By the end of the 10th century Sfax had become an independent city-state.

The city us conquered by Roger II of Sicily in 1148 and occupied until it is liberated in 1156 by local forces, and is briefly occupied by European forces again, this time by the Spanish, in the 16th century.

Sfax becomes an integral base of the Barbary piracy, prompting an unsuccessful invasion by Venice in 1785.

In the late 19th century Sfax and the rest of Tunisia are conquered by France and incorporated into the French empire.