Roman-Moorish kingdoms existed in much of present-day Morocco and Algeria between the end of effective Roman rule in the area and the Byzantine and Arab invasions of Africa. Direct Roman rule became confined to a few coastal cities (such as Ceuta in Mauretania Tingitana and Cherchell in Mauretania Caesariensis) from the late 3rd century in Mauretania Tingitana and after the Vandal invasion of 429 in Mauretania Caesariensis. Historical sources about inland areas are sparse, but these were apparently controlled by local Berber rulers who, however, maintained a degree of Roman culture, including the local cities, and usually nominally acknowledged the suzerainity of the Roman Emperors. In an inscription from Altava in western Algeria, one of these rulers, Masuna, described himself as rex gentium Maurorum et Romanorum (king of the Roman and Moorish peoples). Altava was later the capital of another ruler, Garmul or Garmules, who resisted Byzantine rule in Africa but was finally defeated in 578.
The area was later reunited with the Byzantine Empire as a result of of c. 533 AD; it was conquered by the Arabs at the end of the next century.
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