Editing Tunisia (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
{{main|History of medieval Tunisia}}
[[File:Statue de Okba ibn Nafi al Fihri en Algérie.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Uqba ibn Nafi]] led the [[Umayyad]] conquest of Tunisia in the late 7th century.]]
Sometime between the second half of the 7th century and the early part of the 8th century, [[Arab]] [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|Muslim conquest occurred in the region]]. They founded the first Islamic city in Northwest Africa, [[Kairouan]]. It was there in 670 AD that the [[Mosque of Uqba]], or the Great Mosque of Kairouan, was constructed.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Davidson |first1=Linda Kay |last2=Gitlitz |first2=David Martin |title=Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVYkrNhPMQkC&pg=PA302|date=2002|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-004-8|page=302}}</ref> This mosque is the oldest and most prestigious sanctuary in the Muslim West with the oldest standing [[minaret]] in the world;<ref>{{cite book|last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edmund |title=Historic Cities of the Islamic World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UB4uSVt3ulUC&pg=PA264|year=2007|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-15388-2|page=264}}</ref> it is also considered a masterpiece of Islamic art and architecture.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kairouan.org/en/culture/unesco.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422091651/http://www.kairouan.org/en/culture/unesco.htm |archive-date=22 April 2012 |title=Kairouan inscription as World Heritage |publisher=Kairouan.org |access-date=2 May 2010 }}</ref> The [[Arab migration to the Maghreb]] began during this time.

The region in its entirety was taken in 695, retaken by the Byzantine Eastern Romans in 697, but lost permanently in 698. The transition from a Latin-speaking Christian Berber society to a Muslim and mostly Arabic-speaking society took over 400 years (the equivalent process in Egypt and the Fertile Crescent took 600 years) and resulted in the final disappearance of Christianity and Latin in the 12th or 13th century. The majority of the population were not Muslim until quite late in the 9th century; a vast majority were during the 10th. Also, some Tunisian Christians emigrated; some richer members of society did so after the conquest in 698 and others were welcomed by Norman rulers to Sicily or Italy in the 11th and 12th centuries – the logical destination because of the 1200 year close connection between the two regions.<ref>Jonathan Conant (2012). ''Staying Roman, Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439–700''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 358–378. {{ISBN|978-1-107-53072-0}}</ref>

The Arab governors of Tunis founded the [[Aghlabids|Aghlabid dynasty]], which ruled Tunisia, [[Tripolitania]] and eastern Algeria from 800 to 909.<ref name="lapidus"/> Tunisia flourished under Arab rule when extensive systems were constructed to supply towns with water for household use and irrigation that promoted agriculture (especially olive production).<ref name="lapidus">{{cite book|last=Lapidus|first=Ira M.|title=A History of Islamic Societies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3mVUEzm8xMC&pg=302|date= 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-77933-3|pages=302–303}}</ref><ref name="tunisia-lp">{{cite book | last1 = Ham | first1 = Anthony | last2 = Hole | first2 = Abigail | last3 = Willett | first3 = David. | title = Tunisia | publisher = [[Lonely Planet]] | year = 2004 | edition = 3 | page = 65 | isbn = 978-1-74104-189-7}}</ref> This prosperity permitted luxurious court life and was marked by the construction of new palace cities such as al-Abbasiya (809) and Raq Adda (877).<ref name="lapidus"/>
[[File:Panorama of the courtyard of the Great Mosque of Kairouan.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.25|Domes of the [[Mosque of Uqba|Great Mosque of Kairouan]]. Founded in 670, it dates in its present form largely from the Aghlabid period (9th century). It is the oldest mosque in the [[Maghreb]].]]
After conquering [[Cairo]], the [[Fatimids]] abandoned Tunisia and parts of Eastern Algeria to the local [[Zirids]] (972–1148).<ref name="stearns">{{cite book | last1 = Stearns | first1 = Peter N. | last2 = Leonard Langer | first2 = William | title = The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged | publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] | year = 2001 | edition = 6 | pages = 129–131 | isbn = 978-0-395-65237-4}}</ref> Zirid Tunisia flourished in many areas: agriculture, industry, trade, and religious and secular learning.<ref name="locfatamids">{{cite book|last=Houtsma |first=M. Th. |title=E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wpM3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA852|year=1987|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-08265-6|page=852}}</ref> Management by the later Zirid [[emirs]] was neglectful though, and political instability was connected to the decline of Tunisian trade and agriculture.<ref name="lapidus"/><ref name="islamic-dynasties">{{cite book | last = Singh | first = Nagendra Kr | title = International encyclopaedia of islamic dynasties | volume = 4: A Continuing Series | publisher = Anmol | year = 2000 | pages = 105–112 | isbn = 978-81-261-0403-1}}</ref><ref name="history-of-africa">{{cite book | title = General history of Africa | publisher = James Currey Publishers | pages = 171–173 | isbn = 978-0-85255-093-9 |last1=Ki-Zerbo |first1=J. |last2=Mokhtar |first2=G. |last3=Boahen |first3=A. Adu |last4=Hrbek |first4=I. | year = 1992 }}</ref>

