A glimpse of the Amazigh King Kaya, one of the founding kings of the Amazigh kingdom Numidia
The Amazigh king Gaia is one of the founding kings of the Amazigh kingdom of Numidia, the son of the Amazigh king Zelalsan ibn Elimas, and also the father of the Amazigh king Masinissa , who is one of the greatest kings in the history of North Africa who worked to unify the Numidian kingdom.
Gaya died around 207 BC.
Statue of the Amazigh king Gaia in Algeria
King Vaya fought fierce battles against the Carthaginians, who expanded in the lands of his ancestors outside the city of Carthage, as well as against his cousins, the Masacillin, led by King Sivaks.
He managed to conquer the city of Hippo Regius (Annaba) and liberate it from the Carthaginian influence.
He would thus accumulate victory after victory and he would end up taking control of a kingdom aligned with Kolo (Skikda) up to a few kilometers west of the Carthaginian frontier (Kromiri, the present-day frontier between Tunisia and Algeria).
Having approached the Carthaginians engaged in fighting the Roman Empire and risking unleashing their wrath against it, he agreed to a peace treaty with Carthage.
To ensure this, he sent his eldest son and heir Masinissa as ambassador and student of knowledge to Carthage, while the Carthaginians sent him the son of a Carthaginian chieftain.
He would also help the Carthaginians to some extent in their defense against the Romans, as his son Masinissa led a Numidian army to Spain to fight the Romans before turning against them after the Carthaginians betrayed him after the death of Vaia.
Gaia Numidia ruled until his death
Having secured peace on its eastern frontiers, Gaya would devote the rest of his days to fighting the Masisil under King Syphax whose kingdom extended from the Masil frontiers in Kolo to present-day Moulouya (present-day Algeria-Moroccan border).
Gaya tried to achieve the dream of the Numid kings, which is to unite the Numidians, but he did not succeed in that because of his death. Other than that dream was realized by Syphax, then Masinissa, then Moxen, Jugurtha, Yuba I, and then the Zirids, the Almohads and the Almoravids later. Gaya died naturally in 206 BC, succeeded by his son Uzilas and then by his son a nightmare.
Then there was a coup d'état supported by the Carthaginians and the younger Lacomazis of Massinissa was appointed, which is against the customary law of the Amazighs.
The purpose of this coup, supported by Carthage and Syphax, was to expel Masinissa, whose ambition and statesmanship appeared during his wars against the Romans.
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