EGYPT and the MAGHREB

A compilation of Lecture Notes

from
Dr. Frank Ikponwmosa

Compiled by:
Desmond Osawaru Emokpae
(D-Beloved)
Egypt and the Maghreb Courtesy: D-Beloved

CHAPTER ONE
THE MAGHREB
The Geography of the Maghreb and the Nile Valley
Maghreb is bordered in the North by the Mediterranean Sea, in the North east
by the red sea, to the south by the Sahara desert. The Mediterranean sea separates the
Maghreb and Nile Valley from Europe, the red sea also separates the Maghreb and the
Nile valley from the Arab world (Middle East).

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The word Maghreb is an Arabic word meaning (Economic Union of North

African states that were conquered by the Arabs). It includes the North African States
Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco and to a large extent Mauritania. About 1827, the
Europeans started to have incursion into the territories of the Maghreb.
The Nile valley is largely made up of Egypt and Sudan. The major strength of this
region was their endowment of natural harbour and this attracted people to the region
for both economic political and social relations. This ultimately led to economic
growth in the region. It also aided the case in which the region was conquered.
This harbour had both positive and negative effect on the region. Also, their
climatic condition which was similar to that of Europe also aided the growth of the
region.
The people of the Maghreb
The indigenous people of the Maghreb are the Berbers. The word Berbers was coined
from the Greek word “Barbaros” which is the appellation of the English word
Barbarian. The Berbers consist of the Libyans Getilles, Troglodytes. They were
organized in tribes. They never conjugated a large number to form a state. Loyalty
was to their various tribes. The environment was an open one. Even the vegetation
was open which made it possible for easy penetration from intruders. They were
engaged in two economic activities before the coming of the intruders. There were
pastoral nomads (they were cattle rearers) and also, the sedentary farmers along the
fertile coastal area (they were settled in one place).
However, from about the 5th century they began to have contacts with the
outside world. This interaction was facilitated by trade relations across the
Mediterranean. This was further enhanced by the presence of a natural harbour, which
aided sailing.
The Phoenicians were the first intruders to come in contact with the
Maghrebians. The Phoenicians were later called Carthaginians. They came for the
purpose of tin and silver which were in abundance in the Maghreb. This also attracted
the second intruders who were the Greeks. The Phoenicians also established trading
forts in different parts of the Maghreb.
However, on getting to the Maghreb, the Greeks and the Phoenicians
discovered that apart from these product, there were also other minerals and other
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farming products that can facilitate trade between the Greek and Palestine (their home
state) and Maghreb – this products include textile, purple dye, glass wares, pottery,
precious stones (gold) which where endowed in the Maghreb. Purple dye was very
attractive for the Europeans because it signifies royalty. Because of this relation,
different towns sprang up. Two of which were Carthage and Utica. Carthage was the
most famous. Previously there were no towns in the Maghreb but the activities of
trade brought about the development of these towns. However, from about the 9th
century AD, the Romans (Byzantine) started penetrating into the Maghreb. Unlike the
Phoenicians and the Greeks, the Romans came in large numbers for the purpose of
trade, spreading the Christian religion and colonialism.

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CHAPTER TWO
THE ROMANS IN THE MAGHREB
The Romans had a more positive influence in the Maghreb than the other
invaders. They came with so many innovations like Urbanization, Christianity etc.
they began to inter-marry amongst themselves and imbibe the Roman culture. This
cultural fusion was only limited to the Berbers in the urban region, as those in the
rural areas were not fully involved in that cultural fusion.
Before the Arabian Peninsula (near East), the Byzantine culture flourished in
the Maghreb especially in the urban area except in the Saharan desert. From about
the 11th century, the Roman culture began to have challenges
Schism began to reduce their influence in the region. The Arabs then came and
began to entrench their hold on the Maghreb.
Christianity was first planted in the Maghreb before Islam. It was brought
about by the Byzantine (who were also Romans). As Christianity spread, the Roman
language also did in the urban region. But those who were in the desert region
maintained their traditional institutions. Silk was first introduced by the Romans and
byzantine
As a result of schism (a division or split between strongly opposed sections or
parties or people caused by differences in opinion or belief) in the Maghreb, the
vandals began to gain grounds in the Maghreb. These vandals were of the Germanic
tribe. This slowly reduced the spread and influence of Christianity in the region and
brought about the gradual coming of Islam to the region. The byzantine also brought
about architecture hence, the architectural designs in the Maghreb became very
similar to that of the one in eastern Roman Empire.
It suffices to mention here that the byzantine developed cities, towns, such as
Leptis, Sabratha, Tinda, Bolubilis, Cyrenayttan pentapolis, all of which emerged and
expanded during the period of the Byzantine culture.
The language of the Romans also made inroads into the Maghreb. It began to
spread among the Berbers as the Romans inter-married with them
Finally, in the area of industry, the Romans also left indelible mark on the
Berbers. Relics (remains, leftover) of Roman industries such as Olive press,

