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Article Dans Une Revue Northeast African Studies Année : 2019

Remarks on the Blacks in the Fatimid Army, 10 th -12 th CE

Résumé

In this article, I revisit some aspects of the organization of the Fatimid army, and more specifijically to the role played by its black contingents, who are still often considered the most faithful supporters of the dynasty. Wherever they came from and regardless of their social and legal status, black soldiers, whose Egyptian-ness was indisputable, were major players in the history of the Fatimid Caliphate. Medieval authors, who sometimes conveyed negative representations linked with racial bias, and who are not necessarily accurate in dealing with other races, even acknowledged this role. Originating in Ifrīqiyya, the Fatimids conquered Egypt at the end of the tenth century CE. They established a Shi’i caliphate that disappeared in the last quarter of the twelfth century. The Fatimid caliphs adopted a policy of expansion. This expansion was ideological, led by the Ismaili Daʿwa, especially in Yemen and the Persian Gulf. It was also economic: the Fatimid state, which was largely based on trade, created an extensive road and maritime network for economic purposes. Finally, it was a political and military one, as the Fatimid caliphs extended their influence to southern Syria and Arabia.

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hal-02945046 , version 1 (22-09-2020)

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Abbès Zouache. Remarks on the Blacks in the Fatimid Army, 10 th -12 th CE. Northeast African Studies, 2019, ⟨10.14321/nortafristud.19.1.0023⟩. ⟨hal-02945046⟩
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