Libya has been formed by parts of various empires that have remodeled its entire society. As a result, Libyans were unable to achieve a common national identity. Many of the foreigners who dominated Libya include the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans, Italians, British and French. All of these external powers were able to rule over Libya’s provinces by conducting unfair policies that forced people to avoid looking inward for support in political, social, and economic matters. For instance, Tripoli Tania depended on its neighbors to the north, in Europe when it came to dilemmas dealing with salvation, trade, or culture. The Cyrenaica province received much support from its Egyptian neighbors to the east within the Arab world for trade and cultural situations. The African province of Fezzan looked south to African countries for any economical, political, and military links. These examples from Libya’s past help explain the current mindset of its people. Libyans have historic experience with external domination that to this day has left citizens fearful of being overpowered once again.
Libya underwent continuous changes because different empires invaded the land before fading away. It began with the Phoenician sailors who were amongst the first to visit Libya and trade with the entire fellow Africans while establishing permanent trading centers in Carthage and Tripoli. Carthage therefore was able to become a large, prosperous city where many people found economic stability. Prosperity continued in Carthage until the Phoenicians fought a series of wars against the Romans and were eventually destroyed.
The Romans however had power over only the western coast of Libya, while the Greeks were in charge of the eastern ...
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...pt a philosophy called Pan-Arabism, which is a movement in recent years by countries with Arabic populations that wish to become united. It is ironic however that with all the advancements in Libya made possible by foreign interests; it was the recent oppression by Col. Qadhafi against his own people that has thrown the country into turmoil while leaving its future in doubt.
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Over the course of one-hundred years the Mediterranean antiquity was rocked by an ancient cold war between the North African seafaring state of Carthage, and the newly rising city of Rome located on the Italian Peninsula. In the course of two major wars and one extended three year long siege of Carthage itself Rome would conquer its last major foe and turn the Mediterranean into a Roman lake.
The ancient city of Carthage was one of great splendor and magnificence. Carthage thrived on trade throughout the Mediterranean basin. Trade was how their empire had been built. Carthage dominated the Mediterranean basin for centuries until another empire began to rise. Rome began to build their empire upon trade as well. With the building of an empire, Rome built an extraordinary military, as did Carthage. Since trade was vital to the expansion of both empires, the island of Sicily fell under watchful eyes. Sicily’s strategic position in the Mediterranean was important to trade. The Carthaginians were in Sicily first, but the Romans realized how strategic Sicily was. The Romans saw Carthage as a great threat to their empire. Tensions grew between Carthage and Rome over Sicily; this caused a series of wars that changed the ancient world. These wars became known as the Punic Wars.
Behnke, R. H. (1980). The Herders of Cyrenaica: ecology, economy and kinship among the Bedouin of Eastern Libya. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 197 pp. HRAF.
The first Punic war started like this...Tradition holds that Phoenician settlers from the Mediterranean port of Tyre founded the city-state of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa, around 814 B.C. By 265 B.C. Carthage was the wealthiest and most advanced city in the region, as well as its leading naval power. Though Carthage had clashed violently with several other powers in the region, its relations with Rome were historically friendly, and the cities had signed several treaties defining trading rights over the year . In 264 B.C., Rome decided to intervene in a dispute on the western coast of the island of Sicily involving an attack by soldiers from the city of Syracuse against the city of Messina. While Carthage supported Syracuse, Rome supported Messina, and the struggle soon exploded into a direct conflict between the two powers, with control of Sicily at stake. Over the course of nearly 20 years, Rome rebuilt its entire fleet in order to confront Carthage's powerful navy, scoring its first sea victory at Mylae in 260 B.C. and a major victory in the Battle of Ecnomus in 256 B.C. Though its invasion of North Africa that same year ended in defeat, Rome refused to give up, and in 241 B.C. the Roman fleet was able to win a decisive victory against the Carthaginians at sea, breaking their legendary naval superiority. At the end of the First Punic War, Sicily became Rome's first overseas province.
Even in the century before the official replacement of the Roman republic by the empire, Rome expanded immensely as a result of the Punic wars. Rome fought the Punic Wars between 264 and 146 BCE against the nearby trade empire Carthage over the nearby island of Sicily, a cultural crossroads that greatly benefited Rome’s already rich culture. During these years, Rome also gained control of the nearby islands Corsica and Sardina, also surrounding the Italian peninsula and occupying a prime location for trade in the Mediterranean sea. When the Third Punic war ended in 146 BCE, the city of Carthage was burnt, the citizens enslaved, and the land salted to leave it permanently infertile. This demonstrated the new, brutal Roman attitude toward conquered people, who now seen as threatening after the century of fighting required for victory, which cost many Roman lives and much tax money. Additionally, the power vacuum left by Carthage’s trading empire, the remnants of the ancient Phoenician trade empire, allowed Rome to dominate the Mediterranean, gaining control through commerce between Europe, Asia, and Africa, all of the known world of Greco-Roman civilization. Goods flowing into the empire also enriched the culture, a blend of Hellenistic civilization and Etruscan influenc...
