Geographic Orientations and the Rise of the Fatimids

This chapter examines the geographical context in which the Zirids and Normans operated by analyzing the topography, climate, and borders of medieval Ifriqiya and Sicily. The ambiguous boundaries of Ifriqiya in both Arabic and Latin sources make it difficult to quantify the extent of power among medieval dynasties ruling in the region, especially outside of coastal urban centers. The Aghlabids, Fatimids, Zirids, and Normans nonetheless benefited from the wealth produced by substantial commercial networks that passed between Ifriqiya and Sicily, including profitable long-distance trade that originated in sub-Saharan Africa. The Zirids stood to inherit this wealth by virtue of their service to the Fatimid dynasty, a Shiʻa group whose apocalyptic message was well received in much of Ifriqiya and the Maghreb. When the Fatimids moved their capital from Ifriqiya to Egypt at the end of the tenth century, they appointed their loyal Zirid generals as emirs of Ifriqiya—thus initiating Zirid rule in the region.