Editing Almoravid dynasty (section)

=== Early conquests ===
{{Campaignbox Almoravid Empire battles}}
In the early 1050s, a kind of triumvirate emerged in leading the Almoravid movement, including Abdallah Ibn Yasin, Yahya Ibn Umar and his brother [[Abu Bakr ibn Umar|Abu Bakr Ibn Umar]]. The movement was now dominated by the Lamtuna rather than the Guddala.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=28}} During the 1050s, the Almoravids began their expansion and their conquest of the Saharan tribes.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=336}} Their first major targets were two strategic cities located at the northern and southern edges of the desert: [[Sijilmasa]] in the north and Awdaghust in the south. Control of these two cities would allow the Almoravids to effectively control the trans-Saharan trade routes. Sijilmasa was controlled by the [[Maghrawa]], a part of the northern [[Zenata]] Berber confederation, while Awdaghust was controlled by the [[Soninke people|Soninke]].{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=30}} Both cities were captured in 1054 or 1055.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|pp=30, 336}} Sijilmasa was captured first and its leader, Mas'ud Ibn Wannudin, was killed, along with other Maghrawa leaders. According to historical sources, the Almoravid army rode on camels and numbered 30,000, though this number may be an exaggeration.{{Sfn|Messier|2010|pp=14–15}} Strengthened with the spoils of their victory, they left a garrison of Lamtuna tribesmen in the city and then turned south to capture Awdaghust, which they accomplished that same year. Although the town was mainly Muslim, the Almoravids pillaged the city and treated the population harshly on the basis that they recognized the pagan [[Ghana Empire|king of Ghana]].{{Sfn|Messier|2010|pp=14–15}}

Not long after the main Almoravid army left Sijilmasa, the city rebelled and the Maghrawa returned, slaughtering the Lamtuna garrison. Ibn Yasin responded by organizing a second expedition to recapture it, but the Guddala refused to join him and returned instead to their homelands in the desert regions along the Atlantic coast.{{Sfn|Messier|2010|pp=16–17}}{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=31}} Historian [[Amira Bennison]] suggests that some Almoravids, including the Guddala, were unwilling to be dragged into a conflict with the powerful Zanata tribes of the north and this created tension with those, like Ibn Yasin, who saw northern expansion as the next step in their fortunes.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=31}} While Ibn Yasin went north, Yahya Ibn Umar remained in the south in the Adrar, the heartland of the Lamtuna, in a defensible and well-provisioned place called Jabal Lamtuna, about 10 kilometres northwest of modern [[Atar, Mauritania|Atar]].<ref name=":8">{{harvnb|Messier|2010|p=17}}: "The Bani Gudala chose this moment to break away from the Sanhaja confederation. This open revolt of the Bani Gudala is linked with their rejection of Ibn Yasin; but it could also have something to do with their desire to seek their own fortune, now, along the salt routes to Awlil on the coast of the Atlantic. Regardless, it forced the Almoravids to split their forces. Ibn Yasin went north with a small detachment of Almoravid warriors. He added to his army as he went, recruiting tribesmen from the Bani Sarta and the Bani Tarja. He joined his forces to those of Abu Bakr Ibn Umar, Yahya's brother, who was already in the region of the Draa to the southwest of Sijilmasa. Yahya Ibn Umar, meanwhile, remained with part of the army in the Adrar, in the heartland of the Bani Lamtuna. He established his base at a place called Jabal Lamtuna. These mountains were surrounded by some 20,000 date palms. There was abundant water and pasturage. Most importantly, the place was easily defensible. He held up in a fortress called Azuggi, which his brother Yannu had built."</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last1=Norris |first1=H.T. |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam|edition=2nd |last2=Chalmeta |first2=P. |publisher=Brill |year=1993 |isbn= |editor-last=Bosworth |editor-first=C.E. |volume=7 |location= |pages=583–591 |chapter=al-Murābiṭūn |quote=The foundation of the town of Azūgi (vars. Azuggī, Azuḳḳī, Azukkī) as the southern capital of the Almoravids. It lies 10 km NW of Atar. According to al-Bakrī, it was a fortress, surrounded by 20,000 palms, and it had been founded by Yānnū b. ʿUmar al-Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲, a brother of Yaḥyā b. ʿUmar. It seems likely that Azūgi became the seat of the Ḳāḍī Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Murādī al-Ḥaḍramī (to cite both the Ḳāḍī ʿlyāḍ and Ibn Bas̲h̲kuwāl), who died there in 489/1095–96 (assuming Azūgi to be Azkid or Azkd). The town was for long regarded as the “capital of the Almoravids”, well after the fall of the dynasty in Spain and even after its fall in the Balearic Islands. It receives a mention by al-Idrīsī, al-Zuhrī and other Arab geographers. |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W.P. |editor4-last=Pellat |editor4-first=Ch.}}</ref> His stronghold there was a fortress called [[Azougui|Azuggi]] (also rendered variably as Azougui or Azukki), which had been built earlier by his brother Yannu ibn Umar al-Hajj.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Levtzion |first=Nehemia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGtQDwAAQBAJ&q=town+of+Azukki |title=Studies in West African Islamic History: The Cultivators of Islam |publisher=Routledge |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-315-29732-3 |editor-last=Willis |editor-first=John Ralph |pages=99–100 |language=en |chapter='Abd Allah b. Yasin and the Almoravids |quote=After the confrontation with Ibn Tashfin, Abu Bakr b. ‘Umar returned to the desert, where he led the southern wing of the Almoravids in the jihad against the Sudanis. The base for his operations seems to have been the town of Azukki (Azugi, Arkar.) It is first mentioned as the fortress in Jabal Lamtuna (Adrar), where Yahya b. 'Umar was besieged and killed by the Juddala. Azukki, according to al-Bakri, was built by Yannu b. ‘Umar, the brother of Yahya and Abu Bakr. Al-Idrisi mentions Azukki as an important Saharan town on the route from Sijilmasa to the Sudan, and adds that this was its Berber name, whereas Sudanis called it Kukadam (written as Quqadam).}}</ref><ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ould Cheikh |first1=Abdel Wedoud |last2=Saison |first2=Bernard |date=1987-01-01 |title=Vie(s) Et Mort(s) De Al-Imām Al-Hadrāmi: Autour de la postérité saharienne du mouvement almoravide (11e–17e s.) |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/arab/34/1/article-p48_2.xml |journal=Arabica |language=en |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=48–79 |doi=10.1163/157005887X00342 |issn=1570-0585 |quote=Au milieu du Ve siecle H/XIe siecle ap. J.C., l'écrivain andalou al-Bakri fait état de l'existence à «Arki» d'une «forteresse...au milieu de 20 000 palmiers...édifiée par Yannu Ibn 'Umar al-Ḥāğ, frère de Yaḥya Ibn 'Umar... ». Cette brève mention est vraisemblablement a l'origine du qualificatif d'«almoravide» qu'en l'absence de toute investigation proprement archéologique, les historiens modernes ont généralement attribué aux ruines apparentes du tell archéologique d'Azūgi; nous y reviendrons. Au siecle suivant, al-Idrisi (1154) localise la «première des stations du Sahara...au pays des Massūfa et des Lamṭa» ; étape sur un itinéraire transsaharien joignant Siğilmāsa a Silla, Takrūr ou Gāna, Azūki, ou Kukdam en «langue gināwiyya des Sudan», abrite une population prospère. Pour brève et à nos yeux trop imprécise qu'elle soit, l'évocation d'al-Idrisi est néanmoins la plus étoffée de celles qui nous sont parvenues des auteurs «médiévaux» de langue arabe. Aucun écrivain contemporain d'al-Idrisi, ou postérieur, qu'il s'agisse d'al-Zuhri (ap. 1133), d'Ibn Sa'id et surtout d'Ibn Haldun—qui n'en prononce même pas le nom dans son récit pourtant complet de l'histoire du mouvement almoravide—ne nous fournit en effet d'élément nouveau sur Azūgi. À la fin du XVe siècle, au moment où apparaissent les navigateurs portugais sur les côtes sahariennes, al-Qalqašandi et al-Himyari ne mentionnent plus «Azūqi» ou «Azīfi» que comme un toponyme parmi d'autres au Bilād al-Sudān... Les sources écrites arabes des XIe–XVe siècles ne livrent donc sur Azūgi que de brèves notices, infiniment moins détaillées et prolixes que celles dont font l'objet, pour la même période et chez ces mêmes auteurs, certaines grandes cités toutes proches, telles Awdagust, Gāna, Kawkaw, Niani, Walāta, etc... Faut-il voir dans cette discrétion un témoignage «a silentio» sur l'affaiblissement matériel d'une agglomération—une «ville» au sens où l'entendent habituellement les auteurs cités?—dont al-Idrisi affirme effectivement qu'elle n'est point une grande ville»?}}</ref> Some scholars, including Attilio Gaudio,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gaudio |first=Attilio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iX5sG6T6QP4C&pg=PA58 |title=Le Dossier de la Mauritanie |date=1978 |publisher=Nouvelles Editions Latines |isbn=978-2-7233-0035-3 |language=fr |quote=L'historien El Bekri, dans sa Description de l'Afrique septentrionale, parle de l'ancienne fortresse d'Azougui, située dans une grande palmeraie de l'Adrar mauritanien, comme ayant été la véritable capital des sultans almoravides, avant leur épopée maroco-espagnole. Elle ne dut connaître qu'une splendeur éphémère, car depuis la fin du XIIe siècle son nom disparaît des chroniques.}}</ref> Christiane Vanacker,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vanacker |first=Christiane |url= |title=Introduction à la Mauritanie |publisher=Institut de recherches et d’études sur les mondes arabes et musulmans, Éditions du CNRS |year=1979 |isbn=978-2-271-08123-0 |language=fr |chapter=La Mauritanie jusqu’au XXe siècle |quote=Il est souhaitable que les fouilles prévues à Azougui, première « capitale » fondée par les Almoravides (avant Marrakech) puissent être prochainement réalisées. |chapter-url=https://books.openedition.org/iremam/1224}}</ref> and Brigitte Himpan and Diane Himpan-Sabatier<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sabatier |first1=Diane Himpan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZqSDwAAQBAJ&dq=almoravid+azougui&pg=PA114 |title=Nomads of Mauritania |last2=Himpan |first2=Brigitte |publisher=Vernon Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-62273-582-2 |page=114 |language=en}}</ref> describe Azuggi as the "first capital" of the Almoravids. Yahya ibn Umar was subsequently killed in battle against the Guddala in 1055 or 1056,{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=31}} or later in 1057.<ref name="shilling90">{{harvnb|Shillington|2005|p=90}}</ref>

