Almoravids

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Related to Almoravids: Almohads, Hausa States

Almoravids

(ălmôr`əvĭdz), Berber Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco and Muslim Spain in the 11th and 12th cent. The Almoravids may have originated in what is now MauritaniaMauritania
, officially Islamic Republic of Mauritania, republic (2005 est. pop. 3,087,000), 397,953 sq mi (1,030,700 sq km), NW Africa. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, on Western Sahara in the northwest and north, on Algeria in the northeast, on Mali in the east
..... Click the link for more information. . The real founder was Abd Allah ibn Yasin, who by military force converted a number of Saharan tribes to his own reformed religion and then advanced on Morocco. After his death (c.1059), Yusuf ibn TashfinYusuf ibn Tashfin
, d. 1106, ruler in the dynasty of the Almoravids (c.1059–1106). A Muslim, he led the Berbers in N Africa, continued the conquest of Morocco, took Algeria, and founded (1062) Marrakech, which became his capital.
..... Click the link for more information. and his brother Abu BakrAbu Bakr
, 573–634, 1st caliph, friend, father-in-law, and successor of Muhammad. He was probably Muhammad's first convert outside the Prophet's family and alone accompanied Muhammad on the Hegira.
..... Click the link for more information. came to power. MarrakechMarrakech
or Marrakesh
, city (1994 pop. 672,478), W central Morocco. The city, renowned for leather goods, is one of the principal commercial centers of Morocco and a major tourist center.
..... Click the link for more information. was founded in 1062 and was the center of a powerful empire. Called by the Moors in Spain to help stem Christian reconquest, Yusuf entered Andalusia and defeated (1086) Alfonso VI of Castile. He later subdued the local Muslim rulers and governed Muslim Spain and N Morocco (Abu Bakr ruling over S Morocco). The dynasty also pushed south, destroying the ancient state of GhanaGhana
, ancient empire, W Africa, in the savanna region of what is now E Senegal, SW Mali, and S Mauritania. The empire was founded c.6th cent. by Soninke peoples and lay astride the trans-Saharan caravan routes. Its capital was Kumbi Salih (in present-day SE Mauritania).
..... Click the link for more information. . The Almoravids were rough and puritanical, contemptuous of the luxurious Muslim courts in Spain. Their rule was never entirely stable and in the 12th cent. was attacked by the AlmohadsAlmohads
, Berber Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco and Spain in the 12th and 13th cent. It had its origins in the puritanical sect founded by Ibn Tumart, who stirred up (c.1120) the tribes of the Atlas Mts. area to purify Islam and oust the Almoravids.
..... Click the link for more information. , who finally (by 1174) won both Morocco and Muslim Spain.

References in periodicals archive ?

In addition to the welcome of the population, the Almoravids were often aided by local agents.

The rihla and self-reinvention of Abu Bakr Ibn al-'Arabi

It earns its place on this list as one of the few remaining examples of Almoravid architecture, a style named for the Berber dynasty that once had an empire which stretched more than 3,000km north to south, extending over present-day Morocco, Mauritania, southern Spain and Portugal, western present-day Algeria, and a part of what is now Mali.

Top 16 Arab buildings

At their peak, the Almoravids controlled large parts of the Sahel, Sahara and Maghreb as well as half of the Iberian Peninsula-or al-Andalus.

AQIM's objectives in North Africa

68) In principle, according to the general evolutionary schema of Maghribi/Andalusi urban fortifications developed by Amira Bennison for the Islamic west, as a derivative of Jere Bacharach's eastern model of architectural sequencing, the emergence of fully structurally attached but spatially, tactically and ceremonially separate urban citadels should be associated for the most part only with the rise of the Almoravids.

Tangier's Qasba before the Trace Italienne Citadel of 1558-1566: the "virtual" archaeology of a vanished Islamic and Portuguese fortress

History professor Mohamed Salem refers the practice of Leblouh to the days of the Almoravids, an Amazigh (Berber) dynasty that spread though Sahara in the 11th century.

Young Mauritanians reject forced fattening

Back in Marrakech, there are some of the finest monuments from its history stretching back to the city's foundation by the Almoravids in 1070.

holiday hotspots: Marraknificent! MOROCCO'S EXOTIC RED CITY OFFERS LUXURY.. AND BARGAINS GALORE

It is a dazzling sprint past the turf wars of Rome and Constantinople, Sunnis and Shi'ites; the fall to the Saracens of Damascus, Alexandria, Tripoli, Carthage, and Toledo; the triumph of the Abbasids, the birth of Baghdad, the conquest of Sicily, the rise of Venice, and the First Crusades; Almoravids, Seljuks, and Saladin; Avicenna, Averroes, and Maimonides; Genghis Khan and Prester John.

New books

In some cases, empires were conquered by activists, most notably the Almoravids and Almohads in Spain and North Africa in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries and the Safavis in Iran in the sixteenth century.

The Clash of Civilizations? Islamic totalitarianism constitutes an ideological threat, as Marxism-Leninism did during the Cold War

Included is an A-Z historical gazetteer, a chronology of major historical events and historical maps, all of which help travellers sort out the Almohads from the Almoravids and explain the wealth and art of Roman North Africa.

GUIDING HAND

The Rustamid dynasty came to power on the basis of Kharijism; the Idrisids and the Fatimids were Shii dynasties; the Almoravids and the Almohads adopted reformist Islam; in Morocco, the Sa'dian and Filali dynasties were based upon the Sufi qualities of the leaders of the tribal-Islamic movements.

State and religion in Islamic societies

12) Although the particular impact of Islam on this issue is beyond the scope of this essay, let it suffice to remind ourselves that in the eleventh century entire legions of black Africans arrived in Spain with the Almoravids, against whom fought Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, otherwise known as El Cid.

The black stud's Spanish birth

These two dynasties, the Almoravids and the Almohades, left very indelible impressions upon Spain, and ultimately, western European society and development.