When did the Emirate of Nekor exist?

The Emirate of Nekor existed 710 – 1019. On this map it is drawn AD 750–1027.

How large was the Emirate of Nekor?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Emirate of Nekor covered about 7,000 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 · Islam and the Maghreb

Emirate of Nekor

Emirate · 710 – 1019

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Type: Emirate
Existed: 710 – 1019
Shown on the map: AD 750–1027
Peak area: 7k km²
Region: Africa

Overview

The Emirate of Nekor (also called the Salihid Emirate, Imārat Banī Ṣāliḥ) was a small Arab-Berber emirate centered in the Rif mountains of present-day northern Morocco, initially at Temsamane and from 760–761 at the purpose-built capital of Nekor (Madinat al-Nakur), 25 km inland from the Mediterranean near modern Al Hoceima. It was founded in 710 by Salih I ibn Mansur, a leader of South Arabian (Himyarite) — or, according to some sources, Nafza Berber — descent, who received the region as an iqtaʿ (tax-farm grant) from the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I. Salih converted the local Ghomara and Sanhaja Berber tribes to Islam, making the emirate the first autonomous state in the Maghreb and, notably, the only one in the region to adhere exclusively to Sunni Islam of the Maliki school, in a landscape otherwise dominated by Kharijite and Shiite movements.

History

The Banu Salih dynasty ruled for over three centuries, intermarrying with the Berber population and governing through a blend of Arab legitimacy and tribal consensus. The capital Nekor flourished as a walled commercial entrepôt on trade routes linking Fes and Sijilmasa to the sea, with markets, baths, a great mosque, and gardens; its port al-Mazamma and nearby coastal communities of mixed Berber, Arab, and Andalusi population paid taxes drawn from maritime resources. The emirate's position made it a target: Vikings sacked Nekor for eight days in 859 during their great Mediterranean expedition, and in the 10th century it became a pawn in the rivalry between the Fatimid Caliphate and the Umayyads of Córdoba — Fatimid troops sacked it in 917 and 934, the Miknasa chieftain Musa ibn Abi'l-Afiya burned it in 931, and a Cordoban fleet devastated it in retaliation.

Decline and legacy

The Salihid line ended around 1015 when Ya'la ibn al-Fatuh of the Azdaja tribe seized power; his successors held on until the Almoravid leader Yusuf ibn Tashfin destroyed the city for good in 1080–81, absorbing the region into the Almoravid, then Almohad and Marinid, realms. Though tiny, Nekor matters historically as the pioneering Muslim state of Morocco's Rif, credited by all Arab chroniclers with the Islamization of the region, and its ruins — among the oldest medieval urban structures in the western Maghreb — document early Islamic town planning in North Africa.

Common questions

What was the Emirate of Nekor?: The Emirate of Nekor (also called the Salihid Emirate, Imārat Banī Ṣāliḥ) was a small Arab-Berber emirate centered in the Rif mountains of present-day northern Morocco, initially at Temsamane and from 760–761 at the purpose-built capital of Nekor (Madinat al-Nakur), 25 km inland from the Mediterranean near modern Al Hoceima.
When did the Emirate of Nekor exist?: The Emirate of Nekor existed 710 – 1019. On this map it is drawn AD 750–1027.
How large was the Emirate of Nekor?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Emirate of Nekor covered about 7,000 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 Emirate of Nekor?: The Banu Salih dynasty ruled for over three centuries, intermarrying with the Berber population and governing through a blend of Arab legitimacy and tribal consensus. The capital Nekor flourished as a walled commercial entrepôt on trade routes linking Fes and Sijilmasa to the sea, with markets, baths, a great mosque, and gardens; its port al-Mazamma and nearby coastal communities of mixed Berber, Arab, and Andalusi population paid taxes drawn from maritime resources.
How did the Emirate of Nekor end?: The Salihid line ended around 1015 when Ya'la ibn al-Fatuh of the Azdaja tribe seized power; his successors held on until the Almoravid leader Yusuf ibn Tashfin destroyed the city for good in 1080–81, absorbing the region into the Almoravid, then Almohad and Marinid, realms.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia – Emirate of Nekor en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate_of_Nekor

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).

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