Africa

   The term referred to only the western half of the northern coast (not the entirety) of the continent. The eastern half of that coast was referred to as Egypt. The desert wastes of the Sahara were like an impenetrable sea, which is why the interior remained largely unknown. Africa was penetrated by Vandals under Gaiseric (qq.v.), who invaded Africa from Spain in 429. Justinian I (q.v) sent a successful naval expedition against them in 533, led by Belisarios (q.v.). The Vandal kingdom collapsed within a year, but a revolt by the native Moors (q.v.) went on until 548. During the reign of Maurice (q.v.) Byzantine possessions around Carthage were consolidated into the Exarchate of Carthage (qq.v.). In the early seventh century, the Persians occupied Egypt from 618 until 629, when Her-akleios (q.v.) vanquished Persia. After their capture of Egypt in 640-642, the Arabs (q.v.) began a westward march that ended at the shores of the Atlantic Ocean at the beginning of the eighth century. The Arab conquest extinguished the Exarchate of Carthage, the last vestige of Byzantium (q.v.) in Africa.