Islamization in the Beja territory: reflections for a debate

Abstract

The start of Islamization in Beja was marked by a series of events which reflect the clash between indigenous oligarchies and the attempts by the emirs to assert their authority in the city and its dependent territory. The development of the region from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries was to be marked by the gradual snuffing out of that centre of resistance (in an initial stage) and, from the tenth century onwards, by steady orientalization, but there does not seem to be a place in this analysis for the idea of an «Arab invasion».