Fatimid Cities of the Ifrīḳiya: Evaluating the Achievements of the Fatimids in the urban development of Maghrib

Although in the study of urban planning of the Fatimid period, focuses on Cairo, the period of their direct presence in the Maghreb can be considered as one of the most important periods of urban planning in the history of the Islamic Maghreb, as well as the Fatimid period, during which the two cities of Mahdiyya and Manṣūriyya (Sabrah al-Mansuriya) were established. In this research, considering the method of historical study of Islamic cities, the Fatimid cities of the Maghreb, namely Mahdiyya and Manṣūriyya, have been investigated. According to the findings of this research, the city of Mahdiyya, the first Fatimid city in the Maghrib, was built in a historically sensitive and dangerous situation for the Fatimid, which was a kind of civilizational reaction to the security risks facing the Fatimid. In addition to being the center of political developments in Ifrīḳiya for a short period of time, Mahdiyya became an important base due to its special geographical location in the early 4th century AH, through which the Fatimid’s' control over the Mediterranean Sea was realized. Also, the city of Manṣūriyya, which was considered to be similar to Baghdad in terms of its basic design and circularity, and was also the model of the Fatimid in the construction of the city of Cairo, became an important center for economic activities in the last three decades of the Fatimid’s' presence in Ifrīḳiya and the cultural developments of the region due to its convenient geographical location.