The
Almoravids are a Berber dynasty of
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
, which lived between the current
SenegalSenegal , officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south, and it also encircles The Gambia on its three sides,...
and south of the current
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...
It is affiliated to the Berber tribe of Sanhadja and Lemtuna. From the eleventh century to the twelfth century, they ruled the
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
, part of
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
and part of the
Iberian PeninsulaThe 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...
.
In his book "The Muslim conquest and settlement of North Africa and Spain", the author Abd al-Wahid Dhannūn Taha, based on several sources including bibliographic of
Ibn KhaldunIbn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun (full name, , , (May 27, 1332 AD/732 AH – March 19, 1406 AD/808 AH) was a North African polymath — an astronomer, economist, historian, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, hafiz, jurist, lawyer,...
, providing 26 and 29 pages of his book (freely available on the net) information on the geographical distribution of tribes Sanhadja. It does the same for the different tribes and tribal Berber branch of the
MaghrebThe Maghreb , also rendered Maghrib , meaning "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic, is a region in North Africa. The term is generally applied to all of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, but in older Arabic usage pertained only to the area of the three countries between the high ranges of the...
and information on the different tribes or ethnic groups (Arabs, Berbers and sub-African) who participated in the Muslim conquest of Visigoth Spain .
Under this dynasty the Moorish empire was extended over present-day
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...
,
Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
,
MauritaniaMauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest...
,
GibraltarGibraltar is a self-governing British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula and Europe at the entrance of the Mediterranean overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. The territory covers and shares a land border with Spain to the north...
,
TlemcenTlemcen is a town in Northwestern Algeria, and the capital of the the province of the same name. Its population is 132,341 as of the 1998 census. Located inland, it is located in the center of a region known for its olive plantations and vineyards. The city has developed leather, carpet, and...
(in
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...
) and a great part of what is now
SenegalSenegal , officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south, and it also encircles The Gambia on its three sides,...
and
MaliMali, officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa, bordering Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west...
in the south, and
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
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...
to the north in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. At its greatest extent, the empire stretched 3,000 kilometres north to south (an all-time latitude spanner until
Spanish AmericaThe Spanish colonization of the Americas was the settlement and political rule over much of the western hemisphere which was initiated by the Spanish conquistadors and fought mostly by their native allies...
).
“Almoravids” is a transcription of “
Al-Murabitun”. The exact meaning of "Murabit" is a matter of controversy. Some have suggested that the word might be derived from the Arabic
ribat meaning fortress (a term with which it shares the root r-b-t). Most historians, however, now believe that it refers to
ribat meaning "ready for battle" (cf.
jihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād is a noun meaning "struggle." Jihad appears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah "...
).
Introduction
When the Almoravids began their political rise, the Kingdom of Fez (Morocco's first name) of the
IdrisidThe Idrisids were Arab Shia dynasty in the western Maghreb ruling from 788 to 985, named after its first sultan, Idriss I.-History:The founder of the dynasty was Idris ibn Abdallah , who traced his ancestry back to Ali ibn Abi Talib and his wife Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad...
dynasty was splitted into a series of small emirates located mainly north of the country, and headed by relatives of the royal family.
According to French historian Bernard Lugan and others, the lure of wealth from trade in the South (Sahara) and marketed to the North (the West) attracted various tribes to crossroads city such as
MarrakechMarrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco...
, which become the capital of various dynasties, especially those from the South (Almoravids, Almohades, Saadian).
The current name of Morocco derives in fact from Marrakesh role as the Almoravid capital.
Beginnings
The most powerful of the tribes of the
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
near the
Sénégal RiverThe Sénégal River is a 1790 km long river in West Africa, that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania. It was called Bambotus by Pliny the Elder and Nias by Claudius Ptolemy...
was the
LamtunaThe Lamtuna are a Berber tribe from the region of Mauritania-Western Sahara-Morocco-Algeria. They claim descent from Himyar, one of the South Arabian eponyms. The Almoravids, the founders of Marrakech in Morocco where they established their capital, originated from this tribe....
, whose culture of origin was 'Wadi Noun' (Nul Lemta). They later came together as the upper leger River culture, which founded the city of
AoudaghostAoudaghost, , was a major city in ancient mediaeval West Africa, lying in what is now southern Mauritania...
