Français – عربي – ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ – English
The Amazigh tribes of the Sahara desert had always been hostile to the Roman domination of North Africa, as the Roman border fortifications prevented those nomadic populations from travelling freely through their ancestral lands. After the Vandal conquest, the Saharan tribes, feeling close to the Vandals who were nomadic just like them, entered the service of the Vandal King Gaiseric. Enrolled as auxiliaries in the Vandal army, they took part in the sack of Rome. Their alliance was short-lived: as soon as they were back in Africa, the Saharan tribes revolted against the Vandals.
In North Africa, the Romans built a vast network of fortresses all along their Saharan border as a protection against attacks by hostile tribes, thus preventing the traditionally nomadic local Amazigh tribes from travelling around freely with their herds. The Saharan tribes were especially affected by this encroachment on their traditional way of life.
After the Vandal conquest of the region, the Vandals, who had gotten used to the comfort of urban life while in Spain, did not seek to extend their power South. The Saharan tribes, drawn to this new people who shared their nomadic lifestyle, entered the service of the Vandals. The Vandal King Gaiseric enrolled them as auxiliary forces into his army, where their rough, desert-prone fighting techniques were very much appreciated.
The Saharan tribes in Gaiseric’s army took part in the sack of Rome, the imperial capital. The Gallo-Roman bishop and poet Sidonius Apollinaris mentions several tribes that had been recruited by Gaiseric: the Garamantes of the Fezzan, the Marmaridae of Cyrenaica, the Psyllae of the region around Sirte, and the Nasamones of the Augila (Awjila) oasis.
However, the alliance between the Vandals and the Saharan tribes was short-lived. Back in Africa after the sack of Rome, Gaiseric poisoned the wells to prevent a Roman counter-attack. To the Saharan nomads, this was worse than the impediments on nomadic herding imposed by the Romans. The tribes immediately revolted, and the Vandals never managed to dominate them again.
Around 510, Cabaon, the chief of the Amazigh Laguatan tribe living in the Nafusa Mountains, led a great revolt against the Vandal King Thrasamund, and wrested control of the major part of Tripolitaia away from the Vandals.