African Kingdoms

Tunisia

Temporarily a stronghold of the Vandals in the fifth and sixth centuries, Eastern Roman North Africa was captured by the Islamic empire in 698. Before that it had been home to the Phoenician city of Carthage, which ruled a small empire until it was defeated by Rome in the Punic Wars.

698 - 800

Tunisia is conquered from Byzantium by the Islamic empire.

800

The Islamic Aghlabids become independent from Arabia.

Aghlabid Dynasty
AD 800 - 909

The Aghlabids were originally the faithful Abbasid governors of Tunisia and (they claimed) Algeria, and they only gradually drifted out of central supervision and control. Their greatest independent project was the conquest of Sicily, which they occupied from 827-878, and which remained part of the Islamic empire until the arrival of the Normans.

800 - 812

Ibrahim I

800 - 812

Any claim the Aghlabids hold over Algeria ends with Ibrahim's death.

812 - 817

Adbullah I

817 - 838

Ziyadat Allah I

827

The Aghlabids invade Sicily.

838 - 841

al-Aghlab

841 - 856

Muhammad I

856 - 863

Ahmad

863

Ziyadat Allah II

863 - 875

Muhammad II

875 - 902

Ibrahim II

878

Syracuse in Sicily is captured.

902 - 903

Abdullah II

903 - 909

Ziyadat Allah III

909

The Aghlabids are conquered by the Fatimids, who quickly conquer Morocco, Syria, Algeria, and Arabia.

Fatamid Dynasty
AD 909 - 1171

The Fatamids quickly conquered Morocco in 926.

909 - 934

al Mahdi

909 - 934

The Shiite (Sevener) Caliphate is established in North Africa to rival the Orthodox Abbasid Caliphate.

934 - 946

al Qaim

946 - 952

al Mansur

952 - 975

al Muizz

969

Egypt is occupied. The Caliphate is removed to alQahirah (Cairo).

975 - 996

al Aziz

996 - 1021

al Hakim

1009

On 27 September, Caliph al Hakim orders the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, a Christian holy site.

1021 - 1035

az Zahir

1035 - 1094

al Mustansir

1094 - 1101

al Mustali

1101 - 1130

al Amir

1123

Venice is victorious against the Egyptian fleet at Ashkelon.

1130 - 1149

al Hafiz.

1149

The collateral line assumes the throne and is no longer considered to be Shiite Imams. The Almohad Dynasty of Morocco occupies Tunisia.

1149 - 1154

az Zafir

1154 - 1160

al Faiz

1160 - 1171

al Âdid

Died a natural death.

1169

Damascus is involved in a race with the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem to conquer Fatamid Egypt. On 2 January 1169, the Crusaders retreat from their siege of the walls of Cairo and evacuate the region, allowing Asad ad-Din Shirkuh to take control as vizier (prime minister) under the Fatamids, founding the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt (although not, at this stage, an independent one).

1171 - 1174

The caliph dies, ending Fatamid rule of Egypt and leaving the country in the control of Saladin, under the suzerainty of Mahmud Nur ad-Din of Damascus. The latter's death in 1174 allows Saladin to assert his full control over Egypt, becoming the first Ayyubid sultan.

Hafsid Dynasty
AD 1229 - 1574

After the split of the Hafsids from the Almohads under Abu Zakariya, he organised the administration in Ifriqiya (the Roman province of Africa in modern Maghreb; today's Tunisia, eastern Algeria and western Libya), and built up Tunis as the economic and cultural centre of the empire.

1229 - 1249

Abu Zakariya

1249 - 1277

Muhammad I al-Mustansir

Took the title of caliph.

1270

The Seventh Crusade under St Louis IX of France gets no further than Tunisia, where the king dies.

1277 - 1279

Yahya II al-Watiq

1279 - 1283

Ibrahim I

1283 - 1284

Ibn Abi Umara

1284 - 1295

Abu Hafs Umar I

1318 - 1346

Abu Bakr II

1347 - 1350

The Berber Merinids of Morocco destroy the Hafsids, but their rule in Tunisia is short-lived.

1350 - 1369

Ishaq II

1370 - 1394

Abu al-Abbas Ahmad II

1394 - 1434

Abd al-Aziz II

1435 - 1488

Uthman

1574

During the course of the century the Hafsids increasingly become caught up in the power struggle between Spain and the Corsairs, supported by the Ottoman empire. The latter conquers Tunis in 1574 and topples the Hafsids, who, at times, had accepted Spanish sovereignty over them.

1883

Tunisia is annexed by republican France.

1965

Tunisia gains peaceful independence from France.