a region of Africa, including the states of Algiers, Morocco, Tripoli, and Tunis; (see those articles). This country contains almost the whole of what the Romans possessed of the continent of Africa, excepting Egypt. It stretches itself in length from east to west, beginning at the southern limits of Egypt, to the straits of Gibraltar, full 35 degrees of longitude; and from thence to Santa Cruz, the utmost western edge of it, about six more, in all 41 degrees; so that the utmost length of Barbary from east to west is computed at above 759 German leagues. On the south, indeed, it is confined within much narrower bounds, extending no farther than from 27 to 35° degrees of north latitude; so that its utmost breadth, from north to south, does not exceed 123 German miles. More particularly, Barbary begins on the west of the famed Mount Atlas, called by the Arabs Ay Duacal, or Al Duacal, enclosing the ancient kingdoms of Suez and Dela, now provinces of Morocco; thence stretching north-eastward along the Atlantic to the pillars of Hercules at Cape Finisterre, then along the coast of the Mediterranean, it is at last bounded by the city of Alexandria in Egypt.

Concerning the origin of the name Barbary, there are many conjectures. According to some, the Romans, after they had conquered this large country, gave it that name out of contempt and dislike to the barbarous manners of the natives, according to their custom of calling all other people but themselves Barbarians. Marmol, on the contrary, derives the word Barbary from Berber, a name which the Arabs gave to its ancient inhabitants, and which they retain to this day in many parts of the country, especially along the great ridge of the mountains of Atlas; and which name was given them on account of the barrenness of their country. According to Leo Africanus, the name of Barbary was given by the Arabs on account of the strange language of the natives, which appeared to them more like a murmur or grumbling of some brute animals than articulate sounds. Others, however, derive it from the Arabic word bar, signifying a desert, twice repeated; which was given by one Ifric, or Africus, a king of Arabia, from whom the whole continent of Africa is pretended to have taken its name. According to them, this king being driven out of his own dominions, and closely pursued by his enemies, some of his retinue called out to him Bar, Bar; that is, To the desert, To the desert; from which the country was afterwards called Barbary.

Among the Romans this country was divided into the provinces of Mauritania, Africa Propria, &c., and they continued absolute masters of it from the time of Julius Caesar till the year of Christ 428. At that time Bonifacius the Roman governor of these provinces, having through the treachery of Ætius been forced to revolt, called in to his assistance Genseric king of the Vandals, who had been some time settled in Spain. The terms offered, according to Procopius, were, that Genseric should have two thirds, and Bonifacius one third, of Africa, provided they could maintain themselves against the Roman power; and to accomplish this they were to assist each other to the utmost.—This proposal was instantly complied with; and Genseric set sail from Spain in May 428, with an army of 80,000 men, according to some, or only 24,000 according to others, together with their wives, children, and all their effects. In the mean time, however, the empress Placidia having discovered the true cause of Bonifacius's revolt, wrote a most kind and obliging letter to him, in which she assured him of her favour and protection for the future, exhorting him to return to his duty, and exert his usual zeal for the welfare of the empire, by driving out the Barbarians whom the malice of his enemies had obliged him to call in for his own safety and preservation.

Bonifacius readily complied with this request, and ended the Vandals considerable sums if they would retire out of Africa and return to Spain. But Genseric, already master of the greatest part of the country, first returned a scoffing answer, and then, falling unexpectedly on him, cut most of his men to pieces, and obliged Bonifacius himself to fly to Hippo, which place he invested in May 430. The siege lasted till the month of July the following year; when the Vandals were forced, by a famine that began to rage in their camp, to drop the enterprise, and retire. Soon after, Bonifacius having received two reinforcements, one from Rome, and the other under the conduct of the celebrated Aspar, from Constantinople, a resolution was taken by the Roman generals to offer the enemy battle. The Vandals readily accepting the challenge, a bloody engagement ensued, in which the Romans were defeated by utterly defeated, a prodigious number of them taken, and the rest obliged to shelter themselves among the rocks and mountains. Aspar, who commanded the eastern troops, escaped with difficulty to Constantinople, and Bonifacius was recalled to Italy. Upon their departure, the Vandals overran all Africa, committing everywhere the most terrible ravages; which struck the inhabitants of Hippo with such terror, that they abandoned their city, which was first plundered, and then set on fire by the victorious enemy; so that Cirta and Carthage were now the only strong places possessed by the Romans.

