The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state (emirate) on the island of Sicily (in Southern Italy), which existed from 831 to 1072. Its capital was Palermo.
Muslims, who first invaded in 652 AD, seized control of the entire island from the Byzantine Empire in a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902. An Arab-Byzantine culture developed, producing a multiconfessional and multilingual state. The Emirate was conquered by Christian Norman mercenaries under Roger I of Sicily who founded the County of Sicily in 1071.
Sicilian Muslims remained citizens of the multi-ethnic County and subsequent Kingdom of Sicily until those who had not already converted were expelled in the 1240s. Even up until the late 12th century, and probably as late as the 1220s, Arabic-speaking Muslims formed the majority of the island's population. Their influence remains in some elements of the Sicilian language. | 