The
Almohad Dynasty (From Arabic الموحدون
al-Muwahhidun, i.e., "the monotheists" or "the Unitarians"), was a
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
,
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
dynasty that was founded in the
12th centuryAs a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and is sometimes called the Age of the...
, which conquered all of northern Africa as far as
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
, together with
Al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
(
MoorishThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim people of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to conquer and occupy the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most...
IberiaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
).
Between 1130 and his death in 1163,
Abd al-Mu'minAbd al-Mu'min was the first Amir of the Almohad Empire.Abd al-Mu'min born in Nedroma current Algeria. He was the only one berber not coming from Morocco which forced him to be diplomatic to be accepted by the group and the others leaders...
al-Kumi, the only one Berber from
NedromaNedroma is a city in Tlemcen Province, Algeria. Once the capital of Trara, it was built on the ruins of a Berber city, Abd al-Mu'min is native of Nedroma.- World Heritage Status :...
among the Masmudas and other berber tribes of modern
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
army, defeated the ruling Almoravids and extended his power over all northern Africa as far as
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
, becoming Emir of Marrakesh in 1149.
Al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
, Moorish Iberia, followed the fate of Africa, and in 1170 the Almohads transferred their capital to
SevilleSeville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level. The inhabitants of the city are known as Sevillanos or...
. However, by 1212
Muhammad III, "al-Nasir"Muhammad an-Nâsir , date of birth unknown. He succeeded his father, Abû Yûsuf Ya'qûb al-Mansûr, as Almohad caliph in 1198. He died in 1213.- Biography :...
(1199–1214) was defeated by an alliance of the four Christian princes of
CastileKingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
,
AragónThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
,
NavarreThe Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
and
PortugalThe Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
, at the
Battle of Las Navas de TolosaThe Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain...
in the
Sierra MorenaThe Sierra Morena is a mountain range which stretches for 400 km East-West across southern Spain, forming the border of the central plateau of Iberia, and providing the watershed between the valleys of the Guadiana to the north and the Guadalquivir to the south.Situated within the province of...
. The battle destroyed Almohad dominance. Nearly all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon after, with the great Moorish cities of
Córdoba||-||-||}Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. Located at 37.88° North, 4.77° West, on the Guadalquivir river, it was founded in ancient Roman times as Corduba by Claudius Marcellus...
and
SevilleSeville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level. The inhabitants of the city are known as Sevillanos or...
falling to the Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively.
The Almohads continued to rule in Africa until the piecemeal loss of territory through the revolt of tribes and districts enabled their most effective enemies, the
MarinidThe Anglicised name used for this article derives from the Arabic Banu Marin or the Berber Ayt Mrin, which is the source of the Spanish name....
s in 1215. The last representative of the line, Idris II, "El Wathiq"' was reduced to the possession of Marrakesh, where he was murdered by a slave in 1269.
Today the holy place and the tomb of the Almohads are present in Morocco, as the tomb of their rivals and enemies the Almoravids.
Origins
The dynasty originated with
Ibn TumartAbu Abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Tumart , was a Berber religious scholar, teacher and later a political leader from the Masmuda tribe who spiritually founded the Berber Almohad dynasty. He is also known as El-Mahdi in reference to his prophesied redeeming...
, a member of the
MasmudaThe Masmuda were one of the largest Berber tribal confederacies in the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and the Sanhaja.-History:The Masmuda settled large parts of Morocco, and were largely sedentary and practised agriculture. The residence of the Masmuda aristocracy was Agmat in the High Atlas...
, a
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
tribe of the
Atlas MountainsThe Atlas Mountains are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines...
of Morocco. Ibn Tumart was the son of a lamplighter in a mosque and had been noted for his piety from his youth; he was small, and misshapen and lived the life of a devotee-beggar. As a youth he performed the
hajjThe Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca . It is currently the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, an obligation that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
to
MeccaMecca , sometimes spelled Makkah is the holiest meeting site of the Islamic religion. The city is modern, cosmopolitan and whilst being closed to non-Muslims is nonetheless ethnically diverse.Islamic tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants...
(or "Makkah"), whence he was expelled on account of his severe strictures on the laxity of others, and thence wandered to Baghdad, where he attached himself to the school of the orthodox doctor al-Ash'ari. But he made a system of his own by combining the teaching of his master with parts of the doctrines of others, and with mysticism imbibed from the great teacher Ghazali. His main principle was a strict Unitarianism which denied the independent existence of the attributes of God, as being incompatible with his unity, and therefore a polytheistic idea. Ibn Tumart in fact represented a revolt against what he perceived as
anthropomorphismAnthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. Examples include animals and plants depicted as creatures with human motivation able to reason and converse and forces of nature such as...
in the Muslim orthodoxy.
