Xᵉ siècle – XIᵉ siècle
Eastern Maghrib, especially Ifriqiya
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Banu Hilal Incursion was the eleventh-century movement of the nomadic Banu Hilal, accompanied by the Banu Sulaym, into the eastern Maghrib. Older interpretations portrayed it as a devastating invasion that destroyed the region's prosperity, while later approaches argued that the Maghrib's decline had begun earlier or that economic emphasis had shifted independently of the nomads' arrival.
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Le récit
The Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym entered the eastern Maghrib in the eleventh century, at a moment when the region was undergoing major political and economic change. Their movement has traditionally been treated as a catastrophic invasion, famously compared by Ibn Khaldun to a plague of locusts. This interpretation placed primary responsibility for the eastern Maghrib's decline upon the nomadic newcomers.
The excerpt presents important alternatives to that older view. One argument holds that decline had already begun for other reasons and that the Banu Hilal merely exploited existing weakness. Another proposes not decline but a centrifugal shift in economic emphasis, occurring both before and after the nomads' arrival. The event therefore cannot be understood independently of longer-term transformations within the region.
The contrast with the central Sudan is deliberate. Whereas nomadic encroachment in the Sudan has sometimes been presented as constructive, the Banu Hilal movement in the eastern Maghrib was long described in destructive terms. The comparison illustrates how interpretations of nomadic influence depend on local political, economic, and social contexts.
Xᵉ siècle – XIᵉ siècle
Eastern Maghrib, especially Ifriqiya
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Banu Hilal Incursion was the eleventh-century movement of the nomadic Banu Hilal, accompanied by the Banu Sulaym, into the eastern Maghrib. Older interpretations portrayed it as a devastating invasion that destroyed the region's prosperity, while later approaches argued that the Maghrib's decline had begun earlier or that economic emphasis had shifted independently of the nomads' arrival.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
The Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym entered the eastern Maghrib in the eleventh century, at a moment when the region was undergoing major political and economic change. Their movement has traditionally been treated as a catastrophic invasion, famously compared by Ibn Khaldun to a plague of locusts. This interpretation placed primary responsibility for the eastern Maghrib's decline upon the nomadic newcomers.
The excerpt presents important alternatives to that older view. One argument holds that decline had already begun for other reasons and that the Banu Hilal merely exploited existing weakness. Another proposes not decline but a centrifugal shift in economic emphasis, occurring both before and after the nomads' arrival. The event therefore cannot be understood independently of longer-term transformations within the region.
The contrast with the central Sudan is deliberate. Whereas nomadic encroachment in the Sudan has sometimes been presented as constructive, the Banu Hilal movement in the eastern Maghrib was long described in destructive terms. The comparison illustrates how interpretations of nomadic influence depend on local political, economic, and social contexts.
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