Sorghum bicolor - Sorghum is an ancient crop first domesticated in Northeastern Africa about 5,000 years ago. It serves as a food source for domesticated live stock and human beings. Sorghum is an ideal crop for arid regions; the leaves have a waxy cuticle and have the ability to roll up as a means to reduce transpiration; moisture lost through evaporation. The root-to-leaf surface area is large enough to provide a sufficient source of water. It is the world’s 5th most important cereal crop.
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The indigenous people of Northwestern Africa are known as Berbers or Amazighs. Several successful Berber states emerged in Northern Africa. The Zirids were a Sanhadja Berber dynasty governing over an area known as Ifriqiya and existed from 973 to 1148. The dynasty was weakened and then destroyed during the process of Arabization, a period beginning in the middle of the 11th century with the arrival of the Hilalians, an Arab tribe stemming from the Hejaz and Najd regions of Saudi Arabia.
