Middle Ages

Byzantine Province of North Africa (Exarchate of Africa)                 (585–698 AD)

The Exarchate of Africa was an administrative division of the Eastern Roman Empire encompassing its lands on the western Mediterranean it was created by Roman Emperor Maurice in 583 AD, ruled by an exarch (governor) and Carthage was the capital of the Exarchate of Africa.

(Above Image) Byzantine Empire map

Under Emperor Justinian I, the process was partially reversed for provinces which were judged to be especially vulnerable or in internal disorder. Capitalizing upon this precedent and taking it one step further, the emperor Maurice sometime between 585 and 590 AD created the office of exarch in North Africa, which combined the supreme civil authority of a praetorian prefect (High Office) and the military authority of a magister militum (Military Command), and enjoyed considerable autonomy from Byzantine capital Constantinople. Two exarchates were established, one in Italy, with seat at Ravenna (Exarchate of Ravenna), and one in Africa, based at Carthage (Exarchate of Africa) and including all imperial possessions in the Western Mediterranean.

(Above Image) Byzantine Empire Flag

The Visigothic kingdom in Spain was also a continuous threat to the Byzantine Empire. The African exarch was in possession of Mauretania II, which was little more than a tiny outpost in southern Spain. The conflict continued until the final conquest of the last Spanish strongholds in 624 AD by the Visigoths. The Byzantines retained only the fort of Septum (Ceuta), across Gibraltar.

(Above Image) Byzantine Soldiers

During the successful revolt of the exarch of Carthage Heraclius in 608, the Amazigh comprised a large portion of the fleet that transported Heraclius to Constantinople. Due to religious and political ambitions, the Exarch Gregory the Patrician (who was related by blood to the imperial family, through the emperor's cousin Nicetas) declared himself independent of Constantinople in 647 AD.  At this time the influence and power of the exarchate was exemplified in the forces gathered by Gregory in the battle of Sufetula also in that year where more than 100,000 men of Amazigh (Berber) fought for Gregory the Patrician.

(Above Image) Gregory the Patrician

A division in the church that came to be known as the Donatist controversy began in 313 AD among Christians in North Africa. The Donatists stressed the holiness of the church and refused to accept the authority to administer the sacraments of those who had surrendered the scriptures when they were forbidden under the Emperor Diocletian. The Donatists also opposed the involvement of Emperor Constantine in church affairs in contrast to the majority of Christians who welcomed official imperial recognition; some Amazigh (Berber) tribes had converted to Christianity.

(Above Image) Byzantine Cross

The first Islamic expeditions began with an initiative from Egypt under the emir Amr Ibn Al-as and his nephew Uqba Ibn al Nafia al Fihri. Sensing Roman weakness they conquered Barca, in Cyrenaica (East Libya), then successively on to Tripolitania where they encountered resistance. Due to the unrest caused by theological disputes concerning Monothelitism and Monoenergism the Exarchate of Africa under Gregory distanced itself from the empire in open revolt.

(Above Image) Muslim Cavalry in Battle

The loss of the mainland African exarchate was an enormous blow to the Byzantine Empire in the Western Mediterranean because both Carthage and Egypt were Constantinople's main sources of manpower and grain in the empire. It was also an enormous blow because it permanently ended Roman presence in history of Africa.