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fortified farms, hydraulic engineering were all legacies of the Romans in the
Maghreb.
The byzantine incursion into the Maghreb was that of colonization. They
sought to expand their territories. To exploit and conquer the people of the Berber
region

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CHAPTER THREE
THE ARAB CONQUEST OF THE MAGHREB
The conquest of the Maghreb by the Arabs, did not fully lead to the elimination
of the byzantine culture. The Arabs did not only come to Islamize but also to settle in
this region. The Arabs were the last conquerors of the Maghreb compared to the
Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans (Western Roman Empire), the byzantine
(eastern Roman Empire) and the vandals. Of all these, the Arabs have what could be
termed enduring legacies in the Maghreb.
Their Arab conquest of the Maghreb was between the 7th and 11th centuries.
The coming of the Arabs was not initially for conquest and occupation and not
necessarily to spread Islam, but to provide a settlement in the Maghreb for the ever
growing population of the Arabs outside the Arabian Peninsula that was becoming
over populated. Before the 7th century, the Arab had always visited the Maghreb as
raiders in search of booty and captives, in the course of these raids, the Romans in
the Maghreb who could hardly pose a threat to the Arab began its conquest and
occupation.
Resistance to the Arab conquest did not come from the byzantine or the
Romans who were swept away and expelled from the Maghreb with comparative
ease but from the Berbers, the original inhabitants of the Maghreb. The reasons the
Romans were swept away with ease were that
1. The Arab had the advantage of the desert power (in similar circumstance as the
western world, which had the advantage of sea power.
2. The Arab use the desert as means of communication, supplies and re-
enforcement
3. The desert was a safe haven for retreat in terms of emergency.
The opposition they had were the Berbers but in time, they were incorporated into
the Arab culture because of some certain attractions which came with the Arab
occupation. By the 11th century, the Arab had full control of the Maghreb, they have
expelled the Romans from the Maghreb but the Roman culture and civilization in the
Maghreb were not suddenly dispelled or obliterated
The Arab rule in the Maghreb was brutal especially on the Berbers who they
saw as their main opposition to the conquest and occupation of the land. Gradually
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however, the Berbers began to imbibe aspects of the Arab culture. For example,
Islam the religion of the Arab when brought to the Maghreb had attractions which
were visible to the Berbers some of these attractions were;
i. Accepting Islam: Acceptance of the Islamic religion means that one is free from
certain taxes especially agriculture taxes. Peasants, who did not accept the fate,
pay certain crop tax to the Arab authority unlike those who accepted the religion.
Therefore for any of the Berbers to be free from these taxes, they needed to
accept Islam as their religion.
ii. We had earlier stated that Arabs came initially as raiders, taking away the
Berbers as captives or slaves to the Arabian world. The tenet of Islam forbids a
Muslim to enslave another Muslim. These push the Berbers to accept Arab.
iii. The Arabs that came to the Maghreb were either traders, merchants,
administrators, military officers or teachers. To the Berbers these were enviable
status that they look up to.
With all these, the Berbers began to accept the Arabs. But there were other
achievements by the Arabs like the establishment of the first papers Mills and trade
routes in Tripoli, Fez, there was also the introduction of education in the form of
Arabic writing.

