NUMIDA. See GUINEA FOWL, ante.
3/11/11ID IA (Gr. Nomadia, the land of Nomads), the name given by the Romans to a part of the n. coast of Africa, to some extent withthe modern Algiers'. It was bounded on the w. by the river IMullic%a (now Moluya), which separated it from Mauritania; on the e. by the river Timm (now Wadi-el-Berber), which separated it froM the territory of Carthage, the Africa Prop•ia, of the Romans; on the s. it reached to the chains of .int. Atlas and the Lacus Tritouis, which separated it from the land of the Gaetulians and interior Libya. The chief rivers were the Rubricatus and the Ampsaga. The inhabitants of Niunidia, as of Mauritania, belonged to the race from which the modern Berber are descended. They were a warlike race, and excelled as horsemen; but, like most barbarians, were faithless and unscrupulous. Of their tribes, the Massyli in the e., and the Ifa.ltice.wil in the w., were the most powerful. In the grand struggle between the Carthaginians rod the Romans, they at first fought on the side of the former, but subsequently the king of the eastern Numidians, Massinissa, joined the Romans, and rendered them effectual service in the war with Hannibal. Favored by the
conquerors he united all Numidia under his sway. Of his successors in this kingdom Jugurtha and Juba are the most famous. After the victory of Cuesar over Juba I., in the African war, Numidia became a Roman province (46 Be,);. Mt tAugnstus afterwards gave the western part—from the river Anmsaga, non' Wadiel-Kibbir—with Mauritania, to Juba II., and' Bid infino-NuMidit became lira/Ida Vb tlfe eastern pith c`and when Mauri tania became a Roman province, the western pail was called Mauritania Ciesariensis.
Among the Raman colonive were Hippo Regius,- near the• mouth of the river Rubricatuss Cirta (the residence of the Numidian kings), afterwards called Constantina, a name still preserved in Constantine; Sicca, and Rusicada. For the modern history of Nutnidia see ALGIEAS.