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Arab conquest of North Africa

Muslim conquest of North Africa
Part of the Muslim conquests and the Arab–Byzantine Wars
Date 647–709
Location North Africa
Result Muslim victory
Territorial
changes
North Africa brought under Muslim rule
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire
Berbers
Black flag.svg Rashidun Caliphate
Umayyad Flag.svg Umayyad Caliphate
Commanders and leaders
Gregory the Patrician 
Dihya
Kusaila
John the Patrician
Black flag.svg Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr
Black flag.svg Abdallah ibn Sa'ad
Umayyad Flag.svg Uqba ibn Nafi 
Umayyad Flag.svg Abu al-Muhajir Dinar 
Umayyad Flag.svg Musa bin Nusayr
Umayyad Flag.svg Hasan ibn al-Nu'man


The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb continued the century of rapid Arab Muslim military expansion following the death of Muhammad in 632 AD and into the Byzantine-controlled territories of Northern Africa. In a series of three stages, the conquest of the Maghreb commenced in 647 and concluded in 709 with the "Byzantine" Roman Empire losing its last remaining strongholds to the then Umayyad Caliphate.

By 642 AD, under Caliph Umar, the Arabs had laid control of Mesopotamia (636), Syria (641), Egypt (642), and had invaded Armenia, all previously territories split between the warring Byzantine and Persian Empires, and were concluding their conquest of the Persian Empire with their defeat of the Persian army at the Battle of Nahāvand. It was at this point that Arab military expeditions into North African regions west of Egypt were first launched, continuing for years and furthering the spread of Islam.

In 644 at Madinah, Caliph Umar (Omar) was succeeded by Uthman ibn Affan (Othman), during whose twelve-year rule Armenia, Cyprus, and all of Iran, would be added to the growing Islamic empire; Afghanistan and North Africa would receive major invasions; and Muslim sea raids would range from Rhodes to the southern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula. The Byzantine navy would be defeated in the eastern Mediterranean.


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