VANDAL HEAVEN: Reinterpreting Post-Roman North Africa

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The Vandals conquered Roman North Africa in the first half of the 5th century AD. Asserts that post-Roman North Africa thrived under the Vandals. To them, it was Vandal heaven, a place where they found a way as the new incumbent elite to live comfortably alongside the late Roman inhabitants, despite their different interpretations of Christianity. Together, the two cultures flourished.

When Justinian I and the Byzantines reconquered the area in the AD 530s, they weren't welcome and built chains of small forts along the frontier and interior to keep an unhappy local population under control. Also makes the case that the Arab Conquest was so successful in this region because the Byzantine overlords were so unpopular. Contains 50-60 photographs and maps.