Launch app →

Europe · High and late Middle Ages

Taifa of Dénia

1010/1012–1076

Ṭā'ifa Dāniya. Capital: Dénia; included the Balearic Islands and Ibiza. Founded by the Saqaliba warlord Mujahid al-Amiri (r. from c. 1010/1014 to 1044/45), a freed slave and former caliphal functionary who made Dénia the first taifa to strike coins (1011).

Existed
1010/1012–1076
Shown on the map
1010–1125, 1147–1151, 1236–1249 (3 periods)
Peak area
48k km²
Region
Europe

Names

Ṭā'ifa Dāniya. Capital: Dénia; included the Balearic Islands and Ibiza. Founded by the Saqaliba warlord Mujahid al-Amiri (r. from c. 1010/1014 to 1044/45), a freed slave and former caliphal functionary who made Dénia the first taifa to strike coins (1011). His powerful navy took the Balearics (1015) and launched the disastrous invasion of Sardinia (1015–1016). He legitimized his power through "jihad at sea" (maritime raiding). Succeeded by his son Ali Iqbal al-Dawla (1044–1076), who kept Dénia a cultural center. The taifa had an influential Sephardic Jewish community holding top government posts. Annexed by Zaragoza in 1076.

Common questions

What was the Taifa of Dénia?
Ṭā'ifa Dāniya. Capital: Dénia; included the Balearic Islands and Ibiza. Founded by the Saqaliba warlord Mujahid al-Amiri (r. from c. 1010/1014 to 1044/45), a freed slave and former caliphal functionary who made Dénia the first taifa to strike coins (1011).
When did the Taifa of Dénia exist?
The Taifa of Dénia existed 1010/1012–1076. On this map it is drawn 1010–1125, 1147–1151, 1236–1249.
How large was the Taifa of Dénia?
At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Taifa of Dénia covered about 48,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for al-Andalus, the taifas and the Christian kingdoms as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia and academic work on the historiography of the Reconquista and the taifa period (García-Sanjuán). The article this entry is anchored on:

This entry was last updated .

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 Taifa of Dénia in its world

Open the atlas at 1068 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.

Open the map at 1068 →