Almohad Caliphate of Morocco

The Almohad Caliphate was a Moroccan Berber Muslim movement founded in the 12th century. Around 1120, the Almohads first established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains. They succeeded in overthrowing the ruling Almoravid dynasty governing Morocco by 1147, when Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi (r. 1130–1163) conquered Marrakesh and declared himself Caliph. 

A mosque at Tinmel, Morocco

For the first eight years, the Almohad rebellion was limited to a guerilla war along the peaks and ravines of the High Atlas. Their principal damage was in rendering insecure (or altogether impassable) the roads and mountain passes south of Marrakesh – threatening the route to all-important Sijilmassa, the gateway of the trans-Saharan trade.

A mosque in Marrakesh, Morocco

Abd al-Mu'min,  a prominent member of the Almohad movement came forward as the lieutenant of the Mahdi Ibn Tumart. Between 1130 and his death in 1163, Abd al-Mu'min not only rooted out the Murabits (Almoravids), but extended his power over all northern Africa as far as Egypt, becoming amir of Marrakesh in 1149.

Modern Day Marrakesh, Morocco

Between 1146 and 1173, the Almohads gradually wrested control from the Murabits over the Moorish principalities in Iberia. The Almohads transferred the capital of Moslem Iberia from Córdoba to Seville. They founded a great mosque there; its tower, the Giralda, was erected in 1184. The Almohads also built a palace there called Al-Muwarak on the site of the modern day Alcázar of Seville.

Alcázar of Seville, Spain

The successors of Abd al-Mumin, Abu Yaqub Yusuf(ruled 1163–1184) and Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur(ruled 1184–1199), were both able men. Initially their government drove many Jewish and Christian subjects to take refuge in the growing Christian states of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon. His title of "al-Mansur" ("the Victorious") was earned by his victory over Alfonso VIII of Castile in the Battle of Alarcos (1195).

Astorga Cathedral, Spain

In 1212, the Almohad Caliph Muhammad 'al-Nasir' (1199–1214), the successor of al-Mansur, after an initially successful advance north, was defeated by an alliance of the four Christian kings of Castile, Aragón, Navarre, and Portugal, at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena. The battle broke the Almohad advance, but the Christian powers remained too disorganized to profit from it immediately.

Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

Before his death in 1213, al-Nasir appointed his young ten-year-old son as the next caliph Yusuf II "al-Mustansir". The Almohads passed through a period of effective regency for the young caliph, with power exercised by an oligarchy of elder family members, palace bureaucrats and leading nobles. In early 1224, the youthful caliph died in accident, without any heirs. The palace bureaucrats in Marrakesh, held the election of his elderly grand-uncle, Abd al-Wahid I 'al-Makhlu', as the new Almohad caliph. 

Marrakesh, Morocco

But the rapid appointment upset other branches of the family, notably the brothers of the late al-Nasir, who governed in al-Andalus. The challenge was immediately raised by one of them, then governor in Murcia, who declared himself Caliph Abdallah al-Adil. With the help of his brothers, he quickly seized control of al-Andalus.

A church at Murcia, Spain

In 1225, Abdallah al-Bayyasi's band of rebels, accompanied by a large Castilian army, besieged cities such as Jaén and Andújar. They raided throughout the regions of Jaén, Cordova and vega de Granada and, before the end of the year, al-Bayyasi had established himself in the city of Cordova. Sensing the vacuity, both Alfonso IX of León and Sancho II of Portugal opportunistically ordered their own raids into Andalusian territory that same year. 

Sancho II of Portugal

In payment for Castilian assistance, al-Bayyasi had given Ferdinand III three strategic frontier fortresses: Baños de la Encina, Salvatierra and Capilla. An uprising broke out in Cordova – al-Bayyasi was killed and his head dispatched as a trophy to Marrakesh. But Caliph al-Adil did not relish this victory for long – he was assassinated in Marrakesh in October 1227, who was promptly acclaimed as the new Almohad caliph Yahya "al-Mu'tasim".

Baños de la Encina Castle, Spain

The Andalusian branch of the Almohads in Morocco refused to accept Yahya as the new caliph. Al-Adil's brother, then in Seville, proclaimed himself the new Almohad caliph Abd al-Ala Idris I 'al-Ma'mun'. He promptly purchased a truce from Ferdinand III in return for 300,000 maravedis, allowing him to organize and dispatch the bulk of the Almohad army in Spain across the straits in 1228 to confront Yahya.

Ferdinand III of Castile

In October 1228, with Spain practically all lost, al-Ma'mun abandoned Seville, taking what little remained of the Almohad army with him to Morocco.The departure of al-Ma'mun in 1228 marked the end of the Almohad era in Spain. But Ibn Hud and the other local Andalusian strongmen were unable to stem the rising flood of Christian attacks, launched almost yearly by Sancho II of Portugal, Alfonso IX of León, Ferdinand III of Castile and James I of Aragon.

James I of Aragon

After 1228, the old great Andalusian citadels fell in a grand sweep: Mérida and Badajoz in 1230 (to Leon), Majorca in 1230 (to Aragon), Beja in 1234 (to Portugal), Cordova in 1236 (to Castile), Valencia in 1238 (to Aragon), Niebla-Huelva in 1238 (to Leon), Silves in 1242 (to Portugal), Murcia in 1243 (to Castile), Jaén in 1246 (to Castile), Alicante in 1248 (to Castile). Ferdinand III of Castile entered Seville as a conqueror on December 22, 1248.

Badajoz, Spain

With the departure of the Almohads, the Nasrid dynasty rose to power in Granada. After the great Christian advance of 1228–1248, the Emirate of Granada was practically all that remained of old al-Andalus. Granada alone would remain independent for an additional 250 years, flourishing as the new center of al-Andalus.

Granada, Spain