. They converted to
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
in the 9th century.
About the year 1040 (or a little earlier) one of their chiefs, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, made the
pilgrimageThe 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 Makkah. On his way home, he attended the teachers of the mosque at University of Al-Qayrawan, today's
KairouanKairouan Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) (also known as Kirwan, Al Qayrawan, it is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. It was founded by the Arabs in around 670 in the period of Caliph Mu'awiya and the original name was derived from Arabic kairuwân, from...
in
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
; the first Arab-Muslim city in
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
, who soon learnt from him that his people knew little of the religion they were supposed to profess, and that though his will was good, his own ignorance was great. By the good offices of the theologians of Al Qayrawan, one of whom was from Fez, Yahya was provided with a missionary,
Abdallah ibn YasinAbdallah Ibn Yasin was a theologian and founder of the Almoravid movement and dynasty of North African rulers and, later, of the Iberian Peninsula....
, a zealous partisan of the
MalikiThe Maliki madhhab is one of the four schools of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam. It is the third-largest of the four schools, followed by approximately 15% of Muslims, mostly in North Africa, West Africa, United Arab Emirates, some parts of Saudi Arabia.Madhabs are rites not sects. They...
s, one of the four Madhhab, Sunni schools of Islam.
His preaching was before-long rejected by the Lamtunas; so on the advice of Yahya, who accompanied him, he retired to
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
n regions from which his influence spread. His creed was mainly characterized by a rigid formalism and a strict adherence to the dictates of the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
, and the
Orthodox traditionSunnah is an Arabic word that means habit or usual practice. The Muslim usage of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of Muhammad, the main prophet of Islam....
.
Abd-Allah ibn Yasin imposed a penitential scourging on all converts as a purification, and enforced a regular system of discipline for every breach of the law, including the chiefs themselves. Under such directions, the Almoravids were brought into excellent order. Their first military leader, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, gave them a good military organization. Their main force was infantry, armed with
javelinA spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft, such as obsidian, iron or bronze...
s in the front ranks and
pikeA pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used two-handed and used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown...
s behind, which formed into a
phalanxThe phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons...
; it was supported by
camelCamels are even-toed ungulates within the genus Camelus. The dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the Bactrian camel has two humps. They are native to the dry desert areas of western Asia, and central and east Asia, respectively...
men and
horseThe horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
men on the
flankIn military tactics, a flanking maneuver, also called a flank attack, is an attack on the sides of an opposing force. If a flanking maneuver succeeds, the opposing force would be surrounded from two or more directions, which significantly reduces the maneuverability of the outflanked force and its...
s.
Military successes
From the year 1053, the Almoravids began to spread their religious way to the Berber areas of the Sahara, and to the regions south of the desert. They converted
TakrurTakrur, Tekrur, or Tekrour was an ancient state of West Africa, which flourished roughly parallel to the Ghana Empire.-Origin:...
(a small state in modern
SenegalSenegal , officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south, and it also encircles The Gambia on its three sides,...
) to Islam, and after winning over the
SanhajaThe Sanhaja were one of the largest Berber tribal confederations of the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and Masmuda.-History:...
Berber tribe, they quickly took control of the entire desert trade route, seizing
SijilmasaSijilmasa was a mediaeval trade entrepôt at the Western edge of the Maghreb in what is now Morocco. The ruins of the city lie along the river Ziz in the Tafilalt oasis near the town of Rissani. The city's colorful history was marked by several successive invasions by Amazigh dynasties during the...
at the northern end in 1054, and
AoudaghostAoudaghost, , was a major city in ancient mediaeval West Africa, lying in what is now southern Mauritania...
at the southern end in 1055. Yahya ibn Ibrahim was killed in a battle in 1056, but Abd-Allah ibn Yasin, whose influence as a religious teacher was paramount, named his brother
Abu-Bakr Ibn-UmarAbu-Bakr Ibn-Umar was an Almoravid ruler. He was appointed General of the Almoravid movement by its leader Abdallah ibn Yasin on the death of his brother Yahya Ibn Ibrahim in 1056 . He captured Sūs and its capital Aghmat in southern Morocco in 1057, and became leader of the Murabitūn on the death...
as chief. Under him, the Almoravids soon began to spread their power beyond the desert, and subjected the tribes 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...
