Fatimid Caliphate

The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ili Shia caliphate ruling from 909 to 1171, founded by Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah, whose dynasty claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatima. Its capital moved from Raqqada to Mahdia, then to al-Mansuriya, before the caliphate conquered Egypt in 969 and established Cairo as its seat in 973. At its height the caliphate stretched from the western Mediterranean to the Red Sea, encompassing Egypt, varying portions of the Maghreb, Sicily, the Levant and the Hejaz, and it built extensive Mediterranean and Indian Ocean trade networks. The Fatimids went into decline from the late eleventh century onward, and in 1171 Saladin abolished the dynasty's rule and founded the Ayyubid dynasty in its place, formally reintegrating Egypt into the Abbasid Caliphate's nominal authority.