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A. Introduction [German source] The Fezzan (Berber; Arabic Fizzān; cf. Latin Phasania and B.) in the Central Sahara played an important part in the early history of the desert civilizations. This was the heartland of the Garamantes (Greek Garámantes; cf. also Eastern Maghreb 2.8.4.). Ancient authors classified them as barbarian nomads, but archaeological findings have now cast their politics, culture and economy in a different light [20]. The Garamantes practised oasis agriculture since early 1st millennium, and they introduced advanced irrigation technolog…

A. Issue and arguments [German source] The question of whether trade was conducted across the Sahara before the Islamic period has been variously answered in the affirmative [2]; [8] and the negative [111–17]; [3]. Verdicts are generally based on less than substantial evidence. Findings in recent years, however, increasingly support the view that significant contacts and trade relations between the Mediterranean coast and Lake Chad and the Niger basin existed across the Sahara at an early date [13]. Accordingly, the network of trans-Saharan trade routes known in the ear…

A. Geography, state of research, sources [German source] In general, researchers have paid little attention to the early history of North Africa. It has always been overshadowed by work on the ancient ‘colonial powers’, the Phoenicians and Greeks, and in later phases with the Romans [6]; [2643–72]; [27], and by a preoccupation with extraordinary funerary monuments [3]. In consequence, the peculiarities and accomplishments of indigenous African societies have been understated. The western Maghreb (2.8.7.) comprises the mountainous, mostly Mediterran…