North africa and rome (WW2, ancient, Romans, Egypt)
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I read long ago that North Africa once was the breadbasket of the Roman Empire. Was the climate different or did Rome cause massive deforestation? How did a desert feed Rome?
It seems that the climate zones were all shifted further south back then. North Africa's climate was more like modern day Spain & Italy. Ancient Italy was cooler and wetter, more like modern day France.
One effect that can be seen in the ancient area of Carthage are the remains of homes built down through the sand to take advantage of the cooler temps and to get out of the blazing sun.
Speaking of desert, Justinian's historian Procopius noted he found the formerly great city of Leptis Magna 'deserted' and 'invaded by sand'. And he was writing in the 6th century. Whipping and blowing sand conditions no doubt contributed to erosion of granite as well as hiding the city through the centuries.
I'm not certain, but I think it had to do with deforestation and depletion of soil fertility. If it were not for modern fertilizer the American prairies would be one gigantic dessert. It's sad that the land has never fully recovered, even after 1,500 years after the fall of Rome. Also the Romans built dams and irrigated their fields. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Libya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Libya
Grega 94 you may be right. My dad was a flight crew chief and mechanic during WW2 and was in North Africa. I recall him mentioning you could see from the air what appeared to be the remains of towns or cities in the desert.Once asked him if anyone went out there to do archeological work and he said not that he knew of. He also mentioned the rock paintings in the Libyan desert.These are the rock paintings that were shown in a few scenes in the movie The English Paitent. So the climate may have been totaly different in the past.
Yes and no.
The Sahara itself underwent desertification about 11,000 years ago, obviously way before the roman empire was in existence. Fertile areas remained along the nile and along the med coast in areas such as Tunisia and Tripoli. Those areas were deforested and overgrazed and overfarmed (slash and burn) - leading to degredation - not only N. Africa but all over the med coast.
Grega 94 you may be right. My dad was a flight crew chief and mechanic during WW2 and was in North Africa. I recall him mentioning you could see from the air what appeared to be the remains of towns or cities in the desert.Once asked him if anyone went out there to do archeological work and he said not that he knew of. He also mentioned the rock paintings in the Libyan desert.These are the rock paintings that were shown in a few scenes in the movie The English Paitent. So the climate may have been totaly different in the past.
The Garamantes civilization. But they always lived in desert, tapping underground water systems.
Grega 94 you may be right. My dad was a flight crew chief and mechanic during WW2 and was in North Africa. I recall him mentioning you could see from the air what appeared to be the remains of towns or cities in the desert.Once asked him if anyone went out there to do archeological work and he said not that he knew of. He also mentioned the rock paintings in the Libyan desert.These are the rock paintings that were shown in a few scenes in the movie The English Paitent. So the climate may have been totaly different in the past.
Well those rock paintings were most likely painted right after the ice age when the sahara looked very similar to the serengeti, it was teeming with life and had many rivers flowing through it, it then dried up over time.
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