In 435, Genseric, probably being afraid of an attack by the united forces of the eastern and western empires, concluded a peace with the Romans, who yielded to him part of Numidia, the province of Proconsularis, and likewise Byzacene; for which, according to Prosper, he was to pay a yearly tribute to the emperor of the east. Genseric delivered up his son Honneric by way of hostage; but so great was the confidence which the Romans placed in this barbarian, that some time after they sent him back his son. Of this they soon had reason to repent; for in 439, the Romans being engaged in a war with the Goths in Gaul, Genseric laid hold of that opportunity to seize upon the city of Carthage; by which he considerably enlarged his African dominions. Valentinian, the Roman emperor, however, maintained as long as he lived the two Mauritaniæ, with Tripolitana, Tingitana, and that part of Numidia where Cirta stood.

On the taking of Carthage, Genseric made it the seat of his empire; and in 440 made a descent on the island... Barbaria, island of Sicily, where he ravaged the open country, and even laid siege to Palermo. Not being able, however, to reduce that place, he soon returned to Africa with an immense booty and a vast number of captives. Being now become formidable to both empires, Theodosius emperor of the east resolved to assist Valentinian against so powerful an enemy. Accordingly, he fitted out a fleet consisting of 1100 large ships; and putting on board of it the flower of his army, under the conduct of Arcovindas, Ansilas, and Germanus, he ordered them to land in Africa, and joining the western forces there, to drive Genseric out of the countries he had seized. But Genseric in the mean time pretending a desire to be reconciled with both empires, amused the Roman general with proposals for peace, till the season for action was over; and, next year, Theodosius being obliged to recall his forces to oppose the Huns, Valentinian found it necessary to conclude a peace with the Vandals; and this he could obtain on no other terms than yielding to them the quiet possession of the countries they had seized.

So powerful was Genseric now become, or rather so low was the Roman empire by this time reduced, that in 455 he took and plundered the city of Rome itself, as is fully related under the article ROME; and, after his return to Africa, made himself master of the remaining countries held by the Romans in that part of the world. Hereupon Avitus, who had succeeded Valentinian in the empire, despatched ambassadors to Genseric, putting him in mind of the treaty he had concluded with the empire in 442; and threatening, if he did not observe the articles at that time agreed upon, to make war upon him not only with his own forces, but with those of his allies the Vesiagathas, who were ready to pass over into Africa. To this Genseric was so far from paying any regard, that he immediately put to sea with a fleet of 60 ships; but being attacked by the Roman fleet under Ricimer, he was utterly defeated, and forced to fly back into Africa: he returned, however, soon after with a more powerful fleet, committing great ravages on the coast of Italy; but in a second expedition he was not attended with so good success; the Romans, falling unexpectedly upon his men while busied in plundering the country, put great numbers of them to the sword, and among the rest the brother-in-law of Genseric himself. Not content with this small advantage, Majorianus, at that time emperor, resolved to pass over into Africa, and attempt the recovery of that country. For this purpose he made great preparations; but his fleet being surprised and defeated by the Vandals, through the treachery, it is said, of some of his commanders, the enterprise miscarried.

Notwithstanding this misfortune, however, Majorianus persisted in his resolution; and would in all likelihood have accomplished his purpose, had not he himself been murdered soon after by Ricimer. After his death, Genseric committed what ravages he pleased in the poor remains of the western empire, and even made descents on Peloponnesus and the islands belonging to the emperor of Constantinople. To revenge this affront, Leo made vast preparations for the invasion of Africa, eastern em- insomuch, that, according to Procopius, he laid out 130,000 pounds weight of gold in the equipment of his army and navy. The forces employed on this occasion were sufficient for expelling the Vandals, had they been much more powerful than they were; but the command being given to Basiliscus, a covetous and ambitious man, the fleet was utterly defeated through his treachery, and all the vast preparations came to nothing. By this last defeat the power of the Vandals in Africa was fully established, and Genseric made himself master of Sicily, as well as of all the other islands between Italy and Africa, without opposition from the western emperors, whose power was entirely taken away in the year 476.

