Almohads

Rabat gate, Morocco, about 1200 AD

During the 1100's AD, