Muslim conquest of the Maghreb
| Arab conquest of the Maghreb | |||||||||
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| Part of the Arab–Byzantine wars (Arab Conquests) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate |
Byzantine Empire Kingdom of Altava Kingdom of the Aurès Kabyle confederations Kingdom of Ouarsenis Kingdom of Hodna Various other Berber tribes and statelets Visigothic Kingdom | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Amr ibn al-As Abdallah ibn Sa'd Zubayr ibn al-Awwam Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Uqba ibn Nafi † Abu al-Muhajir Dinar † Musa ibn Nusayr Hassan ibn al-Nu'man Tariq ibn Ziyad Zuhayr ibn Qays † |
Gregory the Patrician † Dihya † Kusaila † John the Patrician Julian, Count of Ceuta | ||||||||
The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb or Arab conquest of the Maghreb was the invasion and conquest of Byzantine North Africa – then administered as the Exarchate of Africa – by the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates commencing in 647 and concluding in 709, when the Byzantine Empire lost its last remaining strongholds to Caliph Al-Walid I. The North African campaigns form part of Arab-Byzantine wars, as well as part of the century of rapid early Muslim conquests.
Taking nearly 70 years, the conquest of the Maghreb was one of the longest campaigns of the early Muslim conquests. Occurring in fits and starts, the first campaigns began in the 640s soon after the fall of Egypt. In 647, the Byzantine army was defeated at Sufetula in southern Tunisia and a massive tribute was exacted. After a long interim, campaigns restarted in 665, in 670 Uqba ibn Nafi founded Qayrawan, Abu al-Muhajir Dinar began the pivotal rapprochement policy with the Berbers and their large scale recruitment, Numidia was subjugated and in 683 Uqba pushed all the way to the Atlantic, ultimately being defeated upon his return, reversing all Muslim gains. In 694 a new army was sent, taking Carthage and ending the Byzantine presence by 698. Over the next decade Musa ibn Nusayr then conquered modern day Algeria and Morocco, began the mass recruitment and islamification of the Berbers on a scale unseen elsewhere, and set the stage for the 711 conquest of Iberia.