The Dynasty
After his return to Magreb at the age of twenty-eight, Ibn Tumart began preaching and agitating, heading riotous attacks on wine-shops and on other manifestations of laxity. He even went so far as to assault the sister of the Almoravid (Murabit) amir `Ali III, in the streets of Fez, because she was going about unveiled after the manner of Berber women. `Ali III allowed him to escape unpunished.
Ibn Tumart, who had been driven from several other towns for exhibitions of reforming zeal, now took refuge among his own people, the
MasmudaThe Masmuda were one of the largest Berber tribal confederacies in the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and the Sanhaja.-History:The Masmuda settled large parts of Morocco, and were largely sedentary and practised agriculture. The residence of the Masmuda aristocracy was Agmat in the High Atlas...
, in the
AtlasThe Atlas Mountains are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines...
. It is highly probable that his influence would not have outlived him, if he had not found a lieutenant in
Abd al-Mu'minAbd al-Mu'min was the first Amir of the Almohad Empire.Abd al-Mu'min born in Nedroma current Algeria. He was the only one berber not coming from Morocco which forced him to be diplomatic to be accepted by the group and the others leaders...
al-Kumi, another Berber, from
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
, who was undoubtedly a soldier and statesman of a high order. When Ibn Tumart died in 1128 at the monastery or
ribatA ribat is an Arabic term for a small fortification as built along a frontier during the first years of the Muslim conquest of North Africa to house military volunteers, called the murabitun...
which he had founded in the Atlas at Tinmel, after suffering a severe defeat by the
AlmoravidsThe Almoravids are a Berber dynasty of Sahara, which lived between the current Senegal and south of the current Morocco It is affiliated to the Berber tribe of Sanhadja and Lemtuna...
, Abd al-Mu'min kept his death secret for two years, till his own influence was established. He then came forward as the lieutenant of the
MahdiAccording to the Shia and Sunni versions of the Islamic eschatology the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on earth seven, nine, or nineteen years before the coming of the day, Yawm al-Qiyamah...
Ibn Tumart. Between 1130 and his death in 1163, `Abd-el-Mumin not only rooted out the Murabits, but extended his power over all northern Africa as far as
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
, becoming amir of Marrakesh in 1149.
Al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
followed the fate of Africa, and in 1170 the Almohads transferred their capital to
SevilleSeville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level. The inhabitants of the city are known as Sevillanos or...
, a step followed by the founding of the great mosque (now superseded by the cathedral), the tower of which, the
GiraldaThe Giralda is the bell tower of the Cathedral of Seville in Seville, Spain, one of the largest churches in the world and an outstanding example of the Gothic and Baroque architectural styles. The tower's first two-thirds is a former Almohad minaret which, when built, was the tallest tower in the...
, they erected in 1184 to mark the accession of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur. From the time of Yusuf II, however, they governed their co-religionists in Iberia and Central North
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
through lieutenants, their dominions outside
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
being treated as provinces. When their amirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a jihad against the Christians and to return to their capital, Marrakesh.
The Almohad princes had a longer and a more distinguished career than the Murabits (or
AlmoravidsThe Almoravids are a Berber dynasty of Sahara, which lived between the current Senegal and south of the current Morocco It is affiliated to the Berber tribe of Sanhadja and Lemtuna...
). Yusuf II or
Abu Yaqub YusufAbu Ya'qub Yusuf or Yusuf I was the second Almohad Amir. He reigned from 1163 until 1184. He had the Giralda in Seville built....
(1163–1184), and Ya'qub I or Yaqub al-Mansur (1184-1199), the successors of Abd al-Mumin, were both able men. Initially their government drove many Jewish and Christian subjects to take refuge in the growing Christian states of Portugal, Castile and Aragon. But in the end they became less fanatical than the
AlmoravidsThe Almoravids are a Berber dynasty of Sahara, which lived between the current Senegal and south of the current Morocco It is affiliated to the Berber tribe of Sanhadja and Lemtuna...
, and Ya'qub al-Mansur was a highly accomplished man, who wrote a good
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
style and who protected the philosopher
AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
. His title of al-Mansur, "The Victorious," was earned by the defeat he inflicted on
Alfonso VIII of CastileAlfonso VIII , called the Noble or el de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate...
in the
Battle of AlarcosBattle of Alarcos , was a battle between an alliance of Almohads led by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur and some Castilian cavalry led by Pedro Fernández de Castro versus King Alfonso VIII King of Castile,; also referred as the Disaster of Alarcos.- Background :In 1188 the Almohad caliph Abu Yusuf...
