[[Image:Almoravid-empire-en.svg|thumb|right|300px|Map showing the extent of the Almoravid empire]]
The '''Almoravids''' (In [[Arabic language|Arabic]] المرابطون ''al-Murabitun'', sing. مرابط ''Murabit''), were a [[Berber people|Berber]] <ref>Glick, Thomas F. ''Islamic And Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages''. (2005) Brill Academic Publishers page 37</ref> dynasty from the [[Sahara]] that spread over a wide area of [[North Africa|North-Western Africa]] and the [[Iberian peninsula]] during the [[11th century]].

Under this dynasty the [[Moorish]] empire was extended over present-day [[Morocco]], [[Western Sahara]], [[Mauritania]], [[Gibraltar]], [[Tlemcen]] (in [[Algeria]]) and a great part of what is now [[Senegal]] and [[Mali]] in the south, and [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]] to the north in [[Europe]].

The exact meaning of "Murabit" is a matter of controversy. The name may be derived from the Arabic ''ribat'' (meaning tie or fortress (a term with which it shares the root r-b-t). This was the common opinion some time ago, however most historians now believe that it refers to ''ribat'', meaning "tied to Horses" (ie ready for battle--Ribat also mentioned in Quran as referring to Jihad)

==Beginnings==
The most powerful of the tribes of the [[Sahara]], south of the [[Draa River]] to the [[Sénégal River]] was the [[Lamtuna]], whose region of origin was 'Wadi Noun' (Nul Lemta), South Morocco. They later spread as far as the upper [[Niger River]] region, where they founded the city of [[Aoudaghost]]. They had been converted to [[Islam]] in the [[7th century]].

==Influence of orthodox Islam==
About the year [[1040]] (or a little earlier) one of their chiefs, [[Yahya ibn Ibrahim]], made the [[Hajj|pilgrimage]] to [[Makkah]]. On his way home, he attended the teachers of the mosque at [[Kairouan]], in [[Tunisia]], who soon learnt from him that his people knew little of the religion they were supposed to profess, and that though his will was good, his own ignorance was great. By the good offices of the theologians of Kairawan, one of whom was from [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]], Yahya was provided with a missionary, [[Ibn Yasin|Abdallah ibn Yasin]], a zealous partisan of the [[Maliki]]s, one of the four [[Four Schools of Madhhab|Madhhab]], Sunni schools of Islam.

His preaching was before-long rejected by the Lamtunas; so on the advice of Yahya, who accompanied him, he retired to [[Sahara]]n regions from which his influence spread. There was no element of [[heresy]] in his creed, which was mainly distinguished by a strict obedience to the [[Qur'an]], and the orthodox tradition or [[Sunnah]].

==Military training==
Abd-Allah ibn Yasin imposed a penitential scourging on all converts as a purification, and enforced a regular system of discipline for every breach of the law; even on the chiefs. Under such directions, the Almoravids were brought into excellent order. Their first military leader, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, gave them a good military organization. Their main force was infantry, armed with [[Spear|javelin]]s in the front ranks and [[Pike (weapon)|pike]]s behind, which formed into a [[Phalanx formation|phalanx]]; and was supported by [[camel]]men and [[horse]]men on the [[Flanking maneuver|flank]]s.

==Military successes==
[[Image:Almoravid_Dynasty_1073_-_1147_(AD).PNG |thumb|300px|Almoravid Dynasty in its Greatest Extent]]
From the year [[1053]], the Almoravids began to spread their religious way to the Berber areas of the Sahara, and to the regions south of the desert. They converted [[Takrur]] (a small state in modern [[Senegal]]) to Islam, and after winning over the [[Sanhaja]] Berber tribe, they quickly took control of the entire desert trade route, seizing [[Sijilmasa]] at the northern end in [[1054]], and [[Aoudaghost]] at the southern end in [[1055]]. Yahya ibn Ibrahim was killed in a battle in [[1056]], but Abd-Allah ibn Yasin, whose influence as a religious teacher was paramount; named his brother [[Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar]] as chief. Under him, the Almoravids soon began to spread their power beyond the desert, and subjected the tribes of the [[Atlas Mountains]]. They then came in contact with the [[Berghouata]], a branch of the [[Zenata]] of central Morocco, who followed a "heresy" founded by [[Salih ibn Tarif]], three centuries earlier. The Berghouata made a fierce resistance, and it was in battle with them that Abdullah ibn Yasin was killed. They were, however, completely conquered by [[Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar]], who took the defeated chief's widow, [[Zaynab_an-Nafzawiyyat|Zainab]], as a wife.