Meanwhile, in the north, Ibn Yasin had ordered Abu Bakr to take command of the Almoravid army and they soon recaptured Sijilmasa.{{Sfn|Messier|2010|p=|pp=17–18}} By 1056, they had conquered [[Taroudant]] and the [[Sous Valley]], continuing to impose Maliki Islamic law over the communities they conquered. When the campaign concluded that year, they retired to Sijilmasa and established their base there. It was around this time that Abu Bakr appointed his cousin, [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]], to command the garrison of the city.{{Sfn|Messier|2010|p=|pp=17–19}}

In 1058, they crossed the [[High Atlas]] and conquered [[Aghmat]], a prosperous commercial town near the foothills of the mountains, and made it their capital.{{Sfn|Bennison|2016|p=32}}<ref name=":0522">{{Cite book |last=Messier |first=Ronald A. |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofi0000unse_u8d8 |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three |publisher=Brill |year=2009 |isbn=978-9004181304 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |location= |pages= |chapter=Almoravids |issn=1873-9830 |editor2-last=Krämer |editor2-first=Gudrun |editor3-last=Matringe |editor3-first=Denis |editor4-last=Nawas |editor4-first=John |editor5-last=Rowson |editor5-first=Everett |url-access=registration}}</ref> They then came in contact with the [[Barghawata]], a Berber tribal confederation who followed an Islamic "heresy" preached by [[Salih ibn Tarif]] three centuries earlier.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=717}} The Barghawata occupied the region northwest of Aghmat and along the Atlantic coast. They resisted the Almoravids fiercely and the campaign against them was bloody. [[Abdallah ibn Yasin|Abdullah ibn Yasin]] was killed in battle with them in 1058 or 1059, at a place called Kurīfalalt or Kurifala.<ref name=":052" />{{Sfn|Messier|2010|p=|pp=37–38}} By 1060, however, they were conquered by Abu Bakr ibn Umar and were forced to convert to orthodox Islam.<ref name=":052" /> Shortly after this, Abu Bakr had reached as far as [[Meknes]].{{Sfn|Abun-Nasr|1987|p=81}}

Towards 1068, Abu Bakr married a noble and wealthy Berber woman, [[Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyah]], who would become very influential in the development of the dynasty. Zaynab was the daughter of a wealthy merchant from Kairouan who had settled in Aghmat. She had been previously married to Laqut ibn Yusuf ibn Ali al-Maghrawi, the ruler of Aghmat, until the latter was killed during the Almoravid conquest of the city.{{Sfn|Messier|2010|p=39}}