# Emergence of the Ancient Libyans (c. 3,000 BCE)

URL: https://allhistories.com/tunisia/timeline/-3000-emergence-of-the-ancient-libyans
Location: Tunisia
Themes: main-event

By the third millennium BC the peoples of North Africa west of the Nile were known to the Egyptians by names such as Tehenu, Temehu and later Libu and Meshwesh. Greek writers extended the term 'Libyans' to all the indigenous inhabitants of the continent beyond Egypt. These were the ancestors of the modern Amazigh, or Berbers, and speakers of early forms of the Berber languages. In the territory of Tunisia these peoples lived as herders, farmers and hunters organised in tribes and clans. Later classical authors named groups such as the Maxyes, Zaueces and Gyzantes in the Tunisian area, describing customs like body painting and the cultivation of olives and grain. Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BC, recorded several of these tribes around Lake Tritonis, often identified with the chotts of southern Tunisia. Their burial monuments, rock art and later script reveal a distinct indigenous culture. The Libyans formed the demographic base of the land throughout antiquity. They served Carthage as farmers, taxpayers and soldiers, rebelled against it more than once, and created their own kingdoms in Numidia and Mauretania. Their language and identity have survived in Tunisia, especially in the south and on Djerba, to the present day. At this point in the timeline (c. 3000 BC), no ruler is recorded for the land of present-day Tunisia; it was home to hunter-gatherer, herding and early Berber (Libyan) communities.

## Why it matters
The ancient Libyans were the indigenous population of Tunisia, whose descendants and culture underlie the country's history to this day.

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Berbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berbers)
- [Wikipedia — Ancient Libya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Libya)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Berber people](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Berber+people)
- [Wikipedia — Prehistory And The Berber World (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_early_Tunisia)