The Yale series on the early middle ages has some good info in the first six or seven lectures[1] My favorite relevant tidbit is that Roman North Africa was th

The Yale series on the early middle ages has some good info in the first six or seven lectures[1] My favorite relevant tidbit is that Roman North Africa was the major supplier of grain to Italy, at least in the 4th and 5th centuries, when disruptions in North Africa could cause famines in the city of Rome. When the Vandals in Spain were looking around for another juicy piece of the Roman empire to settle in, they (supposedly) wrangled themselves an invitation from the Roman governor of North Africa, whom they promptly betrayed and defeated. They consolidated control of North Africa and held it for almost a century until Justinian, ruling from Byzantium, took Africa back for the empire. At that point, North Africa was a much more important region than Italy was, and many historians argue that Justinian's reconquest of Italy from the Goths immediately afterwards was a waste of time. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC8JcWVRFp8&list=PL77A337915A76F660 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC8JcWVRFp8&list=PL77A337915...