Upon the fall of this powerful dynasty, Africa was divided into those petty royalties which still subsist, with few variations.
The family of the Merinis became masters of Fez and Morocco, and were the most powerful of the successors of the Elmohâds.
The Abi-Hafs seized Tunis; and the Beni Ziân enjoyed Tremesen.
Abu-’l-Hassan, sultan of Morocco, became sovereign by conquest, about A.D. 1347, of all the African states; but this power was only a momentary meteor.
About the year 1500 an ambitious Sherîf, or descendant of Mohammed, seized the sovereignty of Morocco; and his descendants, under the style of Sherîfs, retain the power to this day.
The kingdom of Tremesen, on the East of Fez, contained Algier, Oran, &c. It was seized by the Beni Ziân about A.D. 1249. On the death of the last of that race, A.D. 1560, it was united to the Turkish Deydom of Algier.
The power of the Turks in Africa is very recent. It began in 1514, when the pirate Barbarossa seized Algier; and piracy, as is too well known, has become an appendage of their dominion.
Tunis became subject to the Abi-Hafs about A.D. 1240. Abu-Zekeria, the first prince, is said to have extended his contribution to the country of the negroes. A.D. 1270, St. Louis, attacking Tunis, perished by a pestilence.
In 1533 Barbarossa seized Tunis. The expedition of Charles V. 1535, is well known; but the African marygold is its only permanent product. The race of the Abi-Hafs terminated in 1570, when El-Wahhali, a descendant of Barbarossa, and Dey of Algier, took possession of Tunis. The Mohammedan power, on the North and West of Africa, remains divided between the Sherîfs of Morocco and Fez, and the Turks of Algier and Tunis.