THE VANDALS & THE BYZANTINES Visit Tunisia Tour Tunisia Travel to Tunisia

The roman empire declined by the beginning of the 5th century AD . At that time , the Vandal king Gaiseric (or Genseric) , who had been occupied by battles in southern Spain , decided to gain the Roman North African colonies . In AD 429 , he set off across the Straits of Gibraltar and brought about 80 , 000 men , women and children with him in one of history's most astonishing invasions . Within 10 years , the Vandals had succeeded to pave their way to Carthage and made it the capital of a short-lived empire . The Vandals - who were avid Arian Christians - built no monuments and their cultural and archaeological traces are few (except for some churches of their rule) . North African economy began to decline , although Gaiseric in AD 455 , infamously , went on to plunder Rome .

At that time , the Byzantine emperor Justinian , based in Constantinople (Istanbul today) , had revived the eastern half of the now-Christianised Roman Empire and had intended to do the same for its western territories . His general Flavius Belisarius defeated the Vandals in AD 533 In two battles near Carthage , thus secured about 150 years of Byzantine rule . The Byzantines

however lived in a state of instability and constant siege , and Berber chieftains were in control of the bulk of the country . However , Byzantines also built many monuments , churches and fortifications which are still in existence in many of Tunisia's Roman sites .