Thus was the Vandalic monarchy in Barbary founded by Genseric, between the years 428 and 468. If we take a view of that prince's government in his new dominions, it presents no very agreeable prospect. Being himself an absolute barbarian in the strictest sense of the word, and an utter stranger to every useful art, he did not fail to show his own prowess by the destruction of all the monuments of Roman greatness which were so numerous in the country he had conquered. Accordingly, instead of improving his country, he laid it waste, by demolishing all the stately structures both public and private, and all other valuable and sumptuous works with which those proud conquerors had adorned this part of their dominions. So that, whatever monuments the Romans had been at such an immense expense to erect, in order to eternalize their own glory, the barbarous Vandals were now at no less pains to reduce into heaps of ruins. Besides this kind of devastations, Genseric made his dominions a scene of blood and slaughter, by persecuting the orthodox Christians; being himself, as well as most of his countrymen, a zealous Arian; and for this his long reign is chiefly remarkable. He died in 477, after a reign of 60 years: and was succeeded by his son Hunneric.

The new king proved yet a greater tyrant than his father, persecuting the orthodox with the utmost fury; bloody and, during his short reign of seven years and a half, destroyed more of them than Genseric had done in all his lifetime. He is said to have died in the same manner as the heresiarch Arius; before which time his flesh had been rotting upon his bones, and crawling with worms, so that he looked more like a dead carcass than a living man. Concerning his successors Guatamund, Thrasamund, and Hilderic, we find nothing remarkable, except that they sometimes persecuted, and sometimes were favourable to, the orthodox; and by his favour for them the last king was ruined. For, having unadvisedly published, in the beginning of his reign, a manifesto, wherein he repealed all the acts of his predecessors against the orthodox, a rebellion was the immediate consequence. At the head of the malcontents was Hildeone Gilimer, or Gildemar, a prince of the blood-royal, deposed by who by degrees became so powerful, as to depose Hilde- ric in the seventh year of his reign; after which he caused the unhappy monarch, with all his family, to be closely confined, and was himself crowned king of the Vandals at Carthage.

Gilimer proved a greater tyrant than any that had gone before him. He not only cruelly persecuted the orthodox, but horribly oppressed all the rest, so that he was held in universal abhorrence and detestation when the Greek emperor Justinian projected an invasion of Africa. This expedition of Justinian's is said to have have been occasioned by an apparition of Lactus an African bishop, who had been murdered some time before, but now commanded the emperor to attempt the recovery of Africa, and assured him of success. Accordingly, this, or some other motive, prevailed upon Justinian so far, that, notwithstanding his being at that time engaged in a war with Persia, he sent a powerful fleet and army to Africa, under the command of the celebrated general Belisarius, who was for that reason recalled from Persia.

So much was Gilimer, all this time, taken up with his own pleasures, or with oppressing his subjects, that he knew little or nothing of the formidable preparations that were making against him. On the arrival of Belisarius, however, he was constrained to put himself into a posture of defence. The management of his army he committed to his two brothers Gundimer and Gelanund, who accordingly attacked the Romans at the head of a numerous force. The engagement was long and bloody; but at last the Vandals were defeated, and the two princes slain. Gilimer, grown desperate at this news, sallied out at the head of his corps de reserve, with full purpose to renew the attack with the utmost vigour; but by his own indiscretion lost a fair opportunity of defeating the Romans. For no sooner did they perceive Gilimer hastening after them at the head of a fresh army, than they betook themselves to flight; and the greatest part were dispersed in such a manner, that, had the king followed them close, they must have been totally cut off. Instead of this, however, stumbling unfortunately on the body of one of his slain brothers, the sight of it made him lose all thoughts about the enemy; and instead of pursuing them, he spent part of his time in idle lamentation, and part in burying the corpse with suitable pomp and dignity. By this means Belisarius had an opportunity of rallying his men; which he did so effectually, that, coming unexpectedly upon Gilimer, he easily obtained a new and complete victory over him.

