The Almoravid dynasty was a Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus, starting in the 1050s and lasting until its fall to the Almohads in 1147.
The history of human habitation in Morocco spans since the Lower Paleolithic, with the earliest known being Jebel Irhoud. Much later Morocco was part of Iberomaurusian culture, including Taforalt. It dates from the establishment of Mauretania and other ancient Berber kingdoms, to the establishment of the Moroccan state by the Idrisid dynasty followed by other Islamic dynasties, through to the colonial and independence periods.
Year 1056 (MLVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
Medieval Muslim Algeria was a period of Muslim dominance in Algeria during the Middle Ages, spanning the millennium from the 7th century to the 17th century. The new faith, in its various forms, would penetrate nearly all segments of society, bringing with it armies, learned men, and fervent mystics; in large part, it would replace tribal practices and loyalties with new social norms and political idioms.
Abd al Mu'min was a prominent member of the Almohad movement. Although the Almohad movement itself was founded by Ibn Tumart, Abd al-Mu’min was the founder of the ruling dynasty and creator of the Almohad empire. As a leader of the Almohad movement he became the first Caliph of the Almohad Empire in 1133, after the death in 1130 of the movement's founder, Ibn Tumart, and ruled until his death in 1163. Abd al-Mu'min put his predecessor's doctrine of Almohadism into practice, defeated the Almoravids, and extended his rule across Al-Andalus and as far as Tunis in Ifriqiya, thus bringing the Maghreb in North Africa and Al-Andalus in Europe under one creed and one government.
Azougui was a town in north-western Mauritania, lying on the Adrar Plateau, north-west of Atar. In the eleventh century it was the first capital of the Almoravid dynasty, who conquered a territory stretching from the Ghana Empire to Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula.
Abu Bakr ibn Umar ibn Ibrahim ibn Turgut, sometimes suffixed al-Sanhaji or al-Lamtuni was a chieftain of the Lamtuna Berber Tribe and Amir of the Almoravids from 1056 until his death. He is credited to have founded the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, and under his rule the heretic Barghawatas were destroyed. In 1076, he conquered Koumbi Saleh capital of the Ghana Empire, and is credited to have brought Islam in this Western Sub-Saharan Africa region. In November of 1087, Abu Bakr died of a poisoned arrow in what is now Mauritania.
Yusuf ibn Tashfin, also Tashafin, Teshufin, was a Sanhaja leader of the Almoravid Empire. He cofounded the city of Marrakesh and led the Muslim forces in the Battle of Sagrajas.
The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids were an Arab Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I, the Idrisids were an Alid dynasty descended from Muhammad through his grandson Hasan. The Idrisids are traditionally considered to be the founders of the first Moroccan state, setting the stage for subsequent dynasties and states centered in this region. Their reign played an important role in the early Islamization of Morocco and also presided over an increase in Arab immigration and Arabization in major urban centers.
Abdallah ibn Yasin was a theologian, spiritual leader and the founder of the Almoravid movement.
The Lamtuna are a nomadic Berber tribe belonging to the Iẓnagen / Sanhaja (Zenaga) confederation, who traditionally inhabited areas from Sous to Adrar Plateau. During the Almoravid period, many Lamtunas emigrated northwards. Currently, the Lemtuna Tribe is based in the South of Mauritania. The chief of this Tribe is Mr. Limam Ould Teguedi Among notable families are the family of Ehl Aly Ibn Ibrahim, the family of Ehel Sidelemine, Ehl Abdawa, Ehl Mohamed El-Emine and Ehl Mohammed Ghali. Sahrawi Tajakant as well as Messouma tribes are of the most recognisable offshoots of the Lamtunas. They inhabit the area between Morocco and Western Sahara. The Banu Ghaniya, the successors of this dynasty in Tripoli and the Nafusa Mountains and the governors of the Spanish Balearic Islands until about the middle of the 13th century, originated from this tribe as well.
Yahya, also spelled Yehya, is an Arabic male given name. It is an Arabic form of the given name John, originally Aramaic Yohanan, i.e. primarily John the Baptist, who is known as Yahya ibn Zakariyya in Islam, and is considered a prophet in Islam. For this reason, Yahya is a comparatively common name in the Muslim world. The related Biblical name of Jehiah has the Arabic form Yaḥiyyā يَحِيَّى., having the same Arabic consonantal text as the name Yahya does.
Yahya Ibn Ibrahim was a leader of the Godala tribe in the Adrar plateau modern day Mauritania. Yahya Ibn Ibrahim's primary significance was in his involvement with Abdallah ibn Yasin, a Berber Muslim theologian with whom he founded the Almoravid movement. Yahya Ibn Ibrahim is the first Almoravid emir. His successor Yahya ibn Umar was his nephew.
Zaynab an-Nafzāwiyyah, was a Berber woman of influence in the early days of the Almoravid Berber empire which gained control of Morocco, western-Algeria, modern-day Mauritania and Al-Andalus.
Precolonial Mauritania, lying next to the Atlantic coast at the western edge of the Sahara Desert, received and assimilated into its complex society many waves of Saharan migrants and conquerors.
The Taifa of Badajoz was a medieval Islamic Moorish kingdom located in what is now parts of Portugal and Spain. It was centred on the city of Badajoz which exists today as the first city of Extremadura, in Spain.
Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Umar ibn Talagagin ibn Turgut ibn Wartasin, commonly suffixed al-Lamtunial-Sanhaji, was a chieftain of the Lamtuna, a tribe in the Sanhaja confederation. Yahya ibn Umar was the second emir of the Almoravids in the mid-11th century, a movement his predecessor, Yahya Ibn Ibrahim, constructed in collaboration with the religious leader Abdallah ibn Yasin. Yahya led the Almoravid armies in their first campaigns, including captures of Sijilmassa and Awdaghost in 1054/55, but was himself killed in battle against a dissident Berber faction in the Adrar. Yahya was succeeded as Almoravid emir by his brother, Abu Bakr ibn Umar.
The people of Mauritania are overwhelmingly adherents of Sunni Islam, of the Maliki school of jurisprudence.
Abu Muhammad Mazdali ibn Tilankan was a Berber military commander and diplomat for the Almoravid empire. Once Yusuf ibn Tashfin decided to become independent, he chose Mazdali, his second cousin and made him one of his most effective collaborators, to subdue and pacify the Maghrib and al-Andalus.
Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar b. Yaḥyā al-Hintātī, chief of the Hintata, was a close companion of Ibn Tumart and a shaper of the Almohad Empire greatly responsible for the unification of the Almohad corps. His grandson Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yahyā b. ʿAbd al-Waḥīd founded the Hafsid dynasty in Ifriqiya. He lived a long life and helped maintain ties between the Almohad movement's early revolutionary doctrine and its later dynastic period established by ʿAbd al-Muʾmin.
