Islamic conquest of Sicily
| Emirate of Sicily | ||||||||||
|
Emiratu di Sicilia Ἐμιράτον τῆς Σικελίας إمارة صقلية Imarat Siqilliyya |
||||||||||
| Province of the Aghlabid Emirate of Ifriqiya (831–909) and of the Fatimid Caliphate (909–948), after 948 autonomous emirate under the Kalbids. After 1044: various emirates in war. | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
 Italy in 1000. The Emirate of Sicily is coloured in light green.
|
||||||||||
| Capital | Balarm (Palermo) | |||||||||
| Languages | Byzantine Greek, Sicilian Arabic, Vulgar Latin | |||||||||
| Religion |
Islam (state) Chalcedonian Christianity |
|||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| History | ||||||||||
| • | Established | 831 | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 1091 | ||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Today part of |
 Italy Malta
|
|||||||||
The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state (emirate) on the island of Sicily which existed from 831 to 1072. Its capital was Palermo.
Muslims, who first invaded in 652, seized control of the entire island from the Byzantine Empire in a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902. An Arab-Byzantine culture developed, producing a multiconfessional and multilingual state. The Emirate was conquered by Christian Norman mercenaries under Roger I of Sicily, who founded the County of Sicily in 1071. The last muslim city in the island , Noto was conquered in 1091.
Sicilian Muslims remained citizens of the multi-ethnic County and subsequent Kingdom of Sicily, until those who had not already converted were expelled in the 1240s. Until the late 12th century, and probably as late as the 1220s, Muslims formed the majority of the island's population. Their influence remains in some elements of the Sicilian language, as well as surnames and locations.
In 535, Emperor Justinian I returned Sicily to the Roman Empire, now ruled from Constantinople exclusively. As the power of what is now known as the Byzantine Empire waned in the West, Sicily was invaded by the Arab forces of Caliph Uthman in the year 652. However, this first invasion was short-lived, and the Arabs left soon after. By the end of the 7th century, with the Umayyad conquest of North Africa, the Arabs had captured the nearby port city of Carthage, allowing them to build shipyards and a permanent base from which to launch more sustained attacks.
...
Wikipedia