This defeat was followed by the loss of Carthage, which the barbarians had been at no pains to put into a posture of defence. After which Gilimer, having in vain endeavoured to obtain assistance from the Moors and Goths, was obliged to recall his brother Tzason from Sardinia. The meeting between the two brothers was very mournful; but they soon came to a resolution of making one desperate attempt to regain the lost kingdom, or at least recover their captives out of the hands of the enemy. The consequence of this resolution was another engagement, in which Tzason was killed with 800 of his choicest men, while the Romans lost no more than 50; after which Belisarius moving suddenly forward at the head of all his army, fell upon the camp of the Vandals. This Gilimer was no sooner apprised of, than, without staying to give any more orders to the rest of his army, he fled towards Numidia in the utmost consternation. His flight was not immediately known among his troops; but when it was, such an universal confusion ensued, that they abandoned their camp to the Romans, who had now nothing to do but plunder it; and not content with this, they massacred all the men found in it, carrying away the women captives.

Thus a total end was put to the power of the Vandals in Barbary, and the Romans once more became masters of this country. The Vandal inhabitants were permitted to remain as they were, on condition of exchanging the heresy of Arius for the orthodox faith. As for Gilimer, he fled with the utmost expedition to Medamus, a town situated on the top of the Pappuan mountain, and almost inaccessible by reason of its height and ruggedness. The siege of this place was committed to Pharas, an officer of great experience, who having shut up all avenues to the town, the unhappy Gilimer was reduced to the greatest straits for want of provisions. Pharas being soon apprised of the distress he was in, wrote him a most friendly and pathetic letter, earnestly exhorting him to put an end to the distress of himself and his friends by a surrender. This Gilimer declined; but at the same time concluded his answer with a most submissive request, that Pharas would so far pity his great distress as to send him a loaf of bread, a sponge, and a lute. This strange request greatly surprised Pharas; but at last it was explained by the messenger, who told him that the king had not tasted any baked bread since his arrival on that mountain, and earnestly longed to eat a morsel of it before he died: the sponge he wanted to allay a tumour that was fallen on one of his eyes; and the lute, on which he had learned to play, was to assist him in setting some elegiac verses he had composed on the subject of his misfortunes to a suitable tune. At this mournful report Pharas could not refrain from tears, and immediately despatched the messenger with the things he wanted.

Gilimer had spent near three winter months on the summit of this inhospitable mountain, his misery hardening him still more against the thoughts of surrendering, when a melancholy scene in his own family at once reconciled him to it. This was a bloody struggle between two boys, one of them his sister's son, about a flat bit of dough, laid on the coals; which the one seized upon, burning hot as it was, and clapped it into his mouth; but the other by dint of blows forced it out, and ate it from him. This quarrel, which might have ended fatally had not Gilimer interposed, made so deep an impression upon him, that he immediately despatched a messenger to Pharas, acquainting him that he was willing to surrender himself and all his effects upon the conditions he had offered, as soon as he was assured that they were embraced by Belisarius. Pharas lost no time to get them ratified and sent back to him; after which he was conducted to Belisarius, who gave him a very kind reception. Gilimer was afterwards brought before Justinian in gold chains, whom he besought in the most submissive manner to spare his life. This was readily granted by the emperor; who also allowed him a handsome yearly pension to live upon as a private gentleman. But his mind and heart were too much unsettled and broken to enjoy the sweets of a private state; so that Gilimer, oppressed with grief, died in the year 534, the first of his captivity, and five years after he had been raised to the throne.

