“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

Romano-Byzantine Empire under Constantine the Great, 336AD

Rome

Arabia

Africa

Europe

Asia

By 395, the Roman Empire split permanently

Rome Byzantium

Alexandria

In 571, there were two superpowers inthe 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

A L G E R I A

M A L I

N I G E R

N I G E R I A

S E N E G A L

M A U R I TA N I A

C H A D

S U D A N

L I B YA

E G Y P T

M O R O C C O

CAIRO

Luxor

Alexandria

TRIPOLI

TUNISALGIERS

RABAT

NOUAKCHOTT

DAKAR

BAMAKO

NIAMEY

N’DJAMENA(Fort Lamy)

KHARTOUM

Red Sea

Mediterranean SeaAtlantic

Ocean

Gao

Tessalit

Ghadames

Lake Chad

Niger

R.

Senegal R.

Niger R.

Nile

AtlasMountains

Tamanrasset

DjanetGhat

Murzuq

Ouargla

Tindouf

Tlemcen

Smara

Taoudeni

Wualata

St Louis

Kufra

Siwa

Djado

Bilma

Mopti

Agadez

Kano

El-Fasher

Aswan

Assekrem

In Salah

Timimoun

Tumu

Tangier

Casablanca

Essaouira(Mogador) Marrakech Benghazi

Jaghbub

Kharga

Dakhla

Timbuktu

Lagos

Tarfaya

Sijilmasa

Wadi Halfa

Tobruk

GilfKebir

QattaraDepression

D a r f u r

Blue Nile

White

Nile

Bardai

Biskra

Annaba(Hippo)

Sabha

Gobero

Laayoune

Dajla

Chottel-Djerid

G

r eat S

an

d S

ea

Fayoum

Bahariya

F e z z a n

TibestiMts. Emi

Koussi

EnnediMts.

Air Mts.AdrarMts.Arawan

Ahaggar Mts.

Grand Erg Occidenta

l

Grand Erg Oriental

Tassili N’Ajjer

CapeJuby

Draa R.

White Desert

Tataouine

Gafsa

Matmata

Isle of Djerba

THE SAHARA

WESTERNSAHARA

AtarChinguetti

Ouadane

BURKINA FASO

OUAGADOUGOU

ABUJA

Zouar

Arlit

Dongola

Sirte

disputedborder

disputed border

El Alamein

TUNISIA

km

miles

0 500

0 300

LibyaEgypt

Tunisia

AlgeriaMorocco

SudanChadNigerMaliMauritania

Western Sahara

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 foundedEgypt’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 wasconquered 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$iqiyareporting 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

A L G E R I A

M A L I

N I G E R

N I G E R I A

S E N E G A L

M A U R I TA N I A

C H A D

S U D A N

L I B YA

E G Y P T

M O R O C C O

CAIRO

Luxor

Alexandria

TRIPOLI

TUNISALGIERS

RABAT

NOUAKCHOTT

DAKAR

BAMAKO

NIAMEY

N’DJAMENA(Fort Lamy)

KHARTOUM

Red Sea

Mediterranean SeaAtlantic

Ocean

Gao

Tessalit

Ghadames

Lake Chad

Niger

R.

Senegal R.

Niger R.

Nile

AtlasMountains

Tamanrasset

DjanetGhat

Murzuq

Ouargla

Tindouf

Tlemcen

Smara

Taoudeni

Wualata

St Louis

Kufra

Siwa

Djado

Bilma

Mopti

Agadez

Kano

El-Fasher

Aswan

Assekrem

In Salah

Timimoun

Tumu

Tangier

Casablanca

Essaouira(Mogador) Marrakech Benghazi

Jaghbub

Kharga

Dakhla

Timbuktu

Lagos

Tarfaya

Sijilmasa

Wadi Halfa

Tobruk

GilfKebir

QattaraDepression

D a r f u r

Blue Nile

White

Nile

Bardai

Biskra

Annaba(Hippo)

Sabha

Gobero

Laayoune

Dajla

Chottel-Djerid

G

r eat S

an

d S

ea

Fayoum

Bahariya

F e z z a n

TibestiMts. Emi

Koussi

EnnediMts.

Air Mts.AdrarMts.Arawan

Ahaggar Mts.

Grand Erg Occidenta

l

Grand Erg Oriental

Tassili N’Ajjer

CapeJuby

Draa R.

White Desert

Tataouine

Gafsa

Matmata

Isle of Djerba

THE SAHARA

WESTERNSAHARA

AtarChinguetti

Ouadane

BURKINA FASO

OUAGADOUGOU

ABUJA

Zouar

Arlit

Dongola

Sirte

disputedborder

disputed border

El Alamein

TUNISIA

km

miles

0 500

0 300

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 Kairouana 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 GibraltarLess 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