"Byzantine Africa" redirects here. For Byzantine Egypt, see Later Roman Egypt (4th–7th centuries).
Byzantine rule in North Africa spanned around 175 years. It began in the years 533/534 with the reconquest of territory formerly belonging to the Western Roman Empire by the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire under Justinian I and ended during the reign of Justinian II with the conquest of Carthage (698) and the last Byzantine outposts, especially Septem (708/711), in the course of Islamic expansion.[1]
The region's administrative structure was initially in line with the typical late Roman administrative structures that had been existing for the past 300 years. Civil powers were thus in the hands of a Praetorian prefect, the head of the supreme civil administrative authority in the Late Roman Empire. The military powers, however, were incumbent on a Magister militum per Africam. These powers were merged into single office from 591 at the latest, and East Roman North Africa became the heartland of one of two exarchates, with the founding of which the East Roman Emperor Maurice (582–602) was able to counteract the consequences of imperial overstretch through bundling and decentralization. No further change in these administrative structures took place until the end of Byzantine rule.
The reconquest of this region was of the greatest strategic and economic significance and the most enduring of all conquests in the West. While the Lombard kingdom was established in parts of East Roman Italy after 568 and East Roman rule in southern Spain came to an end amidst the final and most desperate Roman-Persian war, the areas reconquered in the Maghreb remained entirely in the East Roman hands until the Islamic expansion. This made the region the most important cornerstone of Eastern Roman/Byzantine power in the West.
Part of a series on the
History of Tunisia
Prehistoric
Prehistory
Ancient
Carthage
12th C.–146 BC
1st Roman (Province)
146 BC–435
Vandal
435–534
2nd Roman (Byzantine) / Byzantine North Africa
534–698
Prefecture
534–590
Exarchate
590–698
Early Islamic
Umayyad
698–750
Abbasid
750–800
Aghlabid
800–909
Fatimid
909–973
Medieval
Zirid
973–1148
Norman
1148–1160
Almohad
1160–1229
Hafsid
1229–1574
Early modern
Ottoman
1574–1705
Husainid
1705–1881
Modern
French Tunisia
1881–1956
Kingdom of Tunisia
1956–1957
Bourguiba rule
1957–1987
Ben Ali coup
1987
Ben Ali rule
1987–2011
Tunisian Revolution
2011
Parliamentary system
2011–present
Africa portal • History portal
v
t
e
Part of a series on the
History of Algeria
Prehistory
Aterian Culture (80,000 BC)
Iberomaurusian Culture (20,000 BC)
Capsian culture (10,000 BC)
Rock art in Oran, Djelfa, Tassili and Ahaggar
Roknia
Madghacen
Jedars
Related: Archeology of Algeria
Antiquity
Phoenicia
Ancient Carthage
Numidia (202–46 BC)
Punic Wars (264–146 BC)
Jugurthine War (111–106 BC)
Roman Mauretania and Africa (146 BC–590 AD)
Vandal Kingdom (435–534 AD)
Mauro-Roman Kingdom (477–578 AD)
Kingdom of the Aurès (484–703 AD)
Kingdom of Altava (578–708 AD)
Prefecture of Africa (534–585 AD)
Exarchate of Africa (585–698 AD)
Early African Church
Partenia
Fossatum Africae
Gemellae
Middle Ages
Arab conquest (647–709 AD)
Umayyad Caliphate (703–744 AD)
Ifranids (742–1066 AD)
Muhallabids (771–793 AD)
Rustamids (776–909 AD)
Idrisids (789–828 AD)
Aghlabids (800–909 AD)
Fatimids (909–1171 AD)
Maghrawas (970–1068 AD)
Zirids (973–1152 AD)
Hammadids (1014–1152 AD)
Almoravids (1040–1147 AD)
Almohads (1121–1269 AD)
Marinids (1215–1465 AD)
Hafsids (1229–1574 AD)
Ziyyanids (1235–1556 AD)
Modern times
Regency of Algiers (16th–19th centuries)
Ottoman governors
Emirate of Beni Abbas
Emirate of Kuku
Barbary pirates
Barbary Slave Trade
First Barbary War
Second Barbary War
French Algeria (19th–20th centuries)
French conquest
French governors
Resistance
Pacification
Emir Abdelkader
Fatma N'Soumer
Mokrani Revolt
Cheikh Bouamama
Attack on Mers-el-Kébir
Operation Torch
Sétif and Guelma massacre
Algerian War (1954–1962)
Nationalism
RCUA
FLN
GPRA
1958 crisis
1961 putsch
Évian Accords
Independence referendum
Pied-Noir
Harkis
Oujda Group
Contemporary era
1960s–80s
FFS rebellion
1965 coup d'état
Berber Spring
1988 riots
1990s–2000s
Algerian Civil War
Timeline
Massacres
FIS
GIA
High Council of State
Civil Concord
Black Spring
Peace Charter
Insurgency in the Maghreb
2010s to present
Arab Spring
Hirak Movement
COVID-19 pandemic
