Morocco and Palestine share a common Arab heritage, where the Arabs from Levant brought Arabic language and Islam to North Africa, gradually Arabising and Islamising the native North African population. However, once the Arab Caliphates fell in 13th century due to Mongol conquest, histories of both countries diverged the same time: Morocco became the independent Arab-Berber Kingdom while Palestine would be exchanged between the Mamluks, the Persians and the Ottomans, before finally annexed into the Ottoman territory for the next 400 years. The two later found themselves colonised by European empires (Spain, France and Britain).