The Fatimid Caliphate, an Ismaili Shia caliphate of the 10th to the 12th centuries CE, spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The Fatimid dynasty, of Arab origin, ruled territories across the Mediterranean coast of Africa and ultimately made Egypt the center of the caliphate. At its height, the caliphate included - in addition to Egypt - varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and the Hijaz. The Fatimid caliphate represented the peak of Ismaili political success. Ismailis had faithful supporters in the lands governed by the Fatimids' rivals, and areas with a significant Ismaili population and presences were able to set up their own independently-administered polities, which were loyal to the Imam in Egypt. The Fatimids (Arabic: الفاطميون‎, romanized: al-Fāṭimīyūn) claimed descent from Fatimah, the daughter of the prophet Muhammad. The Fatimid state took shape among the Kutama, Berbers living in the west of the North African littoral (in Kabylie in present-day Algeria). In 909, using the military resources of the Kutama, the Fatimids occupied Raqqada, the Aghlabid capital. In 921, the Fatimids established the Tunisian city of Mahdia as their new capital. In 948, they shifted their capital to al-Mansuriyya, near Kairouan in Tunisia. In 969, they conquered Egypt, and in 973 they established Cairo as the capital of their caliphate. Egypt became the political, cultural, and religious centre of their empire, which developed a new and "indigenous Arabic" culture. The ruling class belonged to the Ismai'li branch of Shi'a Islam, as did the leaders of the dynasty. The existence of the caliphate marked the only time the descendants of Ali and Fatimah were united to any degree (except for the final period of the Rashidun Caliphate under Ali himself from 656 to 661) and the name "Fatimid" refers to Fatimah. Orientalist authors sometimes use the separate term Fatimi (or "Fatimite") to refer to the caliphate's subjects. After its initial conquests, the caliphate often allowed a degree of religious tolerance towards non-Shia sects of Islam, as well as to Jews and Christians. However, its leaders made little headway in persuading the Egyptian population to adopt its religious beliefs. During the late eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Fatimid caliphate declined rapidly, and in 1171, Saladin invaded its territory. He founded the Ayyubid dynasty and incorporated the Fatimid state into the nominal sphere of authority of the Abbasid Caliphate.
The Fatimid Caliphate, an Ismaili Shia caliphate of the 10th to the 12th centuries CE, spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The Fatimid dynasty, of Arab origin, ruled territories across the Mediterranean coast of Africa and ultimately made Egypt the center of the caliphate. At its height, the caliphate included - in addition to Egypt - varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and the Hijaz.