Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

The seventh- and early eighth-century expansion of Muslim rule across North Africa’s Maghreb, which ended Byzantine control and incorporated the region into the Islamic world.

Battle of Sufetula: A battle fought in 647 between Byzantine forces and an Arab army in present-day Tunisia. The Arab victory exposed Byzantine North Africa to sustained attacks, though it did not immediately establish permanent rule.
Early Muslim conquests: The seventh-century expansion of the early Islamic state across the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond. The Maghreb campaign was the western extension of this wider expansion.
Islamization: The historical spread of Islam among populations and institutions in a region. Political conquest preceded a gradual, uneven transformation of religious life.
Byzantine reconquest of North Africa: The sixth-century recovery of parts of North Africa by the Byzantine Empire from Vandal rule. It restored Byzantine authority that Muslim armies later dismantled.
Uqba ibn Nafi: An Arab Muslim commander associated with the expansion into the Maghreb and the founding of Kairouan. His campaigns pushed Muslim forces westward and established a lasting military base.
Rashidun Caliphate: The Islamic state ruled by the first four caliphs after Muhammad, from 632 to 661. Its armies began the advance into North Africa before Umayyad rule continued it.
Arabization: The spread of Arabic language and culture among populations that previously used other languages. Arabic gained political and religious importance without immediately replacing Amazigh languages.
Vandal Kingdom: A Germanic kingdom that ruled parts of North Africa from 435 until its defeat by Byzantium in 534. Its earlier collapse had made Byzantine North Africa the political landscape inherited by the conquerors.
Kairouan: A city in central Tunisia founded in the seventh century that became a major Islamic political and religious center. Its inland location gave Muslim forces a base beyond the Byzantine coastal strongholds.
Byzantine Empire: The eastern Roman state that endured from late antiquity until the fifteenth century. Byzantine garrisons and coastal cities were the principal imperial obstacles to Muslim expansion.

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