The conquest of Ifrı̄qiya and Sicily by the Fatimid caliphs placed the two territories in a situation of increasing economic and political interdependence. The sources show how much the commercial relations between the Ifrı̄qiyan ports and those of Sicily became more pronounced and how the island played a central ideological role for the Fatimids. Even after the Fatimid departure to Egypt, the role of the island in their strategy did not get weaker. The emergence of quality craftsmanship strengthened the role of the island as an obligatory space for exchanges not only between Egypt and Ifrı̄qiya but also more largely between the Muslim and Christian worlds. The Normans conquest of the island in the second half of the eleventh century did not fundamentally change things.