The Almoravids ( Imṛabḍen, Al-Murābiṭūn ) were a Berber dynasty of Morocco, who formed an empire in the 11th-century that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus.

The conquests of the Almoravids extended over present-day Morocco, Western Algeria and the Iberian peninsula to the north and Mauritania and Mali to the south reaching the Ghana Empire.

This was the case with the Almoravids of Morocco and Al-Andalus, and was also the case with the jihad of Nasir al-Din in the 17th century and the later Qadiriyyah movement of the Kunta in the 18th century.

* The Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu ' min conquers most of Morocco from the Almoravids.

* The Almoravids, led by Abdullah Ibn Yasin, invade Morocco.

Beginning in 1090 the situation deteriorated further with the invasion of the Almoravids, a puritan Muslim sect from Morocco.

In 1091 Al-Mutamid was taken into captivity by the Almoravids and exiled to Aghmat, Morocco where he died in 1095.

At the time, Morocco, as well as much of Spain ( al-Andalus ) and North Africa ( al-Maghreb ), were ruled by the Almoravids, a puritanical Sanhaja Berber movement, whose original capital was nearby at Marrakesh.

" The last threat of the 11th century came in the form of the Almoravids, who with their well disciplined forces first established a hegemony over Morocco and then extended it over al-Andalus.

When the Almoravids conquered Spain in the 11th century they sent Muslim, Christian and Jewish artisans from Spain to Morocco to work on monuments.

** The Almoravids from Morocco land near Cuarte and lay siege to Valencia with 50, 000 men.

* 1126-The Almoravids deport Christians to Morocco.

But they could not maintain their resistance to the Magrawa in northern Morocco permanently, and, weakened by the struggle, they were subdued by the Almoravids in the 11th century.

" A small independent kingdom in the area arose around 768 AD, and continued until it was conquered by the Almoravids in 1068.

In 1091, however, his kingdom was overthrown by the Almoravids and he was deposed.

In 1094 the kingdom was annexed by the Almoravids and Badajoz was taken at the end of 1095 by the Almoravid general Abu Bakr, with the connivance of the inhabitants who were fed up of the fiscal exactions of their emir, Umar ibn Muhammad al-Mutawakkil.

The Almoravids veiled themselves below the eyes ( see tagelmust ), a custom they adapted from southern Sanhaja Berbers ( as can still be seen among the modern Tuareg people ), but unusual further north.

It served as the uniform of the Almoravids, and under their rule, sumptuary laws forbade anybody else from wearing the veil, thereby making it the distinctive dress of the ruling class ( the later Almohads made a point of mocking the Almoravid veil as symbolic of effeminacy and decadence.

The Almoravids, Berber residents of present-day North Africa, led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin, were asked to help defend the divided Moors from Alfonso.

El Cid's son Diego Rodríguez was killed while fighting against the invading Muslim Almoravids from North Africa at the Battle of Consuegra ( 1097 ).

The empire expanded throughout West Africa from the 8th century until 1078, when it was conquered by the Almoravids.

The Berber dynasties ( Almoravids, Almohads, Marinids and Wattasids ) gave the Berber people some measure of collective identity and political unity under a native regime for the first time in their history, and they created the idea of an " imperial Maghrib " under Berber aegis that survived in some form from dynasty to dynasty.

* July 25 – Battle of Ourique: The independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of León declared after the Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques.

* October 18 – Peter I of Aragon conquers Barbastro ( North ) from the hands of the Almoravids.

* The Portuguese conquer Palmela, Alcácer do Sal and Sesimbra from the diminished Almoravids.

* October 24 – Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona conquers Lérida from the Almoravids after a siege of seven months as well as Fraga.

When in the same years the Almoravids laid siege to the Portuguese city of Santarém, Ferdinand II came to help his father-in-law, and helped to free the city from the menace.

Jews and Christians were alternately tolerated and persecuted, the most notable examples of the latter being the conquest of Islamic Spain by Berber-Arab forces from north Africa ( the Almoravids, followed by the Almohads from the mid-12th century ).

It is possible that the Berber Muslim Almoravids were originally from the area.

The situation changed in the mid-12th century, when the Almoravids, were displaced from al-Andalus and western Maghreb by the Almohad.

The Almoravids, Berber residents of present-day North Africa, led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin, were asked to help defend the divided Moors from Alfonso.

During the taifa era, it was ruled by the Moor Banu al-Amiri from 1012 to 1038, briefly annexed by Valencia ( 1038 – 1041 ), then given by Zaragoza to the Banu Sumadih dynasty until its conquest by the Almoravids in 1091.

The first results of his extensive studies in Oriental literature, Arabic language and history, manifested themselves in 1847, when he published a translation from Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, born 1185, resident in South Spain between 1208 and 1217, leaving then for Egypt and visiting Mecca in 1221, dated 1224, Kitab al-mujib fi talkhis akhbar ahl al-Maghrib under the title The history of the Almohads, preceded by a sketch of the history of Spain from the time of the conquest till the reign of Yusuf ibn Tashfin, and of the history of the Almoravids, printed again in 1881 and reprinted in 1968.

The Almoravids, were ousted from the peninsula in 1148 ; however, the peninsula was again invaded, by the even more puritanical Almohades.

In 1093, in a trade for aid against the Almoravids ( from the Maghreb ), the emir of Badajoz ceded to the imperator totius Hispaniæ Alfonso VI of León and Castile the castles of al-Ušbuna and aš-Šantaryin ( Santarém ), along with the territory of Sacavém.

* When Ghana collapsed in the face of invasion from the Almoravids, a series of brief kingdoms followed, notably that of the Sosso ; after 1235, the Mali Empire rose to dominate the region.

In Spain, the century opened with the successes of the last caliphs of Córdoba and ended in the successes of the Almoravids.

* October 23 – Battle of az-Zallaqah: Alfonso VI of León and Castile is defeated by the Almoravids, who had been called into Spain by Abbad III of Sevilla.

* The Almoravids complete the conquest of the Ghana Empire, and reach Spain.

* The Islamic Abbadid dynasty ruling in Spain falls when the Almoravids storm Seville.

The boundary troubles with Castile restarted in 1164: he then met at Soria with the Lara family, who represented Alfonso VIII, and a truce was established, allowing him to move against the Muslim Almoravids who still held much of southern Spain, and to capture the cities of Alcántara and Alburquerque.

At the end of the 11th century, two Berber tribes, the Almoravids and the Almohads, captured the head of the Maghreb and Spain, successively, bringing Maghrebi influences into art.

Integration of Takrur with the Almoravids meant that some of these troops reached all the way to Andalusia ( Spain ) with the Almoravid expansion.

The Almoravids defeat the Christians in Spain.

They managed to conquer southern Spain, and their North African empire extended further than that of the Almoravids, reaching to Egypt.