The Banu Hilal were an Arab tribe that migrated from Arabia into North Africa in the 11th century, having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Zirids for abandoning Shiism. They quickly defeated the Zirids and deeply weakened the neighboring Hammadids. Their influx was a major factor in the Arabization of the Maghreb, and in the spread of nomadism in areas where agriculture had previously been dominant. The Arabs (Arabic: عرب Ê»arab) are an originally Arabian ethnicity widespread in the Middle East and North Africa. ... North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Canary Islands, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Azores and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa, though they do not share a common culture with North Africa. ... (10th century - 11th century - 12th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... The Fatimid or Fatimid Caliphate is the Ismaili Shiite dynasty that ruled North Africa from A.D. 909 to 1171. ... The Zirids were a Berber dynasty, originating in Petite Kabylie among the Kutama tribe, that ruled Ifriqiya (roughly, modern Tunisia), initially on behalf of the Fatimids, for about two centuries, until weakened by the Banu Hilal and finally destroyed by the Almohads. ... Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ... The Zirids were a Berber dynasty, originating in Petite Kabylie among the Kutama tribe, that ruled Ifriqiya (roughly, modern Tunisia), initially on behalf of the Fatimids, for about two centuries, until weakened by the Banu Hilal and finally destroyed by the Almohads. ... The Hammadids, an offshoot of the Zirids, were a Berber dynasty who ruled an area roughly corresponding to modern Algeria for about a century and a half, until, weakened by the Banu Hilals incursions, they were destroyed by the Almohads. ... (see also North Africa, Tamazgha, Arab Maghreb Union, Mashreq) The Maghreb (or Moghreb), meaning western in Arabic, is the region of the continent of Africa north of the Sahara desert and west of the Nile - specifically, the modern countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and to a lesser extent Libya and... Communities of nomadic people move from place to place, rather than settling down in one location. ...

They were led by Abu Zayd al-Hilali. Their story is recounted in fictionalized form in Taghribat Bani Hilal. Abu Zayd Ibn Rizq al-Hilali أبو زيد الهلالي Leader and hero of the Taghlibi tribe of Banu Hilal, who moved his tribe to Tunisia via Egypt; fictionalized in the epic Taghribat Bani Hilal. ... Taghribat Bani Hilal (تغريبة بني هلال, also known as Sirat Abu Zeid Al Hilali سيرة ابي زيد الهلالي) is an Arabic epic recounting the Banu Hilals journey from Egypt to Tunisia and conquest of the latter. ...

Their "saga" is still recounted in form of poetry in Algeria and Tunisia: Djezia and Dhieb bin Ghanim opposed to the Zenati Khalifa