CALIPHS OF AFRICA. 39 



same admirable order which was formerly main- 

 tained among- all classes by the terror of meeting 

 that redoubted caliph as he wandered the streets of 

 his capital in disguise. 



CHAPTER II. 



CALIPHS OF AFRICA, EGYPT, AND SPAIN. 



The Aglabites or Caliphs of Cairoan — Military Exploits of the 

 Western Arabs— Reduction of Crete — Conquest of Sicily — 

 Invasion of Italy — Pillage of Rome — Siege of Gaeta— Naval 

 Victory of the Christians — Subjugation of Corsica and Sardi- 

 nia by the Siracens — Expulsion of the Aglabites — Moorish 

 Kingdom of Timbuctoo — Dynasty of the Fatimites in Egypt 

 — Their Subversion by Saladin, Founder of the Ayubites — 

 Dynasty of the Ommiades in Spain founded by Abdalrahman 

 — Their Power and Magnificence — Extinction of the Caliph- 

 ate — Conquest of Granada by Ferdinand — Wealth and Popu- 

 lation of the Moorish capitals — The Government, Arms, and 

 Military Tactics of the Arabs — Revenue, Trade, and Marine 

 of Spain under the Saracens — Reduction of Sicily by the 

 Normans, and final Overthrow of the Mohammedan power in 

 Europe. 



Various dynasties of Arab princes rose and succes- 

 sively ruled in Africa and Egypt. In the year of 

 Christianity 797, Ibrahim ibn Aglab had been sent, 

 by the Caliph Haroun al Raschid, governor into the 

 western parts of Africa. Fifteen years after, en- 

 couraged by the rebellious state of the Moslem em- 

 pire at the accession of Almamoun, he assumed to 

 himself an almost absolute power in that country, 

 and conquered a large extent of territory, over which 

 he and his descendants ruled as sovereign princes, 

 under the name of the Aglabites, for more than a cen- 

 tury. This new empire, whose capital was Cairoan, 

 included the ancient kingdoms of Maurit ia and 



