However, 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.

Following the collapse of the Almoravid power at the hand of the Almohads in the 1140s, the Banu Ghaniya continued to govern the Balearic Islands as independent emirs until about 1203, with a brief interruption in the 1180s.

Under him the Almohads swept down from the mountains, eventually destroying the power of the faltering Almoravid dynasty by 1147.

Ibn Hamdin returns to power but is soon dispossessed by the Almoravid ( Yahya ibn Ali ibn Ghaniya ).

El Cid was content to let the Almoravid armies and the armies of Alfonso fight without his help, even when there was a chance that the armies of Almoravid might defeat Alfonso and take over all of Alfonso's lands.

Beginning slowly through contacts with Berber and Arab merchants engaged in the important caravan trades and rapidly advancing through the Almoravid conquests, Islamization did not take firm hold until the arrival of Yemeni Arabs in the 12th and 13th centuries and was not complete until several centuries later.

He was born in Córdoba, Almoravid Empire ( present-day Spain ) on Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt ( or Tiberias ) on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204.

Their armies entered the Iberian peninsula on several occasions ( 1086, 1088, 1093 ) and defeated King Alfonso at the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086, but initially their purpose was to unite all the Taifas into a single Almoravid Caliphate.

In 1154 a town called Qlwn or Qalaven ( possible derivations of Kalevan or Kolyvan ) was put on the world map of the Almoravid by the Muslim cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi, who described it as a small town like a large castle among the towns of Astlanda.

A reduced kingdom continued to exist after Almoravid rule ended, and the Kingdom was later incorporated into subsequent Sahelian empires, such as the Mali Empire several centuries later.

Two years later, the Almohads invaded and he was forced to refortify his southern frontier and come to an agreement with the Almoravid Ibn Ganiya for their mutual defence.

In 1115, Palma was sacked and later abandoned by an expedition commanded by Ramon Berenguer III the Great, count of Barcelona and Provence, which comprised Catalans, Pisans and other Italians, and soldiers from Provence, Corsica, and Sardinia, in a struggle to end Almoravid control.

The Saqaliba Taifa lost its independence in 1076, when it was captured by Ahmad al-Muqtadir, lord of Zaragoza, under which it remained until the Almoravid invasion in 1091.

The Mozarab population was badly affected by the hardening of relations between the Christians and the Muslims during the Almoravid period.

The region was somewhat unified as an independent political entity during the rule of the Berber kingdom of Numidia, which gave way to centuries of rule by the Roman Empire, followed by the brief domination of the Vandal Kingdom, the equally brief re-establishment of " Roman " rule by the Byzantine Empire, and later the more-enduring rule of the Islamic Caliphates and Emirates under Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Almoravid, Almohad, Hammadid, Zirid, and Marinid dynasties ( to name some of those among the most prominent ) during the 8th to 13th centuries, and that of the Ottomans, at least nominally, thereafter.

Muhammed al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta then belonging to the Almoravid Empire and died in Sicily.

One finds there masonries and mosques of the 17th century ; Ketchaoua mosque ( built in 1794 by the Dey Baba Hassan ) flanked of two minarets, mosque el Djedid ( 1660, at the time of Turkish regency ) with its large finished ovoid cupola points some and its four coupolettes, mosque El Kébir ( oldest of the mosques, it was built by Almoravid ruler Yusuf ibn Tashfin and rebuilt later in 1794 ), mosque Ali Betchnin ( Raïs, 1623 ), Dar Aziza, palate of Jénina.

There was a second period when taifas arose, toward the middle of the 12th century, when the Almoravid rulers were in decline.

The most dynamic taifa, which conquered most of its neighbours before the Almoravid invasion, was Seville.

The Great Mosque at Tlemcen was completed in 1136 and is said to be the most remarkable remaining example of Almoravid architecture.

In about 1209, the region around Tlemcen was devastated by retreating Almoravid forces, not long before their final defeat by the Almohads at the Battle of Jebel Nafusa in 1210.