Expansion of Islam in Maghreb

As the Arabs began to expand, the first thing they did was to Islamize the
Maghreb. The Arabs brought the religion of Islam to the Maghreb from about the 7th
century. Due to the influence of the Arab, the religion began to spread beyond the
Maghrebian region towards the south to the Sahara desert and beyond to part of Sub-
Sahara Africa (West Africa). Islam was spread by peaceful means and by war
through Jihad (Holy war) or force and through trade. The Arab brought about the
Jihad (Holy war) War of conversion. This was introduced and is still prominent (war
of purification). This idea was brought about by the Arab.
With Islam came the Arabic writing and speaking. They also came with the
idea of trade within sub-continent. As a result of Arab influence, trade developed
between the Maghreb and the near and far east. Trade also developed between the
Maghreb and West Africa as a result of the influence of the Arab.

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In the Maghreb proper, the Arab established the first blade industry and also
established paper mills in different parts of the Maghreb including Tripoli, Fez,
Cairo etc. China was the only other nation that had knowledge of the paper mill
apart from the Maghreb.
They also established or produced perfume, pottery (ceramic) industries, iron
works and silk.
They introduced slave trade to the Maghreb and parts of the West Africa. They
also made Eunuchs out of the slaves they bought. Especially those that watched over
their women.

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CHAPTER FOUR
EARLY EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION
The whole of North Africa is divided into two. The Maghreb which is made
up of Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco etc. and the Nile Valley. The Nile Valley can be sub
divided into two, upper and lower valley. The upper valley is Egypt and the lower is
Sudan.
Egypt is believed to be the cradle of civilization. It is believed that one of the
earliest civilizations began in Egypt. Scholars have argued that considering the
geographical location of Egypt, Egypt could have been nothing without the Nile
Valley. i.e. Egypt is what it is today because of the Nile. The Nile accounted for its
most fundamental element.
Being that the Nile was a source of water to the Egyptians, they were able to
construct an effective irrigation system and as a result of this, food crop cultivation
and food stuff production was one of the earliest achievements of the Egyptians. With
agriculture, population centres began to emerge in Egypt. This is a result of the Nile.
Also, the Nile was a source of interactions not only amongst the Egyptians, but
also between them and other communities. The Nile tributaries linked different
communities with the Egyptians. These interactions later led to the merging of the
small communities to a large one.
The area of geo political division was based on the varying characteristics of
the Nile. Egypt was made up of two part positioned by the Nile. The valley proper is
known as Upper Egypt while the Delta region was known as Lower Egypt. This
division was further subdivided into different administrative units.

Achievements of the Early Egyptian Civilization

1. They invented early method of writing known as the Hieroglyphics (writing on
stones).
2. With hieroglyphics, they also developed the making of papers made from Papyrus,
which was a type of plant that grew in meshes and pools near the Nile. The
Mesopotamia form of writing has similar period of invention. This was in the 4th –
7th BC. We could deduce therefore that there were early spread of literacy among
the early Egyptian

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3. The Egyptians were also conversant with time computation which may have had an
impact in the modern day calendar system. As early as 3000 BC, the Egyptians
began to keep records and use a calendar divided into 12 months of 30 days each to
which five days were added at the end of every year. The days were further divided
into 24 hours. It could be deduced that the modern calendar of 4 weeks in a month
and 12 months in a year holds a lot to the Egyptians.
4. The Egyptians also devoted time to medicine and anatomy. In particular, they
possess significant surgical skill in their act of mummification the act of embalming
the dead.
5. Other areas of both theological and applied science of some notes included
metallurgy and mathematics, (which developed by the need to adequately utilize the
Nile and construct the pyramids), architecture etc. an act were the Egyptians where
famous.
Another major characteristics of the Egyptian civilization was that whatever
they achieve were attributed to a divine being, (an act of natural phenomenon).
There were gods in charge of everything, gods for harvesting, water, sun, etc.
However, from about the 4th century, they began to encounter external intruders
as a result of the tributaries the Greeks, the Assyrians, the Romans (they introduced
Christianity) and later the Arabs who were the last to come to Egypt. The Arab
culture supplanted the Roman culture. Even though the Egyptians are mostly
Muslim today, some of them are still Christians.
By 1798, the Europeans conquered Egypt. They were a source of struggle for
the major European powers. At various times, Egypt was under the rulership of
different powers (conquerors) which invaded the territory for different reasons.
Thus, before the 18th century the Ottoman Turks and the Mamluks were eastern
powers that occupied Egypt.
However by the 18th century precisely by 1798, the French army under the
control of Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Egypt militarily. The coming of the
French was for several reasons, first was to introduce western civilization into
Egypt. This entails the introduction of European technology education and culture
to the Nile region.

