Vandal Kingdom

The Vandal Kingdom (Latin: Regnum Vandalum) or Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans (Latin: Regnum Vandalorum et Alanorum) was a confederation of Vandals and Alans, and a barbarian kingdom established under Gaiseric (or Genseric), a Vandalic warlord. It ruled parts of North Africa and the Mediterranean for 99 years from 435 to 534 AD.

In 429 AD, an estimated 80,000 Vandals, using their boats, crossed over from Hispania to North Africa. They advanced eastward, conquering the coastal regions of what is now Tunisia, and Algeria. In 435 AD, the Western Roman Empire, then ruling North Africa, allowed the Vandals to settle in the provinces of Numidia and Mauretania when it became clear that the Vandals could not be defeated through military force. In 439 AD, the Vandals renewed their advance eastward and captured Carthage, the most important city in North Africa. The fledgling kingdom then conquered the Roman-ruled islands of Mallorca, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica in the western Mediterranean. In the 460s AD, the Romans launched two unsuccessful military expeditions by sea in an attempt to overthrow the Vandals and reclaim North Africa. The conquest of North Africa by the Vandals was a blow to the beleaguered Western Roman Empire, as North Africa had been a major source of revenue and a supplier of grain, especially wheat, to the city of Rome.

Although primarily remembered for their sack of Rome in 455 AD and the persecution of Nicene Christians in favour of Arian Christianity, the Vandals also supported the continued construction of educational institutions in their kingdom. According to historian Richard Miles, North Africa hosted "many of the most innovative writers and natural scientists" of the late Latin-speaking Western Roman Empire.