“Eamonn is an amiable and well informed guide with a tremendous eye for a good anecdote ... vital background reading for anyone who wants to understand the deep roots of the Arab Spring.� - David Loyn, BBC Foreign correspondent
From Cairo to Casablanca: The Seventh Century Arab Invasions of North Africa
Outline Out of Arabia: The Armies of Islam invade Egypt
Westward ho! Battling across the continent
Conquest completed, continuing consequences
Asia Europe
Rome
Arabia Africa
Romano-Byzantine Empire under Constantine the Great, 336AD
Rome
Byzantium
Alexandria
By 395, the Roman Empire split permanently
In 571, there were two superpowers in the Greater Middle East: the Byzantine-Roman Empire AND the Persian-Sassanian Empire
In that year, 571, war broke out between these two powers.
The war raged for 70 years.
In 628 peace was declared, but the Byzantines and Sassanians were - exhausted - impoverished - disorganised
Byzantine and Sassanid Empires, 635 AD
Why 635 AD?
The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, from the city of Mecca in western Arabia, was born in 570, and died in 632.
By the time of his death, Muhammad had received many converts to Islam and conquered almost the entire Arabian Peninsula
By 635 Islam was ready to break out of its Arabian heartland
Annaba
ALGIERS Tangier
A t l an t i c Casablanca
Ocean
RABAT
TUNISIA
Biskra
Tlemcen
THE SAHARA
TUNIS
(Hippo)
Mediterranean Sea
Gafsa
Atlas Mountains
Isle of Djerba
Chott el-Djerid
Matmata
MOROCCO
Essaouira
Ouargla
Marrakech
(Mogador)
Sijilmasa G
a Dra disputed border
Gr
Timimoun
R.
Tobruk El Alamein
Sirte an
d
O Erg
riental
Ghadames
Jaghbub
Tindouf
Sabha
In Salah
r
Djanet
ile
je
Ghat F e z z a n
Kufra
M A U R I TA N I A Chinguetti
Bardai
Tessalit
Adrar Mts.
Air Mts.
NOUAKCHOTT
St Louis
Timbuktu
DAKAR
Dongola
Gobero
Ennedi Mts.
BAMAKO
N
. rR ige
KHARTOUM
SUDAN Lake Chad
NIAMEY
Red Sea
Darfur
NIGER
Mopti
SENEGAL
El-Fasher
OUAGADOUGOU N’DJAMENA
Kano
BURKINA FASO
(Fort Lamy)
NIGERIA Nig
er
R.
Bl
ABUJA W hi te Ni
Lagos
le
0
km
500
0
miles
300
disputed border
Emi Koussi
CHAD
Agadez
R.
Wadi Halfa
Bilma
Gao
ne g
al
Zouar
Arlit Wualata
Tibesti Mts.
Djado
Arawan
Se
Aswan
Gilf Kebir
Tumu
Tamanrasset
MALI
Ouadane
Atar
Assekrem
Taoudeni
Kharga
EGYPT
Ahaggar Mts.
Dajla
Luxor
Dakhla
Sea
WESTERN SAHARA
li N ’Aj
White Desert
N
ALGERIA
LIBYA
Murzuq
nd
Tassi
Bahariya
Sa
Smara
CAIRO Fayoum
Siwa
G
Laayoune
Alexandria
Qattara Depression
at
Tarfaya
O
Benghazi
tal
re
Cape Juby
Erg rand
cc
n ide
TRIPOLI
Tataouine
ue
Ni
le
Tunisia Morocco Western Sahara Mauritania
Libya
Algeria
Mali
Egypt
Niger
Chad
Sudan South Sudan
Out of Arabia: The Armies of Islam invade Egypt
Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, scourge of Sassanians and Egyptians alike
Gold coin showing Heraclius and his son
Assassination of Persian leader Chosroes (or Khosrau) II, the so-called Ever Victorious, in 628
635 AD, three years after the death of Muhammad
641 - Fustat founded Egypt’s new capital
Fustat The name Fustat comes from an Arabic word for ‘tent’
Replaces Alexandria as Egypt’s capital, after 800 years
Still the capital of Egypt, now renamed Cairo, 1370 years later
Islamic Cairo
Westward ho! Battling across the continent
The whole of North Africa was conquered by the Arabs in just 70 years
How did these illiterate desert nomads do what they did? Limited opposition; Superior organisation; Four legs are better than two.
A camel (just in case anyone didn’t know!)
