Aghlabid state and its activities in the Mediterranean (800-909)

Aghlebid, of Arabic-origin society living in North Africa, is a country founded upon the request of the local community as Ifrikıyye centered in Maghrib region which is under the protection of Abbâsîd caliphate. As a sign of their loyalty to Abbâsîd caliphate Aghlebid gave sermons in the name of Abbâsîd caliphs and engraved their names on their own coins. Having founded the country, Aghlebid engaged with plenty of riots. It resulted in an obigation of conquering new lands and the actions were focused on Sicily as it was the nearest territory to North Africa. Sicily, the biggest island of Mediterranean sea and known as "golden island", was exposed to invasions throughout the history because of having fertile soils on the roads of Mediterranean Trade Routes. The reason why Sicily is referred as "golden island" is that being a popular trade area for many civilizations from the coastal line and being widely known as the "food barn" because of the rich agricultural products. So, this kind of factors increased the strategic importance of the island. Aghlebids' desire for conquering the Sicily is especially related with improving business connections, increasing welfare level and reviving agriculture. The most important activity highlighting the Ağlebî State is its conquests in the Mediterranean region. The activities of the conquest, which began with Sicily, were followed by the expedition to the Italian peninsula after the dominance of most of Sicily. The state of Aglebi was finally destroyed by the Fatimids after the conquest of the island of Malta. In this study political life, business relations, cultural-political relations art and architectural works of Aghlebid-lasted more than a century-were searched.