Battle of Meskiana

Last updated
Battle of Meskiana
Part of the Muslim conquest of North Africa
Date698
Location
Meskiana river
Result Berber victory
Territorial
changes
Dihya becomes the uncontested ruler of the entire Maghreb [1] [2] [3] [4]
Belligerents
Umayyad Caliphate Berber tribes
Commanders and leaders
Hasan ibn al-Nu'man Dihya
Strength
Unknown Unknown
Casualties and losses
Heavy losses
A number of Arab soldiers captured
Unknown

The Battle of Meskiana occurred in North Africa in 698 between the Umayyad forces of Hassan ibn al-Nu'man and Queen Dihya.

According to the historian Ibn Idhari after destroying Carthage, Hassan ibn al-Nu'man inquired about the most powerful chief in all of Africa. [1] He was told that it was Queen Dihya whom all the Berbers obeyed and that if he defeated her he would succeed in submitting the entire Maghreb. [1]

In 698, Hassan ibn al-Nu'man attempted to seize the Aurès but he was defeated by Dihya and forced to retreat to Libya. [1] [5] The Umayyad army suffered heavy losses and a number of Arab soldiers were captured. [1] [5] Following this victory Queen Dihya became the uncontested ruler of the entire Maghreb for around five years. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berbers</span> Diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa

Berbers or the Berber peoples, also called by their endonym Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migrations to the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their usage of Berber languages, most of them mutually unintelligible, which are part of the Afroasiatic language family. They are indigenous to the Maghreb region of North Africa, where they live in scattered communities across parts of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and to a lesser extent Tunisia, Mauritania, northern Mali and northern Niger. Smaller Berber communities are also found in Burkina Faso and Egypt's Siwa Oasis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Umayyad Caliphate</span> Second Islamic caliphate (661–750 CE)

The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member of the clan. The family established dynastic, hereditary rule with Mu'awiya I, the long-time governor of Greater Syria, who became caliph after the end of the First Fitna in 661. After Mu'awiya's death in 680, conflicts over the succession resulted in the Second Fitna, and power eventually fell to Marwan I, from another branch of the clan. Syria remained the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, with Damascus as their capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ifriqiya</span> Historic region of Northern Africa

Ifriqiya, also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna, was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania. It included all of what had previously been the Byzantine province of Africa Proconsularis and extended beyond it, but did not include the Mauretanias.

The Zenata are a group of Berber tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kahina</span> 7th century Berber queen who resisted the Umayyads

Al-Kahina, also known as Dihya, was a Berber queen of the Aurès and a religious and military leader who led indigenous resistance to the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, the region then known as Numidia, notably defeating the Umayyad forces in the Battle of Meskiana after which she became the uncontested ruler of the whole Maghreb, before being decisively defeated at the Battle of Tabarka. She was born in the early 7th century AD and died around the end of the 7th century in modern-day Algeria. She is considered one of the most famous figures in the history of the Berber resistance to the Arab conquest in the 7th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of North Africa</span> History of North African region

The history of North Africa has been divided into its prehistory, its classical period, the arrival and spread of Islam, the colonial period, and finally the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed. The region has been influenced by many diverse cultures. The development of sea travel firmly brought the region into the Mediterranean world, especially during the classical period. In the 1st millennium AD, the Sahara became an equally important area for trade as camel caravans brought goods and people from the south of the Sahara. The region also has a small but crucial land link to the Middle East, and that area has also played a key role in the history of North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idrisid dynasty</span> 788–974 Arab dynasty ruling Morocco

The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids were an Arab Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I, the Idrisids were an Alid dynasty descended from Muhammad through his grandson Hasan. The Idrisids are traditionally considered to be the founders of the first Moroccan state, setting the stage for subsequent dynasties and states centered in this region. Their reign played an important role in the early Islamization of Morocco and also presided over an increase in Arab immigration and Arabization in major urban centers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muslim conquest of the Maghreb</span> Islamic conquests by the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates

The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb or Arab conquest of North Africa by the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates commenced in 647 and concluded in 709, when the Byzantine Empire lost its last remaining strongholds to Caliph Al-Walid I. The North African campaigns were part of the century of rapid early Muslim conquests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Carthage (698)</span> Engagement of the conquest of Maghreb

The Battle of Carthage was fought in 698 A.D. between a Byzantine expeditionary force and the armies of the Umayyad Caliphate. The battle was a lynchpin of the ongoing Muslim conquest of the Maghreb and put remaining Byzantine resistance to rest.

