| Battle of Vescera | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Muslim conquest of North Africa and the Arab–Byzantine Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Umayyad Caliphate | Kingdom of Altava Byzantine Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Uqba ibn Nafi † Abu al-Muhajir Dinar † | Caecilius | ||||||
The Battle of Vescera (modern Biskra in Algeria) was fought in 682 or 683 between the Romano-Berbers of King Kusaila and their Byzantine allies from the Exarchate of Carthage against an Umayyad Arab army under Uqba ibn Nafi (the founder of Kairouan). [1] Uqba ibn Nafi had led his men in an expedition across north Africa, eventually reaching the Atlantic Ocean and marching as far south as the Draa and Sous rivers. On his return, he was ambushed by the Berber-Byzantine coalition at Tehouda (Thabudeos) south Vescera, defeated, and killed.
34°50′N5°44′E / 34.833°N 5.733°E
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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.
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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.