(1195).
Decline and loss of Iberia
However, the Christian states in Iberia were becoming too well organized to be overrun by the Muslims, and the Almohads made no permanent advance against them.
In 1212
Muhammad III, "al-Nasir"Muhammad an-Nâsir , date of birth unknown. He succeeded his father, Abû Yûsuf Ya'qûb al-Mansûr, as Almohad caliph in 1198. He died in 1213.- Biography :...
(1199–1214), the successor of al-Mansur, after an initially successful advance north, was defeated by an alliance of the four Christian princes of
CastileKingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
,
AragónAragon is an autonomous community of Spain. Located in northeastern Spain, the region comprises three provinces from north to south: Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza .Aragon's northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees...
,
Kingdom of NavarreThe Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
and
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
, at the
Battle of Las Navas de TolosaThe Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain...
in the
Sierra MorenaThe Sierra Morena is a mountain range which stretches for 400 km East-West across southern Spain, forming the border of the central plateau of Iberia, and providing the watershed between the valleys of the Guadiana to the north and the Guadalquivir to the south.Situated within the province of...
. The battle destroyed Almohad dominance. Nearly all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon after, with the great Moorish cities of
Córdoba||-||-||}Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. Located at 37.88° North, 4.77° West, on the Guadalquivir river, it was founded in ancient Roman times as Corduba by Claudius Marcellus...
and
SevilleSeville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level. The inhabitants of the city are known as Sevillanos or...
falling to the Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively.
All that remained, thereafter, was the Moorish state of
GranadaGranada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.- Overview :The city of Granada is placed at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, Beiro, Darro and Genil, at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
, which after an internal Muslim revolt, survived as a tributary state of the Christian kingdoms on Iberia's southern periphery. The
Nasrid dynastyThe Nasrid dynasty or Banuu Nasri was the last Arab and Muslim dynasty in Spain. The Nasrid dynasty rose to power after the defeat of the Almohad dynasty in 1212 at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa...
or
Banu Nazari rose to power there after the defeat of the Almohads dynasty in 1212. Twenty different Muslim kings ruled
GranadaGranada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.- Overview :The city of Granada is placed at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, Beiro, Darro and Genil, at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
from the founding of the dynasty in 1232 by Muhammed I ibn Nasr until January 2, 1492, when
Sultan BoabdilAbu 'abd-Allah Muhammad XII , known as Boabdil , was the twenty-second and last Nasrid ruler of Granada in Iberia. He was also called el chico, the little, or el zogoybi, the unfortunate...
surrendered to the Christian Spanish kingdom. Today, the most visible evidence of the Nasrids is the
AlhambraThe Alhambra , the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra , is a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish rulers of Granada in southern Spain , occupying a hilly terrace on the...
palace complex built under their rule.
In their African holdings, the Almohads encouraged the establishment of Christians even in Fez, and after the
Battle of Las Navas de TolosaThe Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain...
they occasionally entered into alliances with the kings of
CastileKingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
. They were successful in expelling the garrisons placed in some of the coast towns by the
NormanThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
kings of
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
. The history of their decline differs from that of the
AlmoravidsThe Almoravids are a Berber dynasty of Sahara, which lived between the current Senegal and south of the current Morocco It is affiliated to the Berber tribe of Sanhadja and Lemtuna...
, whom they had displaced. They were not assailed by a great religious movement, but lost territories, piecemeal, by the revolt of tribes and districts. Their most effective enemies were the Beni Marin (
MarinidThe Anglicised name used for this article derives from the Arabic Banu Marin or the Berber Ayt Mrin, which is the source of the Spanish name....
s) who founded the next dynasty. The last representative of the line, Idris II, "El Wathiq"' was reduced to the possession of Marrakesh, where he was murdered by a slave in 1269.
Religion
The Almohads, who had taken control of the Almoravids' Maghribi and Andalusian territories by 1147, far surpassed the
AlmoravidsThe Almoravids are a Berber dynasty of Sahara, which lived between the current Senegal and south of the current Morocco It is affiliated to the Berber tribe of Sanhadja and Lemtuna...
in fundamentalist outlook, and they treated the
dhimmiA dhimmi is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law...
s (non-Muslims) harshly. Faced with the choice of either death or conversion, most Jews and Christians emigrated. A few, like the family of
MaimonidesMoses Maimonides, also known as Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon or the acronym the Rambam , was born in Cordoba, Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in Egypt on December 13, 1204....
, eventually fled east to more tolerant Muslim lands, while most of them went northward to settle in the growing Christian kingdoms.
