Mahdia

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Mahdia

For the Islamic eschatological
Eschatology

Eschatology is a part of theology and philosophy concerned with what is believed to be the final events in the history of the world, or the ultimate destiny of All humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world....
figure, see Mahdi
Mahdi

According to the Shia and Sunni versions of the Islamic eschatology the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on earth seven, nine, or nineteen years before the coming of the day, Qiyamah ....
.

For the town in Guyana, see Mahdia, Guyana
Mahdia, Guyana

Mahdia is a small community in the Potaro-Siparuni region of Guyana, located at , at an altitude of . Commerce is centred around the area's gold and diamond mining operations....
.

Mahdia, Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
: ??????? (al-Mahdiya), is a Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast....
n coastal city with 37,000 inhabitants, south of Monastir

Monastir, Tunisia

Monastir , called in Tunisian Arabic, , is a city on the central shore of Tunisia, in the Sahel, Tunisia area. Traditionally a fishing port, Monastir is now a major tourist resort....
and southeast of Sousse

Sousse

Sousse , is a city of Tunisia. Located 140 km south of Tunis, the city has 173, 047 inhabitants . It is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea....
.

Mahdia is a provincial centre north of Sfax

Sfax

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Encyclopedia

Mahdia, Arabic

Arabic language

Tunisia

Monastir, Tunisia

Sousse

Sfax

Sfax is a city in Tunisia, located 270 km southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD 849 on the ruins of Taparura and Thaenae, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate, and a Mediterranean Sea port on the Gulf of Gabes....
. It is important for the associated fish-processing industry, as well as weaving. It is the capital of Mahdia Governorate

Mahdia Governorate

Mahdia Governorate is one of the twenty-four governorates of Tunisia. It is situated in central-eastern Tunisia. It covers an area of 2,966 km? and has a population of 378,000 . The capital is Mahdia....
.

History

A city already existed at this site during the time of the Phoenicia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and the Palestinian territories....
ns and Romans

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, but was destroyed during the Arab

Arab

An Arab is a person who Identity as such on linguistic or cultural grounds. The plural form, Arabs , refers to the Ethnocultural group at large....
conquest of North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
. Mahdia was founded by the Fatimids under the Caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah....
Abdallah al-Mahdi in 921 and made the capital city of Ifriqiya

Ifriqiya

In Middle Ages, Ifriqiya or Ifriqiyah was the area comprising the coastal regions of what are today western Libya, Tunisia, and eastern Algeria....
, by caliph Abdallah El Fatimi. It was chosen the capital because of its proximity to the sea, and the promontory on which an important military settlement had been since the time of the Phoenicians. In 1087 the town was attacked

Mahdia campaign

The Mahdia campaign of 1087 was an attack on the North African town of Mahdia by armed ships from Genoa and Pisa in northern Italy. It had been prompted by the actions of its ruler Tamim as a pirate in waters off the Italian peninsula, along with his involvement in Sicily fighting the Norman invasion....
by raiding ships from Genoa

Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
and Pisa

Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River on the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa....
who burned the Muslim fleet in the harbor. This played a critical role in winning control of the Western Mediterranean and allowing the First Crusade

First Crusade

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the primary goal of responding to the appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexius I. The Emperor requested that western volunteers come to their aid and repel the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia, Modern day Turkey....
to be supplied by sea. The Zirid

Zirid

The Zirids were a Berber people dynasty, originating in Petite Kabylie among the Kutama tribe, that ruled Ifriqiya , initially on behalf of the Fatimids, for about two centuries, until weakened by the Banu Hilal and finally destroyed by the Almohads....
dynasty had its residence here in the 11th century, but was brought to an end by the Norman conquest of the city in 1148. In 1160 the city comes under Almohad

Almohad

The Almohad Dynasty , was a Berber people, Muslim dynasty that was founded in the 12th century, and conquered all northern Africa as far as Libya, together with Al-Andalus ....
rule.

The role of the capital was taken over by Tunis

Tunis

Tunis is the Capital of the Tunisian Republic and also the Tunis Governorate, with a population of 1 200,000 in 2008 and over 3,980,500 in the municipal area....
in the 13th century during the Hafsid Dynasty

Hafsid dynasty

Hafsid was a dynasty ruling Ifriqiya from 1229 to 1574....
. Some buildings still exist from the 10th and 11th centuries, such as the Great Mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, ? . The word "mosque" in English refers to all types of buildings dedicated for Islamic worship, although there is a distinction in Arabic between the smaller, privately owned mosque and the larger, "collective" mosque ,...
and the Casbah

Casbah

The Casbah or as transliterated from Arabic Qasba is specifically the citadel of Algiers and the traditional quarter clustered round it....
, which have helped make the city an important tourist attraction.

Later the city was subject to many raids. In 1390 a French crusader

Crusader

Crusader may refer to :* a newspaper in New Orleans that opposed segregation in the 1790s* a participant to the Crusade_,* Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II...
army laid siege to the city

Siege of Mahdia

The Siege of Mahdia was the main event of the Tunisian crusade of 1390. Froissart's Chronicles is a chief document describing what was one of the last crusades....
but failed to take it. Eventually the city was destroyed and burnt down by the Spanish.

Mahdia was also the site where Khaled Abdelwahhab hid approximately two dozen Jew

Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s from the Nazi occupiers during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
.

External links

(engl.)

Mahdia

History

See also

External links