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Currently, Mauritania is a country in northwest Africa, on the Atlantic Ocean. It has a land border with Senegal, Mali, Algeria and Western Sahara, and most of its territory is occupied by the Sahara Desert. In antiquity, however, Mauritania was called the land on the Mediterranean coast in what is now the northern part of Morocco and the northwest of Algeria.
From the east, it bordered Numidia, and from the south, it was bordered by the Atlas mountain ranges (mainly the Tell Atlas in the east and the Rif mountains in the west). The area finally came under Roman rule in 40 CE, and in 42-43 CE, two provinces were established on its territory: Mauritania Tingitana (western part) and MauritaniaCaesariensis (eastern part). The inhabitants were nomadic Berbers, the largest of which were called Moors (Latin Mauri), from which the name came. Ancient Mauritania geographically had nothing to do with the modern country of that name.
Before Roman rule
The African coastlines of ancient Mauritania were colonized by Phoenicians and Carthaginians in pre-Roman times. The Romans made their first contact with the Kingdom of Mauritania, which existed as a Berber state from the 2nd century BCE, during the war with Yugurta. Initially, the King of Mauritania, Bocchus I, was allied with the Numidians (through family ties with Jugurtha, who was his brother-in-law) against the Romans, but later – in 105 BCE he betrayed his ally by giving him away Sulla, which deserved the friendly attitude of the Republic. Probably already then, as a reward for help, Mauritania received part of Numidia.
After the death of Bocchus I in 80 BCE, his kingdom was divided among his sons into a western and an eastern part. During the Roman civil war between Caesar and Pompey (49-45 BCE), the rulers of both parts of Mauritania supported Julius Caesar. At that time, the eastern part was ruled by Bocchus II and the western part by Bogud. By opting for the victorious side, Bocchus was given another area of Numidia for Mauritania, to the Amsagi River (today Rhumel in Algeria), which became a long-standing border between Mauritania and Numidia. In another civil war between Octavian Augustus and Mark Antony the rulers of both parts of Mauritania took different positions. on the sides: Bocchus II on the first side, and Bogud on the second. Soon, in 38 BCE, after the rise of the population of the city of Tingis (now Tangier in Morocco), Bogud’s rule in western Mauritania was overthrown, and the whole kingdom was united by Bocchus II.
After his death in 33 BCE, Mauritania was governed directly by Octavian Augustus, until 25 BCE, when he handed it over to Juba II, son of the last king of Numidia, Juba I, creating a unified satellite state of Rome from Numidia and Mauritania. Under the direct management of Mauritania, Emperor Augustus established thirteen veteran colonies there – most of them on the present Algerian coast, three inland, and three on the present Moroccan coast. After the establishment of the Moorish-Numidian satellite state in 25 BCE, these colonies became enclaves and were incorporated into the southern Spanish province of Betica. Juba II was a staunch Roman ally during his long reign until 24 CE. The capital of Mauritania was Caesarea Mauretaniae (today the city of Cherchell in Algeria) – Caesarea Moorish, named after Octavian.
In 6 CE, with the help of the Roman proconsul of Africa, Cossus Cornelius Lentulus, the rebellion of the Moorish tribes against Juba II was suppressed. In the following years, Moorish troops assisted the Romans in suppressing the Takfarinas uprising in neighbouring Numidia. After the death of Juba II in 24 CE, his son with Cleopatra Selene (daughter of Marcus Antony and Cleopatra) took the throne, Ptolemy. Although like his father, he was a staunch ally of the Romans, he was murdered on the orders of Caligula during his visit to Rome, in CE 40. At the same time, Caligula gave the order to annex Mauritania and turning it into a province.
Unfortunately, the very brutal and unfair treatment of allies was not something unique for the Romans. After the murder of the ruler in Mauritania, an anti-Roman uprising broke out under the leadership of Aedemon, a slave freed by Ptolemy. The war in Mauritania lasted until 42 CE, when the insurgents were finally defeated, thanks to a military action led by senators Gaius Suetonius Paulinus and Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, which was already under the reign of the next Emperor Claudius. In early 43 CE, two Roman provinces were organized in Mauritania: Mauritania Tingitana and Mauritania Caesariensis.
