Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1912-02-07


50 YER section Of northern At
~ "a rica, where the legions Of i'm
H perial Rome once held sway
- and where various races and
civilizations have contended
for supremacy, Italy, the mod
ern successor to the Rome of the
Caesars, is seeking to establish her
sovereignty.
Only yesterday, as history measures
the life of nations, Italy sprang into
nationhood and now this puny sue
cessor to the world conquering Rome
of the consuls and the Caesars is
reaching out for part Of that terri
fory over which imperial Rome exer-
cised her authority from the Red sea
to the Pillars Of Hercules.
But of all that vast region there is
little now that is not pre-empted.
Egypt is securely anchored to British
authority-securely at least for the
present generation. Far to the west
lies Morocco, where French dominance
ds assured. East of it lies Algeria, and
further east, Tunis, both as securely
French as Egypt is British. And then
lying in between Tunis and Egypt and
extending southernward into the sands
of the desert lies Tripoli, with its de-
pendeneies Rarcasepa s6s Es77fadff IN kish ssi-
crescent floats in impotent protection.
When Carthage Was Supreme.
Tripoli formed portion of the an
cient empire of Carthage, which had
dts beginning. according to legend, in
the city founded by Queen Dido, near
the modern city of Tunis. The Car
thaginians, like the Romans, were
empire builders and gradually came
into possession of the rich cities and
colonies founded by the adventurous
Phoenicians on the African coast,
ultimately controlling the whole ter
rttory extending from the Pillars of
Hercules to the Great Syrtis-a dis
tance of 1000 miles. At the height of
her power Carthage was the greatest !
maritime nation in the world, as then
constituted, and her enterprises on
the sea led her on almost inevitably
ITO engage in foreign conquests. In
her colonization schemes in Sicily she
first came into contact with Roman
power and the first Punic var, in
which the Carthaginians suffered de-
feat, was the result. This war began
in 264 and ended in 241 B. C. and |
{ =. thage was compelled to cede Sicily |
and Sardinia to the Romans. The
second Punic war, provoked by Car
thaginian conquests in Spain, broke
out in 21S, when the great Hannibal
led his soldiers across the Alps and
by vigorous campaigns and several
bloody battles brought Rome almost
to the brink of ruin. But Rome .ri-
umphed in the end, breaking the
power If Carthage in Spain and de-
feating Hannibal in the decisive battle
Of Zama, in Africa. The third Punic
war, begun in 100 B. c. by Rome,
ended in the destruction of Carthage
and the Roman absorption of the rich
African territories, including Tripoli,
which for centuries had been under
Carthaginian sway.
Northern Africa remained in
Roman, or Byzantine. possession until
he fierce inroads of the vandals
early In the fifth century of the Chris.
ian era. These savage warriers had I
swept short time before across the I
9yrenees into Spain and had estab-
ished an Independent Kingdom
Iandalatia, the modern Andalusia. 7
rhe hordes which crossed with their I
reat general, Genseric, into Africa, ]
DON oyerran the country and occu- 4
lied 1t until 533, when their power Q
Fas broken by Belisarius, the famous
ommander Of Justinian the Great, f.
he emperor Of Constantinople. v
But disintegration had well begun f
! the provinces Of northern Africa s
nd soon the power of Rome as well fl
$ OF the Byzantine empire, founded o
) Constantine, was restricted to the r.
of Carthage and other q
oints on the coast. The Barbary II
tates thus became an easy prey for a
ie fierce and fanatical Arabs, who A
wept from Egypt into the region in a
,e middle of the seventh century and Ia
no SEGA established their supremacy. il