Almoravid dynasty

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see Murabitun (disambiguation).

Almoravid dynasty
المرابطون (Arabic)
Al-Murābiṭūn
1050s–1147
The Almoravid empire at its greatest extent
The Almoravid empire at its greatest extent
StatusEmpire
Capital
Official languagesArabic[8][9]
Common languagesBerber languages, Arabic, Mozarabic
Religion
Islam (Sunni)
Minorities: Christianity (Roman Catholic), Judaism
GovernmentHereditary monarchy
Emir 
• c. 1050–1057
Yahya ibn Umar
• 1146–1147
Ishaq ibn Ali
History 
• Established
1050s
• Disestablished
1147
Area
1120 est.[10]1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi)
CurrencyAlmoravid dinar
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Zenata kingdoms
First Taifas period
Barghawata Confederacy
Almohad Caliphate
Second Taifas period

The Almoravid dynasty (Arabic: المرابطون, romanized: Al-Murābiṭūn, lit. 'those from the ribats'[11]) was a Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco.[12][13] 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.[14]

The Almoravids emerged from a coalition of the Lamtuna, Gudala, and Massufa, nomadic Berber tribes living in what is now Mauritania and the Western Sahara,[15][16] traversing the territory between the Draa, the Niger, and the Senegal rivers.[17][18] During their expansion into the Maghreb, they founded the city of Marrakesh as a capital, c. 1070. Shortly after this, the empire was divided into two branches: a northern one centered in the Maghreb, led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin and his descendants, and a southern one based in the Sahara, led by Abu Bakr ibn Umar and his descendants.[15]

The Almoravids expanded their control to al-Andalus (the Muslim territories in Iberia) and were crucial in temporarily halting the advance of the Christian kingdoms in this region, with the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086 among their signature victories.[19] This united the Maghreb and al-Andalus politically for the first time[20] and transformed the Almoravids into the first major Berber-led Islamic empire in the western Mediterranean.[21] Their rulers never claimed the title of caliph and instead took on the title of Amir al-Muslimīn ("Prince of the Muslims") while formally acknowledging the overlordship of the Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad.[22] The Almoravid period also contributed significantly to the Islamization of the Sahara region and to the urbanization of the western Maghreb, while cultural developments were spurred by increased contact between Al-Andalus and Africa.[20][23]

After a short apogee, Almoravid power in al-Andalus began to decline after the loss of Zaragoza in 1118.[24] The final cause of their downfall was the Masmuda-led Almohad rebellion initiated in the Maghreb by Ibn Tumart in the 1120s. The last Almoravid ruler, Ishaq ibn Ali, was killed when the Almohads captured Marrakesh in 1147 and established themselves as the new dominant power in both North Africa and Al-Andalus.[25]

  1. ^ Flood, Finbarr Barry; Necipoglu, Gulru (2017). A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture. John Wiley & Sons. p. 302. ISBN 978-1-119-06857-0. As far west as the Maghrib, two Berber (Amazigh) dynasties that had emerged in the aftermath of the collapse of the Umayyad caliphate of Cordoba – the Almoravids (1040–1147), who were Abbasid vassals, and their autonomous Almohad successors (1121–1269) who claimed the caliphate for themselves...
  2. ^ Nyrop, Richard F. (1972). Area Handbook for Algeria. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 14. The Almoravids, who acknowledged the spiritual authority of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, founded their capital at Marrakech and by 1082 had extended their control along the Mediterranean coast beyond present-day Algiers to the edge of the Kabylia region.
  3. ^ Arnaud, Jean (2013). Introduction à la Mauritanie (in French). Institut de recherches et d'études sur le monde arabe et musulman. ISBN 978-2-271-08123-0.
  4. ^ Nantet, Bernard (2013). Le Sahara: Histoire, guerres et conquêtes (in French). Tallandier. ISBN 979-10-210-0172-5.
  5. ^ Gaudio, Attilio (1978). Le Dossier de la Mauritanie (in French). Nouvelles Editions Latines. ISBN 978-2-7233-0035-3.
  6. ^ Daddah, Mokhtar Ould (2003). La Mauritanie contre vents et marées (in French). Karthala Editions. ISBN 978-2-8111-3765-6.
  7. ^ Garcin, Jean-Claude; Balivet, Michel; Bianquis, Thierry (1995). États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiéval : Xe–XVe siècle (1) (in French). Presses universitaires de France (réédition numérique Feni XX). ISBN 978-2-13-067300-2.
  8. ^ Boudraa, Nabil; Krause, Joseph (2009). North African Mosaic: A Cultural Reappraisal of Ethnic and Religious Minorities. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-4438-0768-5. But, as was the rule throughout the history of al-Andalus, the Almoravid Berbers accepted Arab cultural patterns and Arabic as the language of administration and culture.
  9. ^ Africana Bulletin (in French). Wyd. Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. 1964. p. 202. En outre, bien que les Almoravides aient parlé le berbère, l'arabe restait la langue officielle. [Furthermore, although the Almoravids spoke Berber, Arabic remained the official language.]
  10. ^ Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D. (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-systems Research. 12: 222–223. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 1 August 2020..
  11. ^ Norris, H.T.; Chalmeta, P. (1993). "al-Murābiṭūn". In Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P.; Pellat, Ch. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Vol. 7. Brill. pp. 583–591.
  12. ^ G. Stewart, Is the Caliph a Pope?, in: The Muslim World, Vol. 21, Iss. 2, pp. 185–196, April 1931: "The Almoravid dynasty, among the Berbers of North Africa, founded a considerable empire, Morocco being the result of their conquests"
  13. ^ Sadiqi, Fatima, The place of Berber in Morocco, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 123.1 (2009): 7–22 : "The Almoravids were the first relatively recent Berber dynasty that ruled Morocco. The leaders of this dynasty came from the Moroccan deep south."
  14. ^ Bennison 2016, pp. 336, 341.
  15. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :0522 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Sluglett, Peter; Currie, Andrew (2014). Atlas of Islamic History. Routledge. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-138-82128-6. The Almoravids were an alliance of Sanhaja Berbers from the Guddala, Lamtuna and Massufa tribes, which formed in the 1040s in the area that is now Mauritania and Western Sahara.
  17. ^ Meynier, Gilbert (2010). L'Algérie, coeur du Maghreb classique: de l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (698–1518) (in French). La Découverte. ISBN 978-2-7071-5231-2.
  18. ^ Extract from Encyclopedia Universalis on Almoravids.
  19. ^ Bennison 2016, pp. 43–46, 61.
  20. ^ a b Bennison 2016, p. 61.
  21. ^ Gómez-Rivas, Camilo (2014). Law and the Islamization of Morocco under the Almoravids: The Fatwās of Ibn Rushd al-Jadd to the Far Maghrib. Brill. p. 3. ISBN 978-90-04-27984-1.
  22. ^ Kennedy, Hugh (2016). Caliphate: The History of an Idea. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-09438-7.
  23. ^ Abun-Nasr 1987, p. 87.
  24. ^ Bennison 2016, pp. 55–56.
  25. ^ Bennison 2016, pp. 58–61.