Mauretania

Mauretania (; Classical Latin: [mau̯reːˈtaːni.a]) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Mediterranean Maghreb. Originally established in the northwest of Morocco, it encompassed at its height northern-central Morocco and western-central Algeria. Its Indigenous inhabitants (of Imazighen and Phoenician ancestry) were known to the peninsular Romans as the Mauri, and the Masaesyli. The population was also called Libyan or Libu, a label used to indicate all the populations of Berber origin who lived west of Egypt. In 25 BC, Mauretania became a Roman client kingdom. Around 44 AD, the region was annexed to Rome and divided into two provinces: Mauretania Tingitana (named for Tangier) and Mauretania Caesariensis (named for Caesariana). From the 3rd century onward, Christianity spread. After Muslim Arabs subdued the region in the 7th century, Islam became the Maghreb’s dominant religion.