“The sands of Barca might be impervious to a Roman legion; but the Arabs were attended by their faithful camels; and the natives of the desert beheld without terror the familiar aspect of the soil and the climate.”
Edward Gibbon “The Decline and Fa# of the Roman Empire”
Barca
Camel or dromedary? One hump or two?
“The camel has a single hump; The dromedary, two; Or else the other way around. I’m never sure. Are you?” Ogden Nash, “The Camel”
670 - Kairouan founded
“The conquest of Ifriqiya is impossible; scarcely has one Berber tribe been exterminated than another takes its place.�
An Arab governor of I$iqiya reporting to the Caliph
Al-Kahina (died c.700), the Prophetess, greatest leader of Berber resistance to the Arab invasion
“Oh God, if the sea had not prevented me, I would have galloped on forever like Alexander the Great, upholding your faith and fighting the unbelievers!”
Arab general Uqba bin Nafi, “Conqueror of Africa,” upon riding into the Atlantic
Conquest complete (710): continuing consequences
Annaba
ALGIERS Tangier
A t l an t i c Casablanca
Ocean
RABAT
TUNISIA
Biskra
Tlemcen
THE SAHARA
TUNIS
(Hippo)
Mediterranean Sea
Gafsa
Atlas Mountains
Isle of Djerba
Chott el-Djerid
Matmata
MOROCCO
Essaouira
Ouargla
Marrakech
(Mogador)
Sijilmasa G
a Dra disputed border
Gr
Timimoun
R.
Tobruk El Alamein
Sirte an
d
O Erg
riental
Ghadames
Jaghbub
Tindouf
Sabha
In Salah
r
Djanet
ile
je
Ghat F e z z a n
Kufra
M A U R I TA N I A Chinguetti
Bardai
Tessalit
Adrar Mts.
Air Mts.
NOUAKCHOTT
St Louis
Timbuktu
DAKAR
Dongola
Gobero
Ennedi Mts.
BAMAKO
N
. rR ige
KHARTOUM
SUDAN Lake Chad
NIAMEY
Red Sea
Darfur
NIGER
Mopti
SENEGAL
El-Fasher
OUAGADOUGOU N’DJAMENA
Kano
BURKINA FASO
(Fort Lamy)
NIGERIA Nig
er
R.
Bl
ABUJA W hi te Ni
Lagos
le
0
km
500
0
miles
300
disputed border
Emi Koussi
CHAD
Agadez
R.
Wadi Halfa
Bilma
Gao
ne g
al
Zouar
Arlit Wualata
Tibesti Mts.
Djado
Arawan
Se
Aswan
Gilf Kebir
Tumu
Tamanrasset
MALI
Ouadane
Atar
Assekrem
Taoudeni
Kharga
EGYPT
Ahaggar Mts.
Dajla
Luxor
Dakhla
Sea
WESTERN SAHARA
li N ’Aj
White Desert
N
ALGERIA
LIBYA
Murzuq
nd
Tassi
Bahariya
Sa
Smara
CAIRO Fayoum
Siwa
G
Laayoune
Alexandria
Qattara Depression
at
Tarfaya
O
Benghazi
tal
re
Cape Juby
Erg rand
cc
n ide
TRIPOLI
Tataouine
ue
Ni
le
Three new Arab capitals for three Arab provinces: Fustat in Misr Kairouan in Ifriqiya and Fes in al-Maghreb
Cairo or al-Medina al-Qahira “The City Victorious”
Cairo, the view from Saladin’s Citadel
Kairouan: in Persian “a military camp”
Kairouan: in English “a caravan”
The Great Mosque in Kairouan a global centre of Arabic learning and law
Courtyard of the Great Mosque, also known as the Mosque of Uqba
The old walls around Fes
Bab Boujloud, Fes
The world’s largest contiguous car-free urban area
The Strait of Gibraltar Less than nine miles between Europe and the Arab Armies
Strait of Gibraltar mapped by the great Ottoman cartographer Piri Reis
Gibraltar, named after the Arab general who invaded Europe: Gebel al-Tariq or Tariq’s Mountain
Conclusion: How important was all this?
After the introduction of the camel to North Africa, the Arab invasion was the most important moment ever in the region’s history
Thank you, or as we say in Arabic,
ﺷﻜﺮﺍ (shukran!)
“A well-written book that armchair and desert travellers will appreciate. Explorers should certainly have a copy in their libraries.� - Colonel John Blashford-Snell, OBE