Fascinating! Thanks for posting.
...The most famous of the Berber groups in Fezzan may be the Garamantes, who formed a vital link between Roman civilisation and sub-Saharan Africa. It is believed the Garamantes had lived in the region for thousands of years dating back to when the Sahara still had rivers and lakes, and hosted large mammals such as elephants and hippopotamuses, as evidenced by rock art dating back 7 000 years. These same paintings also show war being waged on enemies using Egyptian-style chariots. Known definitively as Garamantes by 1000 BC, by the 5th century BC a Garamantian Empire had arisen in Fezzan, one that would last until about 700 AD. A culture of farmers and merchants that employed slave labour and created its own alphabet, the Garamantes controlled trade between the Greek and Romans in North Africa with the various empires of the Sahel. As the Sahara continued to dry over the years, the Garamantes constructed an elaborate thousand-mile network of wells, pipes and underground canals to water their crops and feed their cities (eight major planned cities have been identified; three of these have been studied). This agricultural boom led to the rise of the empire and a population explosion (approximately 100 000 people lived there at its height), which enabled the Garamantes to conquer neighbouring lands, raid Roman settlements, and acquire more slaves to fuel their economy. Over time, though, the empire depleted it water supplies to such an extent that it was no longer able to sustain itself, and declined between the 4th and 7th centuries, fragmenting back into semi-nomadism and fading so far into myth that most locals believe the Romans, not the Garamantes, constructed the massive irrigation infrastructure. Losing the Romans as a trading partner once that empire collapsed didn’t help, either.
That’s a surprise, I also was under the impression the irrigation throughout the region was the result of the work of the Roman Legion.