. They then came in contact with the
BerghouataThe Barghawata were a medieval Berber tribe confederation of the Atlantic coast of Morocco, belonging to the Masmuda group of tribes...
, a branch of the
ZenataAccording to the French historians Emile Felix Gautier and Gabriel Camps, Zenata tribes entered in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia from the east of Africa in pre-Islamic times and grouped themselves with the tribes of Maghrawa, Miknasa and Banu Ifran etc.......
of central Morocco, who followed a "heresy" founded by
Salih ibn Tarif' was the second king of the Berghouata, and proclaimed himself a prophet of a new religion. He appeared during the caliphate of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 744 AD....
, three centuries earlier. The Berghouata made a fierce resistance, and it was in battle with them that Abdullah ibn Yasin was killed. They were, however, completely conquered by
Abu-Bakr Ibn-UmarAbu-Bakr Ibn-Umar was an Almoravid ruler. He was appointed General of the Almoravid movement by its leader Abdallah ibn Yasin on the death of his brother Yahya Ibn Ibrahim in 1056 . He captured Sūs and its capital Aghmat in southern Morocco in 1057, and became leader of the Murabitūn on the death...
, who took the defeated chief's widow,
ZainabZaynab an-Nafzāwiyyat , a Berber woman of influence in the early Almoravid movement which gained control of Morocco, Algeria and parts of Spain....
, as a wife.
In 1061,
Abu-Bakr Ibn-UmarAbu-Bakr Ibn-Umar was an Almoravid ruler. He was appointed General of the Almoravid movement by its leader Abdallah ibn Yasin on the death of his brother Yahya Ibn Ibrahim in 1056 . He captured Sūs and its capital Aghmat in southern Morocco in 1057, and became leader of the Murabitūn on the death...
made a division of the power he had established, handing over the more-settled parts to his cousin
Yusuf ibn TashfinYusuf ibn Tashfin was a king of the Berber Almoravid empire in North Africa and Al-Andalus .-Succession to power:...
, as
viceroyA viceroy is a royal official who runs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. His province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty. The relative...
, resigning to him also his favourite wife Zainab. For himself, he reserved the task of suppressing the revolts which had broken out in the desert, but when he returned to resume control, he found his cousin too powerful to be superseded. He returned to the Sahara, where, in 1087, having been wounded with a poisoned arrow, he died.
Yusuf ibn Tashfin had in the meantime brought what is now known as Morocco,
Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
and
MauretaniaIn Antiquity, Mauretania was originally an independent Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa , corresponding to western Algeria, northern Morocco and Spanish Plazas de soberanía. The Mauri people were indicated with the Greek word mauros, black...
into complete subjection. In 1062 he founded the city of
MarrakechMarrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco...
. In 1080, he conquered the kingdom of
TlemcenTlemcen is a town in Northwestern Algeria, and the capital of the the province of the same name. Its population is 132,341 as of the 1998 census. Located inland, it is located in the center of a region known for its olive plantations and vineyards. The city has developed leather, carpet, and...
(in modern-day
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...
) and founded the present city of that name, his rule extending as far east as
OranOran is a major city on the Mediterranean coast in northwestern Algeria. The name comes from the Berber word Uhran meaning The Lions....
.
Ghana Empire
There has been a belief by some that the Almoravids conquered the
Ghana EmpireThe Ghana Empire or Wagadou Empire was located in what is now southeastern Mauritania, and Western Mali.This is believed to be the first of many empires that would rise in that part of Africa. It first began in the eighth century, when a dramatic shift in the economy of the Sahel area south of the...
sometime around 1075 AD. According to Arab tradition, the ensuing war pushed Ghana over the edge, ending the kingdom's position as a commercial and military power by 1100, as it collapsed into tribal groups and chieftaincies, some of which later assimilated into the Almoravids while others founded the
Mali Empire|native_name = Manden Kurufa|conventional_long_name = Mali Empire|common_name = Mali Empire|continent = Africa|region = North-West Africa|country = [Mali]|status = Empire|government_type g = Constitutional monarchy||year_start = 1230s...
. However, the Almoravid religious influence was gradual and not heavily involved in military strife, as Almoravids increased in power by marrying among the nation's nobility. Scholars such as Dierk Lange attribute the decline of ancient Ghana to numerous unrelated factors, only one of which can be likely attributable to internal dynastic struggles that were instigated by Almalvorid influence and Islamic pressures, but devoid of any military conversion and conquest.