Barbary being thus again reduced under the power of the Romans, its history falls to be taken notice of under that of Rome. In the caliphate of Omar, this Barbary country was reduced by the Saracens, as we have already related under the article Arabia. It continued subject to the caliphs of Arabia and Bagdad till the reign of Harun Al Raschid, who having appointed Ibrahimb Barbari Ibrahim Ebn Aglab governor of the western parts of his empire, that prefect took the opportunity, first of assuming greater powers to himself than had been granted by the caliph, and then erecting a principality altogether independent of the caliphs. The race of Aglab continued to enjoy their new principality peaceably till the year of the Hegira 297 or 298, during which time they made several descents on the island of Sicily, and conquered part of it. About this time, however, one Obeidallah rebelled against the house of Aglab, and assumed the title of caliph of Kairwan (the ancient Cyrene, and residence of the Aglabite princes). To give the greater weight to his pretensions, he also took the surname of Al Mohdi, or Al Mahedi, the director. According to some, also, he pretended to be descended in a right line from Ali Ebn Abu Taleb, and Fatima the daughter of Mahomet; for which reason, say they, the Arabs called him and his descendants Fatemites. He likewise encouraged himself and his followers by a traditional prophecy of Mahomet, that at the end of 300 years the sun should rise out of the west. Having at length driven the Aglabites out into Egypt, where they became known by the by Al Mohdi's name of Magrebians, he extended his dominions in the first Africa and Sicily, making Kairwan the place of his residence.

In the 300th year of the Hegira, Habbasah, one of his general Al Mohdi's generals, overthrew the caliph Al Mokhtader's forces in the neighbourhood of Barca, and made himself master of that city. After which he reduced Alexandria itself; and was making great progress in the conquest of the whole country, when Al Mokhtader despatched against him two generals, Takin and Al Kasem, with an army of 100,000 men. Habbasah being informed that the caliph's troops were in motion, advanced at the head of his army to give them battle, and at last came up with them in an island called by the Arabs Ard Al Khamsin. Here he attacked them with incredible bravery, notwithstanding their force was much superior to his; but the approach of night obliged both generals to sound a retreat. The action therefore was by no means decisive, though extremely bloody, the caliph's generals having lost 20,000, and Habbasah 10,000. The latter, however, durst not renew the fight next morning; but stole off in the night, and returned home, so that Al Mokhtader in effect gained a victory. In the 302nd year of the Hegira, however, Habbasah returned, possessed himself of Alexandria a second time, defeated a body of the caliph's forces, and killed 7000 of them upon the spot. What further progress he made at that time we are not certainly told; but in the 307th year of the Hegira, Abul Kasem, son to the Fatemite caliph Al Mohdi, again entered Egypt with an army of 100,000 men. At first he met with extraordinary success, and overran a considerable part of that fine country. He made himself master of Alexandria, Al Tayum, Al Baknasa, and the isle of Al Ashmaryn, penetrating even to Al Jizah, where the caliph's army under the command of Munes was posted in order to oppose him. In this country he found means to maintain himself till the 308th year of the Hegira. This year, however, he was entirely defeated by Munes, who made himself master of all his baggage, as well as of the plunder he had acquired; and this blow obliged him to fly to Kairwan with the shattered remains of his army, where he remained without making any further attempt on Egypt.

Al Mohdi reigned 24 years; and was succeeded by his son Abul Kasem above mentioned, who then took the surname Al Kayem Mohdi. During his reign we read of nothing remarkable, except the revolt of one Yezid Ebn Condat, a man of mean extraction, but who, having been raised to the dignity of chancellor, found means to raise such a strong party, that the caliph was obliged to shut himself up in the castle of Mohedia. Yezid, being then at the head of a powerful army, soon reduced the capital of Kairwan, the cities of Al Rakkada and Tunis, and several other fortresses. He was no less successful in defeating a considerable number of troops which Al Kayem had raised and sent against him; after which he closely besieged the caliph himself in the castle where he had shut himself up. The siege continued seven months; during which time the place was reduced to such straits, that the caliph must either have surrendered it or been starved, when death put an end to his anxiety in the 12th year of his reign, and the 334th of the Hegira.

