Ifriqiya

The Roman province Africa Proconsularis (in red), to which Ifriqiya corresponded and from which it derived its name
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Ifriqiya (Arabic: إفريقية, lit. 'Africa' Ifrīqya), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna (Arabic: المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (roughly western Libya).[1][2][3] It included all of what had previously been the Byzantine province of Africa Proconsularis and extended beyond it,[4] but did not include the Mauretanias.[5]

To the south, Ifriqiya was bounded by the semi-arid lands and salt marshes named el-Djerid. The northern boundary fluctuated from as far north as Sicily to the North African coastline, and the western boundary usually reached Béjaïa. Ifriqiya is bordered to the west by the Central Maghreb, with which the borders are fluid depending on the chroniclers and the eras. The capital was briefly Carthage, then Qayrawan (Kairouan), then Mahdia, then Tunis.[6] The Aghlabids, from their base in Kairouan, initiated the invasion of Southern Italy beginning in 827, and established the Emirate of Sicily, which lasted until it was conquered by the Normans, and the short-lived Emirate of Bari.

History

Map of the tripartition of the Maghreb in medieval times, Ifriqiya is designated here under the name of Maghrib al-Adna.

The province of Ifriqiya was created in 703 CE when the Umayyads seized North Africa from the Byzantine Empire. Although Islam existed throughout the province, there was still considerable religious tension and conflict between the invading Arabs and the native Berbers. The beliefs and perceptions of people also shifted from area to area. This contrast was at its greatest between coastal cities and villages. Muslim ownership of Ifriqiya changed hands numerous times in its history with the collapse of the Umayyads paving the way for the Aghlabids, who acted as agents of the Abbasids in Baghdad.

They were then overthrown by the Fatimids in 909, when they lost their capital of Raqqada and the Fatimids went on to control all of Ifriqiya in 969, when they took control of Egypt. The Fatimids slowly lost control over Ifriqiya as their regents, the Zirids, became more and more autonomous until the mid-11th century when they fully separated.

Religious divisions paved the way for the Almohads to take over western Ifriqiya (Maghreb) in 1147 and all of Ifriqiya by 1160. This empire was to last until the early 13th century where it was then replaced by the Hafsids, an influential clan that boasted many of Ifriqiya's governors. The Hafsids in 1229 declared their independence from the Almohads and organized themselves under Abu Zakariya, who built the Hafsid empire around its new capital, Tunis.[7]

Records of Arabic oral traditions imply that the Muslims first migrated to Africa feeling persecuted in their Arab homeland. However, Muslim military incursions into Africa began around seven years after the death of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in 632. This campaign into Africa was led by the General Amr ibn al-As and Muslim control of Africa rapidly spread after the initial seizure of Alexandria.

Islam slowly took root in the East African coast due to cross-cultural links established between Muslim traders and the natives of the African coast. The political situation in Islamic Africa was like any other, filled with a chaotic and constant power struggle between movements and dynasties. A key factor in the success of any hopeful party was securing the wealth to fund a push for dominance. One source of great wealth was the lucrative gold-mining areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The existence of these gold mines made expansion into Africa very worthwhile. The Muslim Empires pushed for influence and control of both the Northern and Southern parts of Africa. By the end of the 11th century, Islam had firmly established itself along the Mediterranean. Like the Europeans, Muslims felt the brutal effects of the Black Death in the 14th century when it arrived in Western Africa (Maghreb) through Europe. Maghreb and Ifriqiya were largely under the rule of the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 18th centuries. Around the end of the 19th century, Islam accounted for 1/3rd of the religious population of Africa.[8]

Notable people

Constantine the African

Constantine the African was a scholar who was born in Carthage and migrated to Sicily in the 11th century. Constantine traveled through places such as Cairo, India and Ethiopia, and his knowledge of numerous languages helped him interpret many academic texts.

His greatest work came when he joined the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, where he translated over 30 books, including works by Isaac the Jew, one of the most accomplished physicians in the Western Caliphate. He translated Muslim books on medicine from Arabic to Latin, opening Europe up to a wave of medical knowledge they had had little access to before. His book The Total Art is based on The Royal Book by Persian physician Ali ibn al Abbas.[9]

Ibn Khaldun

Ibn Khaldun, a historian born in Tunis, was one of the most prolific academics of the Middle Ages. Ibn Khaldun's book Muqadimmah influenced waves of writers in Egypt, Turkey, and France from the 15th through 19th centuries. Ibn Khaldun served in numerous political positions in al Andalus and Al Maghreb. He fell in and out of favor with the many different powers that rose and fell in Ifriqiya. In the latter 14th century Ibn Khaldun took refuge with a tribe in Algeria and began his four-year endeavor to write an introduction to history, Muqadimmah. Volume I laid the groundwork for sociology, while the two volumes that followed explored the world of politics, subsequent books explored many different themes such as urban life, economics and the study of knowledge. He spent his later years as a judge of the Maliki fiqh in Egypt where he took his work very seriously, evaluating each case on its merits and constantly trying to eradicate flaws that he discovered in the judicial system. His somewhat strict approach to Islamic laws made some Egyptians uneasy, so he eventually left his position and traveled through the eastern reaches of the Arab world. In 1400, he parleyed outside Damascus with Timur, who was in awe of his wisdom. He managed to secure safe passage for many of the inhabitants of Damascus but could not save the city or its mosque from being sacked. After this, he went to Cairo and spent the remainder of his years in relative peace and quiet. He died in 1406 and was buried outside Cairo.[10]