Conquest of southern Iberia
In 1086
Yusuf ibn TashfinYusuf ibn Tashfin was a king of the Berber Almoravid empire in North Africa and Al-Andalus .-Succession to power:...
was invited by the
taifaIn the history of Iberia, a taifa was an independent Muslim-ruled principality, usually an emirate or petty kingdom, though there was one oligarchy, of which a number formed in the Al-Andalus after the final collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031.The origins of the taifas must be...
Muslim princes of the
Iberian PeninsulaThe 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...
(
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....
) to defend them against Alfonso VI, King of
LeónKingdom of León was an independent country situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 AD when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their main seat from Oviedo to the city of León...
and
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...
. In that year,
Yusuf ibn TashfinYusuf ibn Tashfin was a king of the Berber Almoravid empire in North Africa and Al-Andalus .-Succession to power:...
crossed the straits to
AlgecirasAlgeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, and is the largest urban area on the Bay of Gibraltar . It is the busiest port in Spain. It is situated on the Río de la Miel 20 km north of Tarifa, which is the southernmost town of the Iberian peninsula and continental Europe. It has a population in...
, inflicted a severe defeat on the Christians at the Battle of az-Zallaqah (Battle of Sagrajas). He was prevented from following up his victory by trouble in
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...
, which he had to settle in person.
When he returned to Iberia in 1090, it was avowedly for the purpose of deposing the Muslim princes, and annexing their states. He had in his favour the mass of the inhabitants, who had been worn out by the oppressive taxation imposed by their spend-thrift rulers. Their religious teachers, as well as others in the east, (most notably,
al-GhazaliAbū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī , often Algazel in English, was born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia. He was an Islamic theologian, jurist, philosopher, cosmologist, psychologist and mystic of Persian origin, and remains one of the most celebrated scholars in the...
in
PersiaIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
and
al-TartushiAbu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Walid al-Tartushi was a famous Muslim jurist from Tortosa, Muslim Spain....
in Egypt, who was himself an Iberian by birth, from
TortosaTortosa is the capital of the comarca of Baix Ebre, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain, located at 12 metres above the sea, by the Ebre river...
), detested the native Muslim princes for their religious indifference, and gave Yusuf a
fatwaA fatwā , in the Islamic faith is a religious opinion concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwa is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be binding, depending on the status of the scholar...
-- or legal opinion—to the effect that he had good moral and religious right, to dethrone the rulers, whom he saw as heterodox and who did not scruple to seek help from the Christians, whose habits he claimed they had adopted. By 1094, he had removed them all, except for the one at
ZaragozaZaragoza, also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza province and of the autonomous community and former Kingdom of Aragon, Spain...
; and though he regained little from the Christians except Valencia, he re-united the Muslim power, and gave a check to the reconquest of the country by the Christians.
After friendly correspondence with the caliph at
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
, whom he acknowledged as
Amir al-Mu'minin ("Commander of the Faithful"), Yusuf ibn Tashfin in 1097 assumed the title of
Amir al Muslimin ("Commander of the Muslims"). He died in 1106, when he was reputed to have reached the age of 100.
The Almoravid power was at its height at Yusuf's death, and the Moorish empire then included all North-West Africa as far as
AlgiersAlgiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria, and the second largest city in the Maghreb . According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630...
, and all of Iberia south of the
TagusFor the ancient Thessalian title, see TagusThe Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula...
, with the east coast as far as the mouth of the
EbroThe Ebro or Ebre is Spain's most voluminous river. Its source is in Fontibre . It flows through cities such as Miranda de Ebro, Logroño, Zaragoza, Flix, Tortosa, and Amposta before discharging in a delta on the Mediterranean Sea in the province of Tarragona.-Name:The Romans named this river Iber...
, and included the
Balearic IslandsThe Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula....
.
Decline
Three years afterwards, under Yusuf's son and successor,
Ali ibn YusufAli ibn Yusuf was an Almoravid ruler in North Africa and Al-Andalus who was an ethnic Berber, reigned 1106–1142....
