Qal'at Ibn Salāma

Qalat ibn Salama is a fortress in the high country near Frenda, overlooking the lands of the central Maghreb. Its name is inseparable from Ibn Khaldun, the historian and former court official who found refuge here with his family. Away from the rival courts he had served, he began a work that would explore the rise and decline of dynasties and the bonds holding human societies together.

In 1375 Ibn Khaldun entered the protection of the Awlad Arif and spent the next several years at the fortress. Here he developed the Muqaddimah, the introduction to his universal history. Seeking books and documents for the larger work, he eventually returned to Tunis. The quiet of Ibn Salama had given him a place to turn a lifetime of political experience into a new account of history.