Emirate of Sicily (831-1091)

Post 1870 is the era of unified Italy that didn't disintegrate further. But going back in history, a small slice of Italian region was under a non-European regime, the Muslims. Islamic expansion of Spain and Portugal is well-known but there was a century-old Muslim Emirate on the Italian island of Sicily that lasted between 831-1091 AD. After the fall of the Umayyad Dynasty in 1031 AD, several individual Emirates spurred across the Mediterranean, particularly in Italy, although the first Islamic touch to Sicily occurred in the 7th century AD. 

In 827 AD, the earliest Arab conquest of Sicily launched by the Aghlabid Emirs (under the Abbasid Dynasty) from the Tunisian coast. This was also the time when the Emirate of Cordoba (Imarat Qurtubah) had expanded on the Iberian peninsula, the western Europe was dominated by the expanding Frankish Empire while the eastern part had the supremacy of the Byzantine Empire. During the late 11th century, when the Sicilian Normans (under the bigger factions of the Byzantines and Lombards) conquered and annexed the Kingdom of Sicily, Malta, southern Italy and parts of Ifriqiya (north Africa), still the Norman Christians and the Fatimids peacefully co-existed and made Sicily an important trade centre. 

But while the Muslims were on the island, they did try to rename certain places in accordance to the Arabic pronunciations. This pattern is common wherever an imperial power takes control of a political entity, to symbolise their dominance and mark their legacy. At present, there exist no Islamised place name anywhere in either Iberia or Italy. But till the time they did, here are a couple of spelling changes that was brought on by the Arabs with respect to the islands of Sicily and Malta. 

• Shanta Filibb (Agira)
• Qal'at al-Nisa (Caltanissetta)
• Qasr Yanih (Enna)
• Al Yaj (Acireale)
• Qataniyyah (Catania)
• Siracusa (Syracuse)
• Al-Qamur (Alcamo)
• Balarm (Palermo)
• Marsa Aliyy (Marsala)
• Imarat Siqliya (Emirate of Sicily)
• Maltah (Malta)

It's interesting to note that Sicily was attacked by the Aghlabid Emirs inspite of the ongoing peace treaty signed between the Byzantines and the Aghlabids. The reasoning Emirs give was the conquering of various Islamic merchants by the Byzantines, thus defying the peace treaty in the first place. The invasion to Sicily was to destabilise the maritime trade of the Mediterranean and the island was captured in a matter of few days. As the raid continued, reinforcements added to the Byzantines from the neighbouring Aegean ports in Greece while Muslim forces added from Al-Andalusia (Islamic Iberia), leading to the capture of Palermo (Balarm) that became the capital of the Muslim province. With the arrival of the Islamic rule on Sicily, the island was administrated as a part of northern African governance where Muslims and Christians (and Jews) existed together. It is to be noted that the Muslim majority population that resided on the coasts of northern Africa were now also a minority under an Islamic Caliphate on a Christian land. 

The Aghlabid dynasty was proceeded by the Fatimid clan followed by the Kalbid dynasty that ruled till 1053. And although the Kalbids tried to maintain Sicily as an independent Muslim stronghold in the Mediterranean, the bulk of Ifriqiya's naval power was shifted around Egypt, leaving Sicily vulnerable to Byzantine attacks. This was also a period of chaos on the island where every local Muslim power wanted to have an autonomy, the advantage of which was taken by a strong northern European clan, the Normans. The Normans were also ruling southern Italy and in 1053, they raided Sicily while the Arabs were busy conflicting among themselves on the north African coast. 

In the initial conquest of Sicily by the Normans, the Muslims and Christians did exist cordially, although many chose to migrate to the Muslim heartland of Africa. As time progressed, the tension between the two communities worsened and it came to a point when in 1199, Pope Innocent III declared Muslims of Sicily as 'hostile'. The last migration of Muslims from Sicily took place in 1266, ending their 400 year-rule. 

Below here is a recreated map of the Emirate of Sicily with Arab names marked in green. The above article is based on the topic 'Muslim Italy: Rise and fall of Islam in Italy' originally written by Firas AlKhateeb.