,
SintraSintra is a town in Sintra Municipality in Portugal, located in the Grande Lisboa subregion and the Lisbon Region. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account of its 19th century Romantic architecture....
and
SantarémSantarém is a city in the Santarém Municipality in Portugal. The city itself has a population of 28,760 and the entire municipality has 64,124 inhabitants.It is the capital of Santarém District....
were added, and Iberia was again invaded in 1119 and 1121, but the tide had turned, the French having assisted the Aragonese to recover
ZaragozaZaragoza, also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza province and of the autonomous community and former Kingdom of Aragon, Spain...
. In 1138, Ali ibn Yusuf was defeated by
Alfonso VII of LeónAlfonso VII , called the Emperor, became the King of Galicia in 1111 and King of León and Castile in 1126. He was crowned "Emperor of All the Spains" in 1135. He was the son of Urraca of León and Raymond of Burgundy, the first of the House of Burgundy to rule in Hispania.Alfonso was a dignified and...
, and in the
Battle of OuriqueThe Battle of Ourique saw the forces of Portuguese Prince Afonso Henriques defeat the Almoravid Moors led by Ali ibn Yusuf...
(1139), by
Afonso I of PortugalAfonso I or Alfonso I , or also Affonso or Alphonso or Alphonsus , sometimes rendered in English as Alphonzo or Alphonse, depending on the Spanish or French influence, more commonly known as Afonso Henriques , nicknamed the...
, who thereby won his crown.
LisbonLisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the district of Lisbon and the main city of the Lisbon region...
was recovered by the Portuguese in 1147.
Ali ibn Yusuf was a pious non-entity, who fasted and prayed while his empire fell to pieces under the combined action of his Christian foes in Iberia and the agitation of Almohads (the Muwahhids) in Morocco. After Ali ibn Yusuf's death in 1142, his son Tashfin ibn Ali lost ground rapidly before the Almohads, and in 1146 he was killed by a fall from a precipice while attempting to escape after a defeat near
OranOran is a major city on the Mediterranean coast in northwestern Algeria. The name comes from the Berber word Uhran meaning The Lions....
.
His two successors were Ibrahim ibn Tashfin and Is'haq ibn Ali, but their reigns were short. The conquest of the city of
MarrakechMarrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco...
by the Almohads in 1147 marked the fall of the dynasty, though fragments of the Almoravids (the
Banu GhaniyaThe Banu Ghaniya were distant relatives of the Almoravid dynasty, who appointed them as governors of the Balearic Islands in 1126. Following the collapse of the Almoravid power at the hand of the Almohads in the 1140s, the Banu Ghaniya continued to govern the Balearic Islands as independent emirs...
), continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands, and finally in
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
.
Interestingly, family names such as
Morabito,
Murabito and
Mirabito are common in western
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
Aeolian IslandsThe Aeolian Islands or Lipari Islands are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus. The locals residing on the islands are known as Eolian. They are a popular tourist destination in the summer, and attract up to 200,000 visitors...
and southern
CalabriaCalabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the...
in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. These names may have appeared in this region as early as the 11th century, when
Robert GuiscardRobert Guiscard, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, or the Fox, was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
and the Normans conquered the Muslim
emirate of SicilyThe Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...
. In addition to southern Italy, there are also sizable populations of
Mourabit (also spelled
Morabit or
Murabit or
Morabet) in modern-day
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...
,
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
,
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...
and
MauritaniaMauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest...
.
Rulers
- Abdallah ibn Yasin (1040-1059)
- Yusuf ibn Tashfin
Yusuf ibn Tashfin was a king of the Berber Almoravid empire in North Africa and Al-Andalus .-Succession to power:...
(1061–1106)
- Ali ibn Yusuf
Ali ibn Yusuf was an Almoravid ruler in North Africa and Al-Andalus who was an ethnic Berber, reigned 1106–1142....
(1106–42)
- Tashfin ibn Ali (1142–46)
- Ibrahim ibn Tashfin (1146)
- Ishaq ibn Ali (1146–47)
See also
- 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 Islam
- 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...
- 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...
- The modern Murabitun
Its principle objectives include the restoration of Zakat, Da’wa, the practice of Bayat to an Amir, the re-introduction of the Islamic currency of Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham, and the establishment of the ‘Amal Ahl al-Madinah....
movement of Western converts
- Maravedís were coins of Almoravid origin, kept in Spain for centuries.
- 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:...
External links