In [[1061]], [[Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar]] made a division of the power he had established, handing over the more-settled parts to his cousin [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]], as [[viceroy]]; resigning to him also his favourite wife Zainab. For himself, he reserved the task of suppressing the revolts which had broken out in the desert, but when he returned to resume control, he found his cousin too powerful to be superseded. He returned to the Sahara, where, in [[1087]], having been wounded with a poisoned arrow, he died.

Yusuf ibn Tashfin had in the meantime brought what is now known as Morocco, [[Western Sahara]] and [[Mauretania]] into complete subjection; and in [[1062]], had founded the city of [[Marrakech]]. In [[1080]], he conquered the kingdom of [[Tlemcen]] (in modern-day [[Algeria]]) and founded the present city of that name, his rule extending as far east as [[Oran]].

===Ghana Empire===
In [[1075]], the Almoravids conquered [[Ghana Empire]]. According to Arab tradition, the ensuing war pushed Ghana over the edge, ending the kingdom's position as a commercial and military power by [[1100]], as it collapsed into tribal groups and chieftaincies, some of which later assimilated into the Almoravids while others founded the [[Mali Empire]]. The Almoravid religious influence was gradual and not heavily involved in military strife, as Almoravids increased in power by marrying among the nation's nobility.

==Iberian Peninsula==
[[Image:Almoravid map reconquest loc.jpg|thumb|250px|Map of Iberia at the time of the Almoravid arrival]]
In [[1086]] [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]] was invited by the Muslim princes in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] ([[Al-Andalus]]) to defend them against [[Alfonso VI of Castile|Alfonso VI]], King of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]] and [[Kingdom of León|León]]. In that year, [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]] crossed the straits to [[Algeciras]], inflicted a severe defeat on the Christians at the [[Battle of az-Zallaqah|az-Zallaqah]]. He was prevented from following up his victory by trouble in [[Africa]], which he had to settle in person.

When he returned to Iberia in [[1090]], it was avowedly for the purpose of deposing the Muslim princes, and annexing their states. He had in his favour the mass of the inhabitants, whom had been worn out by the oppressive taxation imposed by their spend-thrift rulers. Their religious teachers, as well as others in the east, (most notably, [[al-Ghazali]] in [[Iran|Persia]] and [[al-Tartushi]] in Egypt, who was himself an Iberian by birth, from [[Tortosa]]), detested the native Muslim princes for their religious indifference, and gave Yusuf a ''[[fatwa]]'' -- or legal opinion -- to the effect that he had good moral and religious right, to dethrone the rulers, whom he saw as heterodox and who did not scruple to seek help from the Christians, whose habits he claimed they had adopted. By 1094, he had removed them all, except for the one at [[Zaragoza]]; and though he regained little from the Christians except [[Valencia, Spain|Valencia]], he re-united the Muslim power, and gave a check to the reconquest of the country by the Christians.

===The Commander of the Muslims===
After friendly correspondence with the caliph at [[Baghdad]], whom he acknowledged as ''Amir al-Mu'minin'' (''Commander of the Faithful''), Yusuf ibn Tashfin in [[1097]] assumed the title of ''Amir al Muslimin'' (''Commander of the Muslims''). He died in [[1106]], when he was reputed to have reached the age of 100.

The Almoravid power was at its height at Yusuf's death, and the Moorish empire then included all North-West Africa as far as [[Algiers]], and all of Iberia south of the [[Tagus]], with the east coast as far as the mouth of the [[Ebro]], and included the [[Balearic Islands]].