The depredation of the Tunisian campaigns by the [[Banu Hilal]], a warlike Arab tribe encouraged by the Fatimids of Egypt to seize Northwest Africa, sent the region's rural and urban economic life into further decline.<ref name="stearns"/> Consequently, the region underwent rapid urbanisation as famines depopulated the countryside and industry shifted from agriculture to manufactures.<ref>Abulafia, ''The Norman Kingdom of Africa'', 27.</ref> The Arab historian [[Ibn Khaldun]] wrote that the lands ravaged by Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.<ref name="islamic-dynasties"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/Newsletters/GINL9603/PopCrises3.htm |title=Populations Crises and Population Cycles, Claire Russell and W.M.S. Russell |publisher=Galtoninstitute.org.uk |access-date=19 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527170154/http://www.galtoninstitute.org.uk/Newsletters/GINL9603/PopCrises3.htm |archive-date=27 May 2013 }}</ref>

The main Tunisian cities were conquered by the [[Normans]] of [[Sicily]] under the [[Kingdom of Africa]] in the 12th century, but following [[Almohad conquest of Ifriqiya|the conquest of Tunisia]] in 1159–1160 by the [[Almohads]] the Normans were evacuated to Sicily. Communities of Tunisian Christians would still exist in [[Nefzaoua]] up to the 14th century.<ref name="hrbek">{{cite book |last1=Hrbek |first1=Ivan |title=Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century |date=1992 |publisher=UNESCO. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa. J. Currey |isbn=0-85255-093-6 |page=34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qDFcD0BuekQC&pg=PA34}}</ref> The Almohads initially ruled over Tunisia through a governor, usually a near relative of the Caliph. Despite the prestige of the new masters, the country was still unruly, with continuous rioting and fighting between the townsfolk and wandering Arabs and Turks, the latter being subjects of the Muslim Armenian adventurer Karakush. Also, Tunisia was occupied by [[Ayyubids]] between 1182 and 1183 and again between 1184 and 1187.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.3989/alqantara.2013.010|title=Saladin and the Ayyubid Campaigns in the Maghrib|journal=Al-Qanṭara|volume=34|issue=2|pages=267–295|year=2013|last1=Baadj|first1=Amar|doi-access= | issn = 0211-3589}}</ref>

The greatest threat to Almohad rule in Tunisia was the [[Banu Ghaniya]], relatives of the [[Almoravids]], who from their base in [[Mallorca]] tried to restore Almoravid rule over the Maghreb. Around 1200 they succeeded in extending their rule over the whole of Tunisia until they were crushed by Almohad troops in 1207. After this success, the Almohads installed Walid Abu Hafs as the governor of Tunisia. Tunisia remained part of the Almohad state, until 1230 when the son of Abu Hafs declared himself independent.

During the reign of the [[Hafsid dynasty]] from their capital Tunis, fruitful commercial relationships were established with several Christian Mediterranean states.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bosworth |first= Clifford Edmund |title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mKpz_2CkoWEC&pg=PA46 |year=2004 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-2137-8|page=46}}</ref> In the late 16th century the coast became a [[pirate]] stronghold.