Kutama
The Kutama was a Berber tribe in northern Algeria classified among the Berber confederation of the Bavares. The Kutama are attested much earlier, in the form Koidamousii by the Greek geographer Ptolemy.
The Kutama played a pivotal role during the Fatimid Caliphate, forming the Fatimid army which eventually overthrew the Aghlabids who controlled Ifriqiya, and which then went on to conquer Egypt and the southern Levant in 969–975. The Kutama remained one of the mainstays of the Fatimid army until well into the 11th century. Their role in the dynasty was so great that Ibn Khaldun counted the dynasty among the Berber dynasties.
Ancient history
The Kutama are attested in the form Koidamousii, by the Greek geographer Ptolemy, whose African documentation seems to date from the years 100-110. They were then in the region of the Ampsaga river in Mauretania Caesariensis. He locates them upstream of the Khitouae tribe and downstream of the Todoukae tribe, themselves located near the sources of the river. In the second century, they formed part of the Bavares tribal confederation, which gave a hard time to the Roman power, both in Mauretania Caesarean, then Sitifian after 303, and in Numidia. This political and military opposition did not prevent a certain romanization, at least punctually, thus the creation of the milestone respublica Vahartanensium, probably linked to the need for a road crossing of the massif which is hardly attested until the reign of Hadrian. In 411, their chief town Ceramusa or Ceramudensis plebsis is attested as the seat of a bishopric. The same episcopal seat was occupied by a certain Montanus of Cedamusa during the vandal era. In the 6th century, during the byzantine rule, the kutama are attested by a Christian inscription, where a king of the Ucutumani—the Berber prefix u- is indicating parentage—is said in Latin Dei servus. This inscription was discovered at the Fdoulès pass, south of Igilgili, at one of the last passes before the descent to Milevum.Post-classical history
Early islamic history
The oldest accounts of the muslim conquest of the Maghreb, Ibn Abd al-Hakam and Khalifah ibn Khayyat, do not speak of them, any more than al-Ya'qubi and Ibn al-Faqih. Their name appears for the first time among that of other Berber tribes in the al-Masālik of Ibn Khordadbeh. The tribe was not very important at that time.The Kutama probably had embraced Islam, first in its Kharidjite version, a little before the middle of the 8th century. The fact remains that in 757-758 AD, during the capture of Kairouan by the Ibadites, Kutama were among the Kharidjite troops, allied with Abu al-Khattab al-Ma'afiri and Abd al-Rahman ibn Rustam. The latter, then governor of Kairouan, appointed one of their own, Uqayba, to head it.
Aghlabid era
Little is known about the Kutama for the rest of the eighth century, after the advent of the Aghlabids at Kairouan in 789. The Kutama contented themselves with ignoring the Aghlabid authorities and welcoming the rebel soldiers in their inaccessible mountains. Their large population and the isolation in their mountains caused them not to suffer any oppression on the part of this dynasty.Fatimid era
At the end of the 9th century, in 893-894, some Kutama notables met in Mecca the da'i Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i who attracted them to Shi'ism, and accompanied them on their return. In Ikjan, their chief-town, the da'i managed to win the sympathy of the population. Through all the trials, they would form the pillar of the Fatimid Caliphate. It was probably around this time that their geographic and human extension began. The territory that the Kutama occupied from this time seems much more extensive than it was in Roman times; it then encompassed the northern mountain ranges that stretch from Bougie to around Constantine, which al-Bakri calls Jabal Kutama, "the mountains of the Kutama". This area, limited to the west by the country of Zouaoua, extended south to Sétif, Mila, Constantine, Collo and Jijel. It was made up of the Petite Kabylie, the Collo Massif, part of the chain of Bibans, the mountains of Ferjioua, the numidic chain. This region has an extremely rugged terrain, with a steep coast, bordered by wooded mountains of very difficult access, the gaps being extremely rare, with mountains reaching almost 2000 m. The villages are perched on peaks and ridges that are difficult to access. The region presents itself as an almost impenetrable natural fortress.Later the Kutama were established further south in the plains. This extension suggests that, taking advantage of the weaknesses of the central government, the Kutama had reconstituted under their own name the old Bavares confederation, had extended to the south by reclaiming the fringe of the high plains bordering the southern flank of their mountains, an area favorable to the cultivation of cereals, of which their ancestors had been deprived in Roman times, for the benefit of Romano-Berber cities.
Abu Abdallah formed a powerful army and launched his troops against the Aghlabid fortresses erected in the Petite Kabylie region. A first attack failed, the da'i after occupying Mila in 902, was defeated by the son of the emir Ibrahim II, who however did not succeed in pursuing him until Ikjan. The Kutama were able to adapt and constitute a formidable militia. Under the orders of Abu ‘Abdallah, they took Sétif in 904, Belezma in 905, then Béja, against superior armies in number and armament. In 907/908 they attacked Ifriqiya. After the capiltulation of Meskiana and Tébessa, they captured Constantine. Abu 'Abdallah defeated the army of Ziyadat Allah III at al-Urbus, a city in Ifriqiya; the Aghlabids, defeated on all sides, abandoned by their followers, fled to the East. The victors entered Kairouan, parading in Raqqada on March 909.
The da'i proclaimed an amnesty, but distributed the spoils among his forces. Assured of the victory, he revealed the name of his master, Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah, and went to Sijilmassa, where he was held, to escort him to Kairouan. On the way, the Kutama army conquered the Rustamid imamate and drove the Ibadis from Tiaret, who went to take refuge in Sadrata, the capital of Ouargla oasis. The Mahdi entered Kairouan in December 909/January 910. Shortly after, he had Sicily conquered, and fought in Calabria.
The Fatimids, with their Kutama army under Jawhar al-Siqilli conquered Egypt in 969. A new Fatimid capital named al-Qahira, meaning "the Victorious" was founded.
The Kutamas installed a military camp near Cairo, forming a formidable military power in the service of the Fatimid Caliph. They led later expeditions to Damascus against the Abbasids. The district Kotama "El-Hai Kotamiyine" in Cairo and the Maghreb area of "Al-Harat Maghariba" in Damascus, still testify to the influence of this tribe whose members were, during different periods, repressed by the Abbasids and their allies. Saladin overthrew the Fatimids in 1171 and returned Egypt to Sunni Abbasid allegiance.