State · 909 – 1171

Fatimid Caliphate

A state of 909 – 1171 — 262 years in the Middle East and North Africa. It replaced Abbasid Caliphate, Aghlabid dynasty and Idrisid dynasty and 2 more. It was replaced by Kingdom of Jerusalem, Ayyubid dynasty and County of Edessa and 8 more. The atlas records 21 things within it — wars and battles 4 · people 17. Its line of rulers holds 14 people.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 262 years; 909 – 1171
Rulers: 14; the Fatimid Caliph
Most ground: 1.95 million km²; in 980
Within it: 21; recorded rows

Map: Fatimid Caliphate in 980, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Fatimid Caliphate in 980, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 1.95 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Fatimid Caliphate in 911, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Fatimid Caliphate in 980, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

Abbasid Caliphate · replaces · 750 – 1258
Aghlabid dynasty · replaces · 800 – 909
Idrisid dynasty · replaces · 788 – 974
Ikhshidid dynasty · replaces · 935 – 969
Rustamid dynasty · replaces · 777 – 909

After it

Muslim Sicily · replaced by · 831 – 1072
Zengid dynasty · replaced by · 1127 – 1250
Zirid dynasty · replaced by · 972 – 1148
County of Edessa · replaced by · 1098 – 1150
Principality of Antioch · replaced by · 1098 – 1268
County of Tripoli · replaced by · 1102 – 1289
Kingdom of Jerusalem · replaced by · 1099 – 1291
Hammadid dynasty · replaced by · 1014 – 1152
Ayyubid Sultanate · replaced by
Ayyubid dynasty · replaced by · 1171 – 1341
Almohad Caliphate · replaced by · 1121 – 1269

Rulers

The line of Fatimid Caliph - the office this state names as its head of state.

killed, executed or dead in battledied in officeending not on recorda second row: a reign that began before the last had ended — rival claimants, or a shared throne

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah	909 – 934	25 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
Al-Qa'im Bi-Amrillah	934 – 946	12 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Al-Mansur Billah	946 – 953	7 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah	953 – 975	22 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Al-Aziz Billah	975 – 996	21 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah	996 – 1021	25 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Al-Zahir li-I'zaz Din Allah	1021 – 1036	15 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	child
Al-Mustansir Billah	1036 – 1095	59 years	the term ends after the recorded deathread off the dates alone	child
Al-Musta'li	1094 – 1101	7 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah	1101 – 1130	29 years	killedWikidata's manner of death	child
Al-Hafiz	1132 – 1149	17 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
Al-Zafir	1149 – 1154	5 years	killedWikidata's manner of death	child
Al-Fa'iz bi-Nasr Allah	1154 – 1160	6 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	child
Al-Adid	1160 – 1171	11 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone

14 rulers, 14 with terms dated as terms, covering 909 – 1171. Median reign 16 years. 3 of 13 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

389,100 km² in 919, 64,700 km² in 1171; at its largest 1.95 million km² in 989. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

900 – 9995 rows

Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah · ruler · 985 – 1021
Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah · ruler · 931 – 975
Al-Aziz Billah · ruler · 955 – 996
Al-Mansur Billah · ruler · 913 – 953
Jawhar al-Siqilli · politician · 911 – 992

1000 – 10997 rows · 1 wars and battles

Battle of Ascalon · battle · 1099
Al-Mustansir Billah · ruler · 1029 – 1094
Al-Musta'li · ruler · 1075 – 1101
Al-Hafiz · ruler · 1074 – 1149
Al-Zahir li-I'zaz Din Allah · ruler · 1005 – 1036
Al-Afdal Shahanshah · commander · 1066 – 1121
Al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah · ruler · 1097 – 1130

1100 – 11997 rows · 3 wars and battles

Second Crusade · war · 1147 – 1149
Al-Adid · ruler · 1149 – 1171
Al-Fa'iz bi-Nasr Allah · ruler · 1149 – 1160
Al-Zafir · ruler · 1133 – 1154
Shawar · politician · 1101 – 1169
Crusader invasions of Egypt · war · 1163 – 1169
Battle of al-Babein · battle · 1167

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood262 years
stood longer than 70% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held1,949,100 km²
held more ground at its peak than 91% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per century0.8
had more wars on record per century than 92% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median17 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 54% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record14
has more rulers on record than 87% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 45 causes the record names and 7 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linked

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending and 1 some of them; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

Challenge, failed response and dissolution
Toynbee 1934 · Toynbee & Somervell 1946
Applies by its own logic: 2 of its 2 conditions held here (it needs all of them), and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — the state's ending.
- territory shrank by 25% over the 100 y ending 25 y before — territory -46
- unrest, adverse regime change or atrocity within 100 y in the state, or a war the state is fighting, still under way, or a war the state fought, ended within 50 y, or battle within 50 y in the state — warEnded; prior

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 883 – 1197, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 980, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q160307 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.