List of rulers

Conquest phase

Main article: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

Umayyad Governors of Ifriqiya

Fihrid Emirs of Ifriqiya

Kharijite rulers

Abbasid governors in Kairouan

Appointed governors
Muhallabids
Appointed governors

Aghlabid Emirs of Ifriqiya

[13]

Fatimid Caliphs in Ifriqiya

[14]

Zirid dynasty rulers of Ifriqiya

Zirids and Hammadids after Bedouin invasions

[15]

(invasion of the Banu Hilal (1057) — Kairouan destroyed, Zirids reduced to the main coastal cities, rural areas fragments into petty Bedouin emirates)[16]

(Ifriqiyan coast annexed by Norman Sicily (1143–1160))

Norman kings of the Kingdom of Africa (Ifriqiya)

The "Kingdom of Africa" (Regno d'Africa) pinpointed in red

[17]

See also: Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture

(All of Ifriqiya conquered and annexed by the Almohads (1160))[18]

Hafsid governors of Ifriqiya

[19]

Hafsid caliphs of Ifriqiya

See also

Notes

  1. ^ (in French) Article « Ifriqiya » (Larousse.fr).
  2. ^ Michael Brett (2013). Approaching African History. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-84701-063-6.
  3. ^ Youssef M. Choueiri (2008). A Companion to the History of the Middle East. John Wiley & Sons. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-4051-5204-4.
  4. ^ Ramzi Rouighi (2019). Inventing the Berbers History and Ideology in the Maghrib. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-8122-9618-1.
  5. ^ Valérian, Dominique (2019). "Ifrīqiya". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. Brill. ISBN 9789004161658.
  6. ^ "Arabic Thought and Its Place in History - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
  7. ^ Amara, Allaoua (2016), "Ifriqiya, medieval empires of (Aghlabid to Hafsid)", The Encyclopedia of Empire, American Cancer Society, pp. 1–13, doi:10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe361, ISBN 9781118455074
  8. ^ "The Story of Africa| BBC World Service". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  9. ^ James, Fromherz, Allen (August 2017). The Near West: Medieval North Africa, Latin Europe and the Mediterranean in the Second Axial Age ([Paperback edition] ed.). Edinburgh. ISBN 978-1474426404. OCLC 973383412.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Ibn Khaldūn | Muslim historian". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  11. ^ See chronicles of Ibn Abd al-Hakam and al-Nuwayri for accounts of the conquest.
  12. ^ This follows the tradition of al-Nuwayri, who says Mu'waiya ibn Hudaij was the first emir of Ifriqiya (ruling from Baqra) in 665. Ibn Khaldoun, however, dates the appointment of Mu'waiya ibn Hudaij as early as 651/52, when Abdallah ibn Sa'ad was governor in Egypt.
  13. ^ This is primarily covered in the chronicle of al-Nuwayri.
  14. ^ On the rise of the Fatimids, see Ibn Khaldoun (v.2 App. #2(pp.496–549))
  15. ^ See al-Nuwayri (v.2, App.1) and Ibn Khaldoun, v.2
  16. ^ On the Banu Hillal invasion, see Ibn Khaldoun (v.1).
  17. ^ Abulafia, "The Norman Kingdom of Africa"
  18. ^ For an account of the Almohad and Norman conquests of Ifriqiya, see Ibn al-Athir (p.578ff)
  19. ^ See Ibn Khaldoun (v.2 & 3)

Sources

Chronicles

  • Ibn Abd al-Hakam, English trans. by C.C. Torrey, 1901, "The Mohammedan Conquest of Egypt and North Africa", Historical and Critical Contributions to Biblical Science, pp. 277–330. online; French trans. in De la Salle Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l'Afrique Septentrionale, 1852, v.1, App. 1 (pp. 301–308)
  • al-Nuwayri, French trans. in De La Salle, Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l'Afrique Septentrionale, 1852, v.1, App. 2 (pp. 314–444) (From 647 raid through end of Aghlabids) and 1854, v. 2 App.1 (pp. 483–89) (for Zirids). Italian transl. in M. Amari (1851) Nuova raccolta di scritture e documenti intorno alla dominazione degli arabi in Sicilia, (p.27-163) (Aghlabids only)
  • Ibn Khaldoun, French trans. in De La Salle (1852–56), Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l'Afrique Septentrionale 4 vols, Algiers: Imprimerie du Gouvernment. v.1, v.2 v.3, vol. 4
  • Ibn al-Athir extracts from Kamel al-Tewarikh, French trans. in De La Salle, Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l'Afrique Septentrionale, 1854, v.2, App.#5, (pp. 573ff)

Secondary

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