In 146 BC, following a bloody assault, the Roman army of Scipio Aemilianus captured Carthage. Utica became the first capital, but the site of Carthage was destined to reassert itself. In 44 BC, Caesar decided to found a Roman colony there.

Carthage, renamed "Africa", became one of the wealthiest provinces of Rome, to the point that it was described as the "granary of Rome".

During military expeditions, the Romans made attempts to penetrate the northern borders of the Sahara. Cornelius Balbus traveled to Fezzan (Southwest Libya) in 20 BC. According to G. Camps: "the proconsul of Africa L. Cornelius Balbus set out to conquer the country of the Garamantes and captured its capital Garama, today Germa. But Roman domination was precarious and a few years later, the Garamantes openly assisted the former Numidian mercenary Tacfarinas, who led a major revolt movement against Rome".

The tracing of the Roman border or Limes, as shown on maps, cuts southernly across the path of the caravan circuit in the South-East Tunisian region, on either side of the "Jebel" separating the Dhahar plateau from the Jeffara plain. This Limes was created with the aim of preserving the "useful country" from nomadic assaults, on the one hand, and to better control the trans-Saharan trade circuit through taxation of caravan traffic transiting towards the tell and steppes of northern "Africa" (present-day Tunisia), on the other. "From water point to water point, these Roman penetrations naturally followed the traditional major transhumance routes..."