Muwahhadi (Almohad) Caliphs,1121–1269
- Ibn Tumart 1121-1130
- Abd al-Mu'min 1130–1163
- Abu Ya'qub Yusuf I 1163–1184
- Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur
Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur , was the third Almohad AmirSucceeding his father, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, Yakub al-Mansur reigned from 1184 to 1199 with distinction. During his tenure, trade, architecture, philosophy and the sciences flourished, to say nothing of military conquests...
1184–1199
- Muhammad an-Nasir
Muhammad an-Nâsir , date of birth unknown. He succeeded his father, Abû Yûsuf Ya'qûb al-Mansûr, as Almohad caliph in 1198. He died in 1213.- Biography :...
1199–1213
- Abu Ya'qub Yusuf II
Yusuf II was Caliph of Morocco from 1213 until his death. Son of the previous caliph, Muhammad an-Nasir, Yusuf assumed the throne following his father's death, at the age of only sixteen years....
1213–1224
- Abd al-Wahid I
Abu Muhammad Abdul-Wahid I was Caliph of Morocco for less than a year in 1224. Soon after succeeding his father, the Almohad Caliph Yusuf II, to the throne, Abdul-Wahid I was strangled...
1224
- Abdallah al-Adil 1224–1227
- Yahya 1227–1235
- Idris I 1227–1232
- Abdul-Wahid II 1232–1242
- Ali 1242–1248
- Umar 1248–1266
- Idris II 1266–1269
Culture
Sufi writers.
- Sidi Abu Madyan Choaïb ben al-Houssein al-Ansari
Sidi Abu Madyan Shuayb ibn al-Hussein al-Ansari , also known as Sidi Bou Médine or Sidi Boumédiène, was a Sufi teacher, scholar and writer and poet. He is the single most important founder of Sufism in the Maghreb and Andalusia. Ibn Arabi called Abu Madyan "the teacher of teachers"...
(1126-1198)
- Ali ibn Harzihim (m.1164)
- Abi Mohammed Salih
Abu Mohammed Salih or Abu Mohammed Saleh ibn Yansaran Said ibn Gafiyan al-Doukkali al-Magiri was a Sufi leader from Morocco and one of the successors of Abu Madyan. He was the patron saint of Safi and lived during the reign of the Almohad dynasty...
(1153-1234)
- Abu Abdallah ibn Harzihim (m.1235)
- Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili
Shaykh Abu’l-Hassan ash-Shadhili was born in Ghumara, near Ceuta in the north of Morocco in 1196/1197 into a family of peasant labourers. He died 1258, in Humaithra, on the Red Sea. For his education he went to the Qarawiyyin University in Fes, where he met some scholars who introduced him to the...
(1197-1258)
- Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi (b. 1185) historian and writer
- Salih ben Sharif al-Rundi
Abu Muhammad Salih b. Abi Sharif al-Rundi was a poet from al-Andalus. He was born in Sevilla in 1204 and fled that town in 1248 and lived in Ceuta until his death in 1285. al-Rundi wrote a handbook on poetry...
(1204-1285)
See also
- History of Algeria
- History of Gibraltar
The history of Gibraltar portrays how The Rock gained an importance and a reputation far exceeding its size, influencing and shaping the people who came to reside here over the centuries.-Prehistoric:...
- History of Islam
- History of Morocco
The Capsian culture brought Morocco into the Neolithic about 8000 BC, at a time when the Maghreb was less arid than it is today. The Berber language probably was formed at roughly the same time as agriculture , and was developed by the existing population and adopted the immigrants who arrived later...
- History of Portugal
The history of Portugal, a European and an Atlantic nation, dates back to the Early Middle Ages. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it ascended to the status of a world power during Europe's "Age of Discovery" as it built up a vast empire including possessions in South America, Africa, Asia and...
- History of Spain
The history of Spain spans the period from Prehistoric Iberia, through the rise and fall of the first global empire, to Spain's current position as a member of the European Union.Modern humans entered the Iberian Peninsula more than 35,000 years ago...
- Nasrid dynasty
The Nasrid dynasty or Banuu Nasri was the last Arab and Muslim dynasty in Spain. The Nasrid dynasty rose to power after the defeat of the Almohad dynasty in 1212 at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa...
- Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
- Paderne Castle
Paderne Castle is in Algarve, Portugal. This hill fort was built by the Moors in the second half of the 12th Century. Its is eight kilometers from the Algarve resort of Albufeira, on a River Quarteira bend close to the village and civil parish of Paderne. It is 7.5 km north from the coast...
External links
Abd al-Mumin life among Masmudas : Britannica online