This was the case with the Almoravid dynasty of Morocco and Andalusia, and several emirates in Mauritania.

) It was sacked by the Vikings sometime between 859 and 862 AD, and destroyed by the Almoravid Yusuf ibn Tashfin in 1080 during his conquest of the Rif.

But the regions return to Christianity lasted for a short time ; in 1095, with the advance of the Almoravid forces, led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Count Raymond of Galicia was defeated in battle, resulting in the Arab-Christian frontier advancing from the Tagus River to the Mondego.

The term " Almoravid " comes from the Arabic " al-Murabitun " () which is the plural form of " al-Murabit " literally meaning " One who is tying " but figuratively means " one who is ready for battle at a fortress ".

Both the Sanhadja Confederation, at its height from the 8th to the 10th century, and the Almoravid Empire, from the 11th to the 12th century, were weakened by internecine warfare, and both succumbed to further invasions from the Ghana Empire and the Almohad Empire, respectively.

The dominion of the Almoravid dynasty at its greatest extent, c. 1204 CE

* The Almoravid governor of Zaragoza, Muhàmmad ibn al-Hajj, launches an offensive against the County of Barcelona but is defeated at the Battle of Martorell by Ramon Berenguer III.

* June 17 – at the Battle of Cutanda, the Aragonese troops of Alfonso I crush the Almoravid army.

* September 16 – the Almoravid army defeats the Castellan troops at the battle of Malagón ( near today's Ciudad Real ).

As they were passing by Játiva they were met by an Almoravid force under the command of Mohammed, the nephew of Almoravid leader Yusuf ibn Tashfin, and the commander whom Rodrigo had defeated at the Battle of Cuarte in 1095.

The native Berbers were rapidly converted in large numbers, although some Christian and probably pagan communities would remain at least until Almoravid times.

This was possible because the largest Almoravid armies were positioned at the frontier, while armies stationed in small towns would rather retreat into their castles than face a strong enemy force.

Its not at all unfeasible that Afonso lead a raid into the Gharb, and then, while retreating, was intercepted by sizable Almoravid troops intending to crush his army.

It was near this location, at a place called Tabfarilla, that the early Almoravids suffered their first significant defeat, when the Gudala crushed an Almoravid Lamtuna army based in Azuggi and killed their leader Yahya ibn Umar in 1056.

Conrad and Fisher ( 1982 ) argued that the notion of any Almoravid military conquest at its core is merely perpetuated folklore, derived from a misinterpretation or naive reliance on Arabic sources while Dierke Lange agrees but argues that this doesn't preclude Almoravid political agitation, claiming that Ghana's demise owed much to the latter.

Shortly after his arrival in Marrakesh, Ibn Tumart is said to have successfully sought out the Almoravid ruler Ali ibn Yusuf at a local mosque.

The principal damage done by the Almohads at this stage was the disruption of Almoravid tax-collection, and rendering insecure ( or altogether impassable ) the roads and mountain passes south of Marrakesh.

* 1097-El Cid defeats Almoravid ( Ali ibn al-Hajj ) at the Battle of Bairén south of Valencia.

Traces still exist of its business role under the Almoravid dynasty.

The origin of its name is unclear: Jemaa means " congregational mosque " in Arabic, probably referring to a destroyed Almoravid mosque.

The Ben Youssef Madrasa was an Islamic college in Marrakech, Morocco, named after the Almoravid sultan Ali ibn Yusuf ( reigned 1106 – 1142 ), who expanded the city and its influence considerably.

The army ravages Christian territory but is ambushed on its return and both Almoravid generals are killed.

In the tenth century, however, Islam was steadily growing in the region, and due to various influences, including internal dynastic struggles coupled with competing foreign interests ( namely Almoravid intervention ) lead to its demise in the late 11th century.

Inhabited for a time by the Abbatid, Almoravid, and Almohad kings, its embattled enclosure became the dwelling of Ferdinand I, and was rebuilt by Peter of Castile ( 1353 – 64 ), who employed Granadans and Muslim subjects of his own ( mudejares ) as its architects.