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.

* 1056-The Almoravids ( al-Murabitun ) Dynasty begins its rise to power.

Waving his puritan's staff among crowds of listeners, Ibn Tumart complained of the mixing of sexes in public, the production of wine and music, and the fashion of veiling men unveiling women ( a custom among the Sanhaja Berbers of the Sahara Desert, that had spread to urban centers with the Almoravids ).

* 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.

** July 25, Independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of León declared after the Battle of Ourique against the Almoravids led by Ali ibn Yusuf: Prince Afonso Henriques becomes Afonso I, King of Portugal.

The Almoravids were crucial in avoiding a precipitated fall of Al-Andalus to the Iberian Christian kingdoms, when they decisively beat a coalition of the Castilian and Aragonese armies at the Battle of Sagrajas.

However, the rule of the dynasty was relatively short-lived and the Almoravids fell-at the height of their power-when they failed to quell the Masmuda-led rebellion initiated by Ibn Tumart.

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.

The Almohads, who had taken control of the Almoravids ' Maghribi and al-Andalus territories by 1147, surpassed the Almoravides in fundamentalist Islamic outlook, and they treated the non-believer dhimmis harshly.

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.

During the reign of Almoravids, the position of the Jews was apparently free of significant abuses, but after another Berber dynasty, Almohads, conquered Córdoba in 1148 they have abolished the dhimma status ( i. e. state protection of life and wealth ) in some of their territories which threatened the Jewish and Christian communities with the choice of conversion to Islam, death, or exile.

The Almoravids were a Muslim militia, their ranks mainly composed of Berber and African Moors, and unlike the previous Muslim rulers, they were not so tolerant towards Christians and Jews.

The same year, the Almoravids start pushing back the Christians to the positions they occupied a decade earlier.

They ruled until they were eventually defeated by the Almoravids in May 1110.

On the West African coast they set up Zāwiyas on the shores of the river Niger and even established independent kingdoms such as al-Murābiṭūn or Almoravids. The Al Hakika Mizaan Mizaani Sufi Order deals with heavy internalization and meditations, their spiritual practice is called Al Qudra MizaanStates ) The Sanusi order were also highly involved in missionary work in Africa during the 19th century, spreading both Islam and a high level of literacy into Africa as far south as Lake Chad and beyond by setting up a network of zawiyas where Islam was taught.

Even though the Barghawata were subsequently much weakened, they were still able to fend off Almoravid attacks — the spiritual leader of the Almoravids, Ibn Yasin, fell in battle against them ( CE 1058 ).

Although the Almoravids were dominant in the first few years, they were in decline when Afonso Henriques definitively captured Lisbon ( al-Ušbuna ) in October 1147.

The Almoravids persecuted the people of Awdaghust only because they recognized the authority of the ruler of Ghana.

The Almohads ( or Almohadis ) were similar to the Almoravids, in that they similarly attacked any alternative beliefs that they saw as corruptions of Islam.

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

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.

At first, they were used as mercenaries against the Almoravids of Morocco-even when the Almoravids conquered territory as far as Algiers in 1081, they could be turned back with Bedouin help.

In 1086, they led the smaller kingdoms in their resistance to the Almoravids, who did not succeed in conquering Zaragoza until May 1110.

The Almohads, who by 1147 had taken control of the Almoravids ' Maghribi and Andalusian territories, took a less tolerant view still and treated the dhimmis harshly.

The challenge to resist the influence of the dominant tribes, such as the Sanhadja or the Bani Hilal, and of the dynasties who succeeded the Fatimids, such as the Ayyubids, the Hammadids, and the Almoravids, was difficult ; that there is a Kotama identity today is evidence of their persistence in the face of these obstacles.

Its origins are thought to be linked to the establishment of an observation post of the Almoravids to control Christian incursion on this part of the Tunisian coast.

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.

It is uncertain exactly when or why the Almoravids acquired that appellation.

Whichever explanation is true, it seems certain the appellation was chosen by the Almoravids for themselves, partly with the conscious goal of forestalling any tribal or ethnic identifications.

The 13th-century Moroccan biographer Ibn al-Zayyat al-Tadili and Qadi Ayyad before him in the 12th-century, note that Waggag's learning center was called Dar al-Murabitin ( The house of the Almoravids ), and that might have inspired Ibn Yasin's choice of name for the movement.

Although practical for the desert dust, the Almoravids insisted on wearing the veil everywhere, as a badge of " foreignness " in urban settings, partly as a way of emphasizing their puritan credentials.

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.

In the early 1050s, the Lamtuna, under the joint leadership of Yahya ibn Umar and Abdallah ibn Yasin-soon calling themselves the al-Murabitin ( Almoravids )-set out on campaign to bring their neighbors over to their cause.

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.

Under him, the Almoravids soon began to spread their power beyond the desert, and subjected the tribes of the Atlas Mountains.

The Almoravids conquered the Ghana Empire sometime around 1075 CE.

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.

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.

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 Ghaniya ), continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands, and finally in Tunisia.

The Almoravids ' first military leader, Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni, gave them a good military organization.

al-Bakri reports that, while in combat, the Almoravids did not pursue those who fled in front of them.

In 1122 in Belchite, he founded a confraternity of knights to fight against the Almoravids.

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

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

In October 1092 an uprising occurred in Valencia inspired by the city's chief judge Ibn Jahhaf and the Almoravids.

El Cid and his wife Jimena Díaz lived peacefully in Valencia for five years until the Almoravids besieged the city.

* 1139 – Battle of Ourique: The Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques.