“Egypt is the most important country in the world” declared Napoleon Bonaparte in the first interview he granted to the governor of St. Helena after his eventual defeat in 1815. Despite the grandiose disposition of Napoleon, North Africa and not only Egypt alone is crucial for understanding not only the history of Africa but in fact, that of the world. North Africa is the cradle of human civilisation, as indeed, no other civilisation dates older than the Egyptian civilisation. This course, therefore, attempts to espouse to sophomores major themes of North African history, beginning from the Arab invasion in 639 AD up to the nineteenth century.