==Decline==
Three years afterwards, under Yusef's son and successor, [[Ali ibn Yusuf]], [[Sintra]] and [[Santarém]] were added, and Iberia was again invaded in [[1119]] and [[1121]], but the tide had turned; the French having assisted the Aragonese to recover [[Zaragoza]]. In [[1138]], Ali ibn Yusuf was defeated by [[Alfonso VII of Castile|Alfonso VII of Castile and León]], and in the [[Battle of Ourique]] ([[1139]]), by [[Afonso I of Portugal]], who thereby won his crown; and [[Lisbon]] was recovered by the Portuguese in [[1147]].

Ali ibn Yusuf was a pious non-entity, who fasted and prayed while his empire fell to pieces under the combined action of his Christian foes in Iberia and the agitation of [[Almohads]] (the Muwahhids) in Morocco. After Ali ibn Yusuf's death in [[1142]], his son Tashfin ibn Ali lost ground rapidly before the Almohads, and in [[1146]] he was killed by a fall from a precipice, while endeavouring to escape after a defeat near [[Oran]].

His two successors [[Ibrahim ibn Tashfin]] and [[Is'haq ibn Ali]] are mere names. The conquest of the city of [[Marrakech]] by the Almohads in [[1147]] marked the fall of the dynasty, though fragments of the Almoravids (the [[Banu Ghanya]]), continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands, and finally in [[Tunisia]].

Interestingly, family names such as ''[[Morabito]]'', ''[[Murabito]]'' and ''[[Mirabito]]'' are common in western [[Sicily]], the [[Aeolian Islands]] and southern [[Calabria]] in [[Italy]]. These names may have appeared in this region as early as the 11th century, when [[Robert Guiscard]] and the [[Normans]] defeated the [[Saracens]] (Muslims) in Sicily. In addition to southern Italy, there are also sizable populations of ''[[Mourabit]]'' (also spelled ''[[Morabit]]'' or ''[[Murabit]]'') in modern-day [[Morocco]], [[Tunisia]] and [[Mauritania]].
==Rulers==
*[[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]] ([[1061]]–[[1106]])
*[[Ali ibn Yusuf]] ([[1106]]–[[1142|42]])
*[[Tashfin ibn Ali]] ([[1142]]–[[1146|46]])
*[[Ibrahim ibn Tashfin]] ([[1146]])
*[[Ishaq ibn Ali]] ([[1146]]–[[1147|47]])

==See also==
*[[History of Morocco]]
*[[History of Islam]]
*[[History of Spain]]
*[[History of Portugal]]
*The modern [[Murabitun]] movement of Western converts
*[[Maravedí]]s were coins of Almoravid origin, kept in Spain for centuries.
*[[History of Gibraltar]]

==External links==
*[http://www.islamicarchitecture.org/dynasties/almoravids.html Almoravids Dynasty] Berber dynasty

==References==
<references/>
*''General History of Africa, Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century'', Ed. M. Elfasi, Ch. 13 I.Hrbek and J.Devisse, The Almoravids (pp. 336-366), Unesco, 1988
*{{1911}}



{{Zaragoza rulers}}
[[Category:History of North Africa]]
[[Category:History of Mauritania| ]]
[[Category:History of Senegal| ]]
[[Category:History of Spain| ]]
[[Category:History of Portugal| ]]
[[Category:History of Western Sahara| ]]
[[Category:Almoravid dynasty| ]]
[[Category:Al-Andalus]]
[[Category:Berber people]]
[[Category:Muslim dynasties]]
[[Category:Former empires]]
[[Category:Berber dynasties]]

[[ar:مرابطون]]
[[an:Almorabet]]
[[bg:Алморавиди]]
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[[ja:ムラービト朝]]
[[no:Almoravidene]]
[[pl:Almorawidzi]]
[[pt:Almorávidas]]
[[ru:Альморавиды]]
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[[sr:Алморавиди]]
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[[ur:دولت مرابطین]]
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