The Berber Revolt or the Kharijite Revolt of 740–743 AD took place during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and marked the first successful secession from the Arab caliphate. Fired up by Kharijite puritan preachers, the Berber revolt against their Umayyad Arab rulers began in Tangiers in 740, and was led initially by Maysara al-Matghari. The revolt soon spread through the rest of the Maghreb and across the straits to al-Andalus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kusaila</span> King of Altava

Kusaila was a 7th-century Berber Christian ruler of the kingdom of Altava and leader of the Awraba tribe, a Christianised sedentary Berber tribe of the Aures and possibly Christian king of the Sanhaja. Under his rule his domain stretched from Volubilis in the west to the Aurès in the east and later Kairouan and the interior of Ifriqiya. Kusaila is mostly known for prosecuting an effective Berber military resistance against the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in the 680s. He died in one of those battles in 688.

The Berbers are an indigenous ethnic group of the Maghreb region of North Africa. Following the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, most Berber tribes eventually became Muslims. Presently, about one-sixth of the population of Maghreb speaks one of the Berber languages, but most of them also speak some form of Arabic. Berbers are the first non-Arab people to have established an Islamic state.

Hassan ibn al-Nu'man al-Ghassani was an Arab general of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the final Muslim conquest of Ifriqiya, firmly establishing Islamic rule in the region. Appointed by Caliph Abd al-Malik, Hassan launched a series of campaigns during the closing years of the 7th century, during which he defeated the Byzantines and the Berbers led by al-Kahina. The Byzantine capital of Carthage was destroyed in 698 and the nearby city of Tunis was founded in the following year. In Kairouan, Hassan set up a Muslim administration for the province to collect taxes from its Christian inhabitants and pay the troops. He enrolled thousands of Berbers into the army, which proved critical to later Muslim military successes in the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula. He was ultimately ousted from his post by the governor of Egypt, Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan, due to a power struggle for influence over Ifriqiya.

The Banu Ifran or Ifranids, were a Zenata Berber tribe prominent in the history of pre-Islamic and early Islamic North Africa. In the 8th century, they established a kingdom in the central Maghreb, with Tlemcen as its capital.

Julian, Count of Ceuta (Spanish: Don Julián, Conde de Ceuta,, Arabic: يليان, was, according to some sources, a renegade governor, possibly a former comes in Byzantine service in Ceuta and Tangiers who subsequently submitted to the king of Visigothic Spain before secretly allying with the Muslims. According to Arab chroniclers, Julian had an important role in the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, a key event in the history of Islam, and in the subsequent history of what were to become Spain and Portugal.

Maghrebi Arabs or North African Arabs are the inhabitants of the Maghreb region of North Africa whose ethnic identity is Arab, whose native language is Arabic and trace their ancestry to the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. This ethnic identity is a product of the centuries-long Arab migration to the Maghreb since the 7th century, which changed the demographic scope of the Maghreb and was a major factor in the ethnic, linguistic and cultural Arabization of the Maghreb region. The descendants of the original Arab settlers who continue to speak Arabic as a first language currently form the single largest population group in North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of the Aurès</span> Government in North Africa

The Kingdom of the Aurès was an independent Christian Berber kingdom primarily located in the Aurès Mountains of present-day north-eastern Algeria. Established in the 480s by King Masties following a series of Berber revolts against the Vandalic Kingdom, which had conquered the Roman province of Africa in 435 AD, Aurès would last as an independent realm until the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in 703 AD when its last monarch, Queen Dihya, was slain in battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sulaymanid dynasty</span> Arab Muslim dynasty of Algeria

The Sulaymanid dynasty was an Arab Muslim dynasty in present-day western Algeria, ruling from 814 to 922. The dynasty is named after the founder, Sulyaman I, who was the brother of Idris I, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty based in Fez. Both Sulayman and Idris, as great grandchildren of Hasan ibn Ali, were sharifs descended from Muhammad.

The Battle of Tabarka was a military engagement fought between the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate and Dihya, a Berber queen. The battle took place near the city of Tabarka, Tunisia, in either 701, 702 or 703 AD. The battle resulted in a major victory for the Umayyads and the end of organized Berber resistance to the caliphate.

Umayyad rule in North Africa or Umayyad Ifriqiya was a province of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) during the historical period in which it ruled the Maghreb region of North Africa, from its conquest of the Maghreb starting in 661 to the Kharijite Berber Revolt ending in 743, which led to the end of its rule in the western and central Maghreb. Following this period, the Umayyads retained their rule over Ifriqiya while the rest of the Maghreb fell to successive Islamic dynasties of Arab, Berber and Persian descent.

References