The History Of Roman Empire Culture on African continent.
The Roman African Legacy: Why Africans Embraced Roman Culture Before the Arab Conquest in the 8th Century AD”
Before the Arab conquest in the 8th century AD, Roman Africans had already adopted Roman culture. This was due to their heritage as the ancient North African populations of Roman North Africa.
They were Berbers or Punics/Carthaginians and descendants of African people in Rome. Despite being enslaved and brought to Rome and other European cities, they held prominent positions such as senators and emperors without discrimination or restrictions to certain titles or jobs.
Roman Africans inhabited the coastal portions of eastern Algeria, western Libya, and Tunisia, which was known as Ifriqiya, the African outlying areas of the Roman Empire.
They incorporated Roman culture into their native customs without protest and spoke their own variation of Latin. By the end of the western Roman Empire, the majority of the African province was romanized, resulting in a privileged life for the African Romans.
African Romans were Christian and spoke Latin, which consisted of Berber languages and Maghrebi Arabic. However, in the 12th century, they converted to Islam under the rule of the Almohads and due to the Islamic conquest.
Muslim conquerors established three classes of populations: the Byzantines (the Rūm), the Afāriqah (Roman Africans), and the Barbar-Berber farmers.
The legacy of Roman African culture continues to this day, as evidenced by the numerous historical sites and monuments found in the region.
