beyond. After the monarchy was toppled in a 1952 coup by military forces, Egypt came under the leadership of three powerful men: Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar el-Sādāt, and Hosnī Mubārak. Despite the turbulence of their regimes and the various economic, political, and international issues that wracked Egypt in the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st century, Egypt has become a powerful player in the Middle East and on the world stage.

Although it borders Algeria and Tunisia and has much in common with its neighbours, Libya, like Egypt, is not considered part of the Maghrib. Italy invaded Libya in 1911, unseating the Ottomans who had ruled there since the 16th century. With an influx of Italian settlers into Libya, the Italian government developed the region’s infrastructure to accommodate them. However, much of the newly developed towns, roads, and agricultural communities were destroyed during World War II and the country was left divided and impoverished.

Libya obtained independence in 1951, and through 1969 Libya retained close ties to the West. However, with the discovery of its oil reserves in 1959 and its subsequent decreasing reliance on international aid, Libya began to pursue large-scale development without much Western influence, and a coup led by Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi in 1969 officially severed Libya’s relations with the United States and Britain and transformed Libya from a monarchy to a republic. Under Qaddafi, Libya has alienated a number of Arab and Western countries, but in an effort to become more integrated into the international community, it has begun taking measures to increase business opportunity and tourism.

Unlike the other countries of the Maghrib, Morocco was able to resist colonial authority and survived through the 19th century as an independent Islamic monarchy. However, in the early 20th century, it too came within the grasp of the French. Although the French and Spanish had already established a presence at Moroccan ports, Morocco’s status as a French protectorate resulted less from aggressive French designs on the region and rather as a consequence of the sultan Abd al-Aziz’s need for French protection. France granted Spain protectorate status over areas of Morocco as well. Both countries largely controlled their respective territories and Moroccans held only nominal sway over the administration and governance.

As with other colonies, Morocco birthed nationalist movements that demanded liberation from European rule. In 1956 France finally agreed to restore power to the sultan, and an agreement was reached with the Spanish authorities as well. In the years following independence, Morocco has often differed from the Arab world with respect to its foreign relations. Rejecting alliances with volatile states and encouraging peace talks and compromise in the Middle East, Morocco positioned itself closer to the United States and the West than have most other Arab states. The country has, however, been subject to criticism regarding its stance on the adjacent territory known as the Western Sahara. Although Morocco claims this territory, its claim is not internationally recognized. The inhabitants of Western Sahara, known as Saharawis, have advocated and fought for their independence, but the situation remained unresolved into the 21st century.

The centrality of Islam to the recent centuries of Sudan’s history as well as its close ties to Egypt dating back to before the Common Era has bound Sudan to the other countries of northern Africa. Eventually subject to Ottoman rule by way of its Egyptian neighbour, Sudan, like Egypt, also eventually became subject to British rule. In the case of Sudan, however, the British ruled alongside the Egyptians, even as they often dominated the Egyptians in decision-making and administration. Colonial rule here, as elsewhere, eventually ended, producing a state that would be fractured along ethnic and religious lines and be embroiled in lengthy civil war.

Today, the population of northern Sudan is predominantly Arab and Muslim, while southern Sudan’s population is predominantly African peoples who adhere to either animist or Christian beliefs. The country continues to struggle to achieve stability after decades of civil war, as well as deal with the devastating conflict of the Darfur region that was launched in 2003.

The history of the final Maghrib country, Tunisia, in ways parallels that of Algeria. Both were French colonial subjects, although Tunisia was designated a protectorate by treaty after years of French aggression rather than by outright French capture. Following its independence from French rule in 1956, Tunisia established a republic, whose relative stability and commitment to reform distinguished it from its neighbours. While reform has been stymied considerably under Pres. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the country continues to align itself more closely with the West than some other Arab states on a number of international matters.

Northern Africa is a region that has constantly been forced to confront adversity and adjust accordingly. Although it has its own long history with slavery, it has been spared the legacy of the Atlantic slave trade, which came to devastate numerous regions and communities throughout the African continent. Still, it is bound in other ways to its sub-Saharan African neighbours. Likewise, although it remains physically separated from the countries of the Middle East, it has experienced many of the same challenges that have faced those countries. While dogged by conflict for centuries, the countries of northern Africa have proven also that coexistence does not require absolute uniformity.