When did the Almoravid Dynasty exist?

The Almoravid Dynasty existed 1040 – 1147. On this map it is drawn 1056–1205.

How large was the Almoravid Dynasty?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Almoravid Dynasty covered about 1.9 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Africa · The Sahelian empires

Almoravid Dynasty

Empire · 1040 – 1147

See it on the map → Wikipedia ↗

Type: Empire
Existed: 1040 – 1147
Shown on the map: 1056–1205
Peak area: 1.9M km²
Region: Africa

Overview

The Almoravid dynasty (Arabic: al-Murābiṭūn, "those of the ribat") was a Berber Muslim empire that united the western Maghreb and al-Andalus from the 1050s until 1147 — the first major Berber-led Islamic empire of the western Mediterranean. It arose among the nomadic Sanhaja tribes of the Sahara — the Lamtuna, Gudala, and Massufa, ranging between the Senegal, Niger, and Draa rivers. Around 1040 the Gudala chieftain Yahya ibn Ibrahim, returning from pilgrimage, recruited the Maliki jurist Abdallah ibn Yasin to preach strict orthodoxy to his people. Ibn Yasin's puritan zeal found its base among the Lamtuna under Yahya ibn Umar and his brother Abu Bakr, and the movement — named for the frontier ribat, or for those "bound together in the cause of God" — set out to conquer in the early 1050s.

History

The Almoravids seized Sijilmasa and Awdaghust (1054–1055), the twin poles of the trans-Saharan gold trade, and pressed north; after Ibn Yasin's death in battle against the Barghawata (c. 1059), Abu Bakr ibn Umar subdued the Sous and founded Marrakesh as capital around 1070. When Abu Bakr returned south to the desert, his lieutenant (and cousin) Yusuf ibn Tashfin quietly took sole command of the north, founding an effectively divided empire: Ibn Tashfin in the Maghreb, Abu Bakr's line in the Sahara. Ibn Tashfin conquered Fez, Tlemcen, and Algiers, took Ceuta in 1083, and formally acknowledged the Abbasid caliphs while styling himself Amir al-Muslimin. When Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo in 1085, the beleaguered taifa kings called for Almoravid aid; Ibn Tashfin crossed the strait and crushed Alfonso at the Battle of Sagrajas (Zallaqa) on 23 October 1086. Finding the taifa rulers impious and unreliable, he annexed them piecemeal — Granada 1090, Córdoba and Seville 1091 — uniting nearly all of Muslim Iberia under his rule.

Decline and legacy

Almoravid culture fused Saharan austerity with Andalusi refinement: Maliki Sunni Islam was the official creed, Arabic the language of administration, and the dynasty minted the celebrated Almoravid gold dinar. The empire grew rich on Saharan gold and urban commerce; Marrakesh, Algiers, Fez, and Tlemcen were embellished, and finely carved minbars and illuminated manuscripts survive from the period. Decline began after the loss of Zaragoza to Aragon in 1118, accelerated by unpopular taxation and the distance between the Lamtuna military caste and their subjects. In the 1120s the Masmuda reformer Ibn Tumart launched the Almohad rebellion in the Atlas; his successor Abd al-Mu'min captured Marrakesh in 1147, killing the last Almoravid emir, Ishaq ibn Ali. A remnant branch, the Banu Ghaniya, held the Balearics and raided Ifriqiya into the 1180s. The Almoravids' legacy — the Islamization of the Sahara, the urbanization of Morocco, and the union of the two shores of the strait — set the pattern their Almohad successors would inherit.

Common questions

What was the Almoravid Dynasty?: The Almoravid dynasty (Arabic: al-Murābiṭūn, "those of the ribat") was a Berber Muslim empire that united the western Maghreb and al-Andalus from the 1050s until 1147 — the first major Berber-led Islamic empire of the western Mediterranean. It arose among the nomadic Sanhaja tribes of the Sahara — the Lamtuna, Gudala, and Massufa, ranging between the Senegal, Niger, and Draa rivers.
When did the Almoravid Dynasty exist?: The Almoravid Dynasty existed 1040 – 1147. On this map it is drawn 1056–1205.
How large was the Almoravid Dynasty?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Almoravid Dynasty covered about 1.9 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Who ruled the Almoravid Dynasty?: The Almoravids seized Sijilmasa and Awdaghust (1054–1055), the twin poles of the trans-Saharan gold trade, and pressed north; after Ibn Yasin's death in battle against the Barghawata (c. 1059), Abu Bakr ibn Umar subdued the Sous and founded Marrakesh as capital around 1070.
How did the Almoravid Dynasty end?: Almoravid culture fused Saharan austerity with Andalusi refinement: Maliki Sunni Islam was the official creed, Arabic the language of administration, and the dynasty minted the celebrated Almoravid gold dinar. The empire grew rich on Saharan gold and urban commerce; Marrakesh, Algiers, Fez, and Tlemcen were embellished, and finely carved minbars and illuminated manuscripts survive from the period.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Almoravid dynasty — Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almoravid_dynasty

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 10 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

See the Almoravid Dynasty in its world

Open the atlas at 1131 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.

Open the map at 1131 →