“One Arab nation from Gulf to the Ocean,” gives meaning to the term “Pan-Arabism” in the Middle East. A notion where Arab nations transcend their state boundaries to form political mergers with other states and achieve an ‘Arab unity.’ The existence of Arab states had been tumultuous throughout the decline of the Muslim order, the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Palestinian defeat, Six Day War and Arab-Israeli war in 1973. This essay will critically examine Foud Ajami’s case for a raison d’état in the Middle East and his claim that there were six broad trends leading to the alteration of the balance of power away from Pan-Arabism and towards the state. It will be argued that Pan-Arabism was a romantic ideology that Arab states found convenient to support, all in advancement of their nationalistic state agendas. It was never a realistic endeavor that was physically undertaken by the Arab states and was thus never alive in a tangible sense. However, Pan-Arabism as an ideology had a place in the Middle East and was thus alive in an ideological sense.
Carthage and Rome both were significant enough to be great rivals of the west., they both were roughly equal in strength because of their direction to expand, conquer additional territories, and control the Mediterranean. Although they were both equal in strength, Rome’s better structure and political system, and its newly built naval fleet contributed to the downfall of the once mighty Carthaginian Empire. The Roman Empire became the mistress of the Mediterranean and eventually became a world
For hundreds of years before European intervention, the Ottoman Empire had controlled or annexed most of the Arabic people. However; few states did exist, mostly on the Saudi Arabian peninsula, they possessed minimal forms of government and rule, existing in small tribal states. Despite the immense territorial possessions of the Ottoman Empire, it began to decline with a series of military defeats beginning in the 16th century. Most of their fleet was wiped with a loss of 210 ships and 30,000 men killed1, and the event is often cited by Historians as the ‘end of Turkish supremacy in the Mediterranean’2, and the turning point of Ottoman conquest and rule. It wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that the Ottoman Empire became the ‘sick man’ of Europe. The dynasty had long suffered from corruption, inflation, and its territorial possessions began to reject Ottoman rule. One area where this is most relevant is in the Arabic peninsula. Following nationalist trends in Europe, and especially the Ottoman Empire, Arab nationalism grew in the beginning of the 20th century. The ideology believed ‘that nations from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula are united by their common linguistic, cultural and historical heritage.’3 The growing anti-Ottoman rule sentiment grew,
Prior to Carthage's defeat by Rome in the Second Punic War, Carthage was a Mediterranean powerhouse. In fact, Carthage and Rome were almost equaled in many respects. Both had vast amounts of territories in the Mediterranian.Carthage had colonies in North Africa, Ibiza, Corsica (Great Military Battles, 2013).
This has caused an absence of a core state for the Islamic world. There have been individual revolutions in several countries such as Omar Al Mukhtar in Libya, the Million Martyrs Revolution in Algeria…against Western colonization but the strategic centre of gravity had already shifted.
This paper will discuss how the Carthaginian Empire became almost an equal of Rome and seek to show the strengths of each during the same period. It will also talk about how this conflict led to Rome becoming a naval power in the Mediterranean Sea. At the end of this essay I will attempt to draw some conclusions from the given information.
The fate of the island of Sicily hangs in balance. The Romans hunger for power and land, while Carthage wants the same. Both are powerful and rich traders and planned to stay that way. They were both the most powerful forces in the Mediterranean. Romans held military glory in the highest regard, and made military service a required part of political advancement. Carthage also held military glory highly but their military mainly consisted of mercenary soldiers rather than citizen soldiers
The country I decided to research is Egypt. Egypt is located in northern Africa along the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The majority of the country however is located in northeastern Africa, but its Sinai Peninsula extends out into Southwest Asia, connecting the two continents. European nations wanted to colonize Egypt because it was considered to be a treasure, due to its fertile land and production of crops, such as: wheat, fruits, vegetables, corn, and cotton. Also because of its strategic location at the head of the Red Sea, that appeared valuable to countries such as Britain and France. Another reason was because they wanted to control Egypt in order to secure the main route to India, Malaya, Australia, New Zealand and to Hong Kong.This route was known as the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal was viewed as the “Lifeline of the Empire” because it allowed quicker access to its colonies in Asia and Africa. It also connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, built mainly with French money from private interest groups using Egyptian labor. Egypt was also targeted due to its weak economy and government, making it an easy target to imperialize. Egypt was colonized three times each by different civilizations. It was colonized by the Ottomans in 1517, by the French in 1799, and by the British in 1882. A key person involved in Egypts colonization was Muhammad Ali. After taking power in 1805, he strengthened the army and focused on cultivating the land. He also increased trade with Europe and sent officials to Britain to be educated.
Carthage was founded about 100years earlier than Rome and had very fertile lands and an excellent harbor. It grew economically and politically through trading Gold from Spain, Ivory, Linen, precious stones, and other valuable minerals from different states. They had a very large number of trading vessels to load these products and carry them from pot to pot. They also had a powerful navy of warships. Like the Roman empire the Carthagean empire acquired dominion over the native races of Africa, the Lydians and the Numidians. These two great states had controls over the small states they made their allies, or members of their confederations. They were almost equal in many ways, and even their economies
While the Etruscan culture was developing on the western side of the Apennines, Phoenicians had begun to move across the Mediterranean Sea. Thei...