Banu Hilal invasion of North Africa
1052
The Fatimid caliphate unleashed the warlike Arab Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym tribes from Upper Egypt on the rebellious Zirid territories in North Africa. The resulting destruction wrecked Kairouan's agriculture for generations and fundamentally Arabized the rural population of what is now Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. The great fourteenth-century historian Ibn Khaldun compared the invasion to a swarm of locusts, devouring everything in its path.
In context
Also in 1052 (3 other events on record)
- Edward the Confessor refounds Westminster Abbey · Europe · Culture
- Rajadhiraja Chola Falls at the Battle of Koppam · South Asia · War
- Godwin returns and reclaims power · Europe · Politics
Before and after in Africa
Before and after in War
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.