Hafsid

The Hafsids were a Sunni dynasty of Berber origin that ruled Ifriqiya from Tunis between 1229 and 1574. Abu Hafs, a Masmuda chief and companion of Ibn Tumart, gave the house its name; his descendants were Almohad governors until Abu Zakariya Yahya founded an independent sultanate in 1229.

Under al-Mustansir, who reigned until 1277, Tunis welcomed Andalusi refugees and the first madrasas of the Maghreb were built under Hafsid patronage. The dynasty split between Tunis and western cities; after Marinid invasions and plague, Abu al-Abbas Ahmad II reunited the realm in 1370.

Abu Faris annexed Tripoli in 1401 and Algiers in 1410. Caught between Spain and Ottoman corsairs, the Hafsids became Spanish tributaries after Charles V took Tunis in 1535; the Ottomans conquered it in 1574 and carried off the last caliph Muhammad VI to Constantinople, where he was executed.