Directory

Places and cultural landscapes

20 place profiles: ancient kingdoms, mountain regions, islands, oasis cities and Saharan massifs — the geography in which this history actually happened.

Each profile distinguishes three things that are easily confused: historical names and polities, cultural regions as people describe them today, and modern administrative or international borders. These rarely coincide. Kabylia is a cultural region spread across several Algerian provinces; ancient Mauretania is not the modern state of Mauritania; Numidia’s boundaries shifted repeatedly across the kingdom, the Roman province and the late antique administration.

We do not publish maps that draw cultural regions as political borders. Where a boundary is disputed or has no agreed definition, we say so rather than rendering it as a line.

Ancient kingdom, later a Roman province Numidia The ancient North African kingdom, later a Roman province, covering much of what is now northern Algeria and western Tunisia. Ancient kingdom, later two Roman provinces Mauretania (the ancient kingdom) The ancient kingdom and later Roman provinces of north-western Africa — modern northern Morocco and western Algeria — not the modern state of Mauritania. Cultural and geographical region; not an administrative unit Kabylia The mountainous region of northern Algeria east of Algiers, heartland of the Kabyle language and of the modern Amazigh cultural movement. Cultural and geographical region The Rif Northern Morocco’s Mediterranean mountain region, including Tarifit-speaking areas and Arabic-speaking districts, with histories of resistance and migration. Cultural and geographical region The Souss and Anti-Atlas The fertile Souss plain and the arid Anti-Atlas of southern Morocco: Tashelhit-speaking country with collective granaries, argan woodland and a long commercial reach. Mountain ranges and cultural regions The High and Middle Atlas Morocco’s central mountain ranges: cedar plateaux, high peaks and valley systems that shaped pastoral economies, customary law and the movements that founded empires. Mountain massif and cultural region The Aurès Mountains The high massif of eastern Algeria, Tacawit-speaking, associated with the resistance tradition of Dihya and with the launch of the Algerian war of independence. Valley, urban ensemble and cultural region The Mzab Valley Five fortified Ibadi towns in the northern Algerian Sahara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most remarkable urban traditions in North Africa. Mountain escarpment and cultural region The Nafusa Mountains The escarpment of north-western Libya, an early centre of Ibadi learning and the heartland of Libya’s Amazigh communities. Oasis and cultural region Siwa Oasis The oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert that is the easternmost Amazigh-speaking community, site of the ancient oracle of Amun and of the salt-built town of Shali. Mountain massif and cultural region The Ahaggar (Hoggar) The volcanic massif of the central Algerian Sahara, a core Tuareg region and neighbour to the rock-art plateau of the Tassili n’Ajjer. Ancient city beneath a continuously occupied modern city. Cirta / Constantine The city beneath modern Constantine was a Numidian royal centre whose history can be followed through texts, coins and inscriptions. Archaeological city in north-western Tunisia. Dougga / Thugga A hilltop city in Tunisia where Numidian, Punic and Roman evidence survives together, including a famous bilingual inscription. Archaeological city near Moulay Idriss Zerhoun in Morocco. [[1]] Volubilis / Walila The archaeology of Volubilis reaches beyond its Roman monuments into an early medieval town and the beginnings of Idrisid rule. Living historic city in Morocco. Marrakesh A living city whose monuments and objects connect an Almoravid foundation, Almohad rule and later Moroccan history. Historic settlement and mosque in Morocco’s High Atlas. Tinmel The High Atlas site associated with Ibn Tumart and an Almohad memorial mosque, severely damaged in the 2023 earthquake. Sijilmasa The medieval Tafilalet city whose markets, mint and oasis landscape connected the Maghreb with the Sahel. Qal’a Beni Hammad Mosque, palaces and mountain defences at the first Hammadid capital in the central Maghreb. Tassili n’Ajjer A sandstone plateau whose paintings, engravings and archaeological remains record changing Saharan worlds across millennia. Djerba A Tunisian island whose language communities, religious connections and dispersed settlement history require attention at different scales.