Al Kayem was succeeded by his son Ishmael, who immediately took upon himself the title of Al Mansur, caliph. This caliph thought proper to conceal the death of his father till he had made the preparations necessary for reducing the rebels. In this he was so successful that he obliged Yezid to raise the siege of Mohedia the same year; and in the following gave him two great overthrows, obliging him to shut himself up in the fortress of Kothama, or Cutama, where he besieged him in his turn. Yezid defended the place a long time with desperate bravery; but finding the garrison at last obliged to capitulate, he made shift to escape privately. Al Mansur immediately despatched a body of forces in pursuit of him; who overtook, and brought him back in fetters; but not till after a vigorous defence, in which Yezid received several dangerous wounds, of which he died in prison. After his death, Al Mansur caused his body to be flayed, and his skin stuffed and exposed to public view. Of Al Mansur's exploits in Sicily an account is given under that article. Nothing farther remarkable happened in his African dominions; and he died after a reign of seven years and 16 days, in the 341st of the Hegira.

Al Mansur was succeeded by his son Abul Zammit Al Moez Moad, who assumed the surname of Al Moez Ledini-Ledinniah. He proved a very warlike prince, and maintained caliph. A bloody contest with Abdalrahman, caliph of Andalusia; for a particular account of which see the article Spain. In the 347th year of the Hegira, beginning March 25th, 958, Al Moez sent a powerful army to the western extremity of Africa, under the command of Abul Hasan Jawhar, one of his slaves, whom he had advanced to the dignity of vizir. Jawhar first advanced to a city called Tahart, which he besieged for some time ineffectually. From thence he marched to Fez, and made proper dispositions for attacking that city. But finding that Ahmed Ebn Bebr, the emir of the place, was resolved to defend it to the last, he thought proper to abandon the enterprise. However, having traversed all the tract between that capital and the Atlantic ocean, he again sat down before Fez, and took it by storm the following year. But the greatest achievement performed by this caliph was his conquest of Egypt, and the removal of the caliphate to that country. This conquest, though long projected, he did not attempt till the year of the Hegira 358. Having then made all necessary preparations for it, he committed the care of that expedition to a faithful and experienced general called Giafar, or Jaafar; but in the mean time, this enterprise did not divert Al Moez from the care of his other conquests, particularly those of Sicily and Sardinia: to the last of which he sailed in the year of the Hegira 361, containing a whole year in it; and leaving the care of his African dominions to an experienced officer named Yusef Ben Zeiri. He sailed thence the following year for Tripoli in Barbary, where he had not stood long before he received the agreeable news that his general had made himself master of Alexandria. He lost no time, but immediately embarked for it, leaving the government of his old African dominions in the hands of his trusty servant Yusef above mentioned, and arriving safely at that port was received with all the demonstrations of joy. Here he began to lay the foundations of his new Egyptian dynasty, which was to put a final end to the old one of Kairwan after it had continued about 65 years.

Al Moez preserved all his old dominions of Kairwan or Africa Proper. But the ambition or avarice of the governors whom he appointed suffered them to run quickly to a shameful decay; particularly the new and opulent metropolis of Mohedia, on which immense sums had been lavished, as well as labour and care, so as to render it not only one of the richest and stateliest, but one of the strongest, cities in the world: so that we may truly say, the wealth and splendour of this once famed, though short-lived state, took their final leave of it with the departure of the caliph Al Moez, seeing the whole maritime tract from the Egyptian confines to the straits of Gibraltar hath since become the nest of the most odious piratical crew that can be imagined.

Under the article Algiers we have given a short account of the erection of a new kingdom in Barbary by Texefien; which, however, is there no farther continued than is necessary for the proper understanding the history of that country. A general history might here be given of the whole country of Barbary; but as that would necessarily occasion repetitions under the articles Morocco, Tripoli, Tunis, &c. we must refer to those articles for the historical part, as well as for an account of the climate, inhabitants, &c.

Barbatelli, Bernardino, otherwise called Pochetti, a painter of history, fruit, animals, and flowers, was born at Florence in 1542. He was the disciple of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio at Florence; from whose school he went to Rome, and studied there with such uncommon assiduity, that he was frequently so abstracted, and so absolutely engrossed by the objects of his contemplations, as to forget the necessary refreshments of sleep and food. He was excellent for painting every species of animals, fruit, or flowers; and in those subjects not only imitated, but equalled nature. His touch was free, light and delicate, and the colouring of his objects inexpressibly true; and, beside his merit in this most usual style of painting, the historical subjects which he designed from sacred or profane authors were much esteemed and admired. He died in 1612.