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Kahina

Type Figure Region North Africa Time 601–702 Also known as Berber queen

Kahina (Dihya) was a Berber tribal leader of the Aurès Mountains in North Africa in the late 7th and early 8th centuries, famed for her fierce resist…

Timeline

  1. 650–690Aurès Mountains · AurèsAs Umayyad armies advanced into the Maghreb, Kahina rallied the Berber tribes of the Aurès and surrounding areas as a prophetess and military leader, becoming the central figure of local resistance to Arab rule.
  2. c. 690–702Aurès Mountains · AurèsShe led her forces to repel Umayyad generals several times, at one point forcing Ḥasan ibn al-Nuʿmān to temporarily withdraw from North Africa. Later the tide turned; around 702 she was defeated and killed in a decisive mountain battle. Traditional accounts hold that she died for her cause, marking a phase in the end of large-scale Berber armed resistance.

Sources