Conquests and land degradation in the eastern Maghreb during classical antiquity and the Middle Ages

Ibn Khaldoun’s description of the eleventh-century Arab invaders of the Maghreb (Ibn Khaldoun, 1968), in which he likened them to plagues of locusts, is well known. Since then, many historians have tended to believe that the Arab invaders were responsible for the land degradation that is so visible today in many parts of north Africa. More than twenty years ago, after French decolonization, controversy was particularly strong (Berque, 1970, 1972; Cahen, 1968; Idris, 1968a, 1968b; Poncet, 1967, 1968), though interest has since decreased. Since this period, however, advances in geoarcheological research allow a reassessment of the role of Arab nomads in land degradation in north Africa, the basis for which was more ideological than factual. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the geoarchaeological record of the eastern Maghreb (Fig. 7.1) and to compare it with the historical record of conquests, invasions and occupations, in order to assess the respective roles of climate and people in shaping this region’s landscape in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages.