Numidia, << noo MIHD ee uh, >> was an area in northern Africa during ancient times. It occupied the eastern part of what is now Algeria. Numidia was allied with nearby Carthage when the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome began in 218 B.C. But Massinissa, a Numidian chieftain, sided with the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio. In return, as Scipio’s ally, Massinissa was rewarded with territory and became king of all Numidia about 200 B.C. Soon afterward, the Numidians helped Scipio defeat the Carthaginians, who were led by Hannibal, at Zama in northern Africa.
Several times after the war, Massinissa seized land from Carthage. Finally, Carthage fought back, helping bring about the Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.). Rome destroyed Carthage in the war but also halted Numidian expansion. By 112 B.C., Jugurtha, adopted grandson of Massinissa, had seized all of Numidia in defiance of Rome. The Roman general Marius defeated him in 106 B.C. In 46 B.C., Numidian King Juba I fought Julius Caesar and was defeated. Caesar annexed Numidia and made most of it a Roman province. The Vandals, a Germanic tribe, conquered Numidia in A.D. 436.