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Secondly, Napoleon wanted to halt the spread of the British influence in the
region especially around the red sea so as to counter the British dominance in the
trade in the orient (Far East) especially in India. They conquered Egypt in 1798 and
expelled the Mamluks from Egypt. While Napoleon pretended to be a friend of the
Egyptians, he adopted their style of dressing and issued a proclamation where he
glorified Islam all in pretext of establishing his rule on Egypt. Napoleon’s style was
to ensure that the Egyptians did not revolt against his authority. He introduced the
European model of civilization and imposed taxes on the Egyptians. Napoleon’s
occupations of Egypt posed a great threat to the British interest in the region.
First, the French occupation could restrict British access to the Suez Canal and
the red sea, which provided access to the east. Consequently, the British mobilized
forces against Napoleon which led to the French evacuation in Egypt.
The politics involved in Egypt just as the Maghrebian states was that of
survival and protection of interest. It was the desire of the powers to protect their
interest in the Maghreb and the Nile Valley whenever it was trampled upon by
another power. The evacuation of the French from Egypt witnessed the emergence
of Mohammed Ali in the Egyptian politics.
Mohammed Ali was an Arabian military tactician who came to Egypt as part
of the Ottoman military conquerors. Following the withdrawals of the French
military troop from Egypt, Mohammed Ali rose to the occasion of military
leadership in Egypt. He introduced reforms both in military and the economy which
were not for the interest of the Egyptians but for his own interest
He appropriated all the land in Egypt for agriculture and repaired and
constructed irrigational system for agricultural purposes. He opened Egypt to
European ideas and civilization.
In the area of military, Ali imported modern military ammunition to Egypt and
brought in instructors from France to teach the Egyptians the operation of these
military ammunitions. European goods were imported to Egypt while tariffs were
lower or at times completely eliminated.
As earlier indicated, Ali did this not for the primary purpose of benefitting the
Egyptians but to perpetuate his rule in Egypt. Therefore, his reforms especially in

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the military ensured that his lineage ruled Egypt until about the 1950s. Mohammed
Ali extended his rule to the Sudan which he conquered for several reasons.
i. To obtain Negro as slaves for the Egyptian military.
ii. He wanted to use the conquest of the Sudan as an opportunity to wipe out the
remnant of the Mamluks who may have fled to the Sudan from Egypt.
iii. Ali was attracted by the news of the Sudan flowing with milk and honey
especially in gold. To him the conquest of the Sudan will avail him the
opportunity of mining the gold for Egyptian benefit
iv. Ali thought that the conquest of the Sudan will be an opportunity to have
control of the red sea and be a protector of the holy places.
Fortunately, for him, the conquest of the Sudan was successful but
unfortunately his expectations were futile.
After the conquest he discovered that the Negros that could be recruited into
the Egyptian military were far in the southern part of Sudan which was relatively
swampy and could not be penetrated. Secondly, the Mamluks were not in the Sudan
and more disappointing, gold vanished as few mines that were available were
exhausted. Consequently, a high rate of taxation was imposed on the Sudanese,
which later on led to the Mahdist revolt in Sudan against the Egyptian rule.
During the reign of Ismael, Egypt became bankrupt as a result of his
extravagant expenditure which was financed through borrowing, it was a result of
regularizing the financial situation of Egypt that the British occupied Egypt in about
1882 and by 1883, her occupation was rectified by greater powers especially France
when she recognized the British occupation of Egypt. The British ruled over Egypt
until about 1936

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