Islam Reaches Across North Africa

From the new city of Kairouan, Islam spreads westward to the Atlantic, weaving Arab and Amazigh peoples into one civilization.

Uqbah ibn Nafi founded Kairouan as a base of faith and learning, and within a generation Muslim rule reached the shores of the Atlantic. The Amazigh peoples of the Maghrib embraced Islam and became among its greatest carriers, later leading states and schools of their own.