Related topics
Outline of Algeria
Military history of Algeria (List of wars involving Algeria)
Postal history of Algeria (List of people on stamps of Algeria)
History of North Africa
v
t
e
^The time of Arab conquest of the last Byzantine outpost is uncertain, compare only Walter Kaegi: The Islamic conquest and the defense of Byzantine Africa. In: Susan T. Stevens, Jonathan P. Conant (editor.): North Africa under Byzantium and Early Islam. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection, Washington (D. C.) 2016, ISBN 978-0-88402-408-8, p. 65–86, escpecially S. 70–71, who assumes 711; but also Susan Raven: Rome in Africa. 3. Auflage. Routledge, London u. a. 1993, ISBN 0-415-08150-5, S. 229, who puts the conquest '10 years after the fall of Carthage and emphasises that only Arab and Visigothic sources are available for this subject. This concurs with Walter E. Kaegi: Muslim Expansion and Byzantine Collapse in North Africa. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010, ISBN 978-1-107-63680-4, page 155, who states that Ceuta is referred to in Byzantine sources for the last time in 641.
and 22 Related for: Byzantine North Africa information
Byzantine rule in NorthAfrica spanned around 175 years. It began in the years 533/534 with the reconquest of territory formerly belonging to the Western...
The Exarchate of Africa was a division of the Byzantine Empire around Carthage that encompassed its possessions on the Western Mediterranean. Ruled by...
The history of NorthAfrica during the period of classical antiquity (c. 8th century BCE – 5th century CE) can be divided roughly into the history of Egypt...
of Italy the early-Byzantine Praetorian prefecture of Africa the later Byzantine Exarchate of AfricaByzantineNorthAfricaAfrica (disambiguation) Roman...
Northern Africa. 534–548: Moorish Wars in Africa. 535–554: Gothic War in Dalmatia and Italy. 541–562: Lazic War with Sassanid Persia. 552–555: Byzantine intervention...
and concluded in 709, when the Byzantine Empire lost its last remaining strongholds to Caliph Al-Walid I. The NorthAfrican campaigns were part of the century...
The Praetorian Prefecture of Africa (Latin: praefectura praetorio Africae) was an administrative division of the Byzantine Empire in the Maghreb. With...
the capital of ByzantineNorthAfrica, first organised as the praetorian prefecture of Africa, which later became the Exarchate of Africa during the emperor...
NorthAfrica (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope...
thereafter fell to the Romans again, this time the Byzantines. The whole of Roman/ByzantineNorthAfrica eventually fell to the Arabs in the 7th century...
surrendered to the Byzantines, ending the Kingdom of the Vandals and paving the way for ByzantineNorthAfrica. The Vandals' territory in NorthAfrica (which is...
The Vandalic War was a conflict fought in NorthAfrica between the forces of the Byzantine Empire and the Vandalic Kingdom of Carthage in 533–534. It was...
the wars of the Byzantine Empire against the Berber tribes in Africa. Antalas and his tribe, the Frexes initially served the Byzantines as allies, but...
The Byzantine Empire underwent a golden age under the Justinian dynasty, beginning in 518 AD with the accession of Justin I. Under the Justinian dynasty...
conquered by the Muslims, this province was reorganised as the Byzantine exarchate of Africa. All the Arabic sources can be found in Michele Amari, Biblioteca...
conquest of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire's Exarchatus Africae, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lies to the west...
during the Moorish wars, the Byzantine general Solomon retook and rebuilt the city, incorporating it into ByzantineNorthAfrica. The reconquest revived some...
Roman (Byzantine) soldier and leader of a military rebellion in the Praetorian prefecture of Africa in the 530s. Stotzas attempted to establish Africa as...
Ἰωάννης Τρωγλίτης) was a 6th-century Byzantine general. He participated in the Vandalic War and served in NorthAfrica as a regional military governor during...
western and southern borders. Amr accordingly sent expeditions to ByzantineNorthAfrica and Makuria's Nubia. In 642, Amr ibn al-As sent a column of 20,000...
Roman province in the central part of Roman NorthAfrica, which is now roughly Tunisia, split off from Africa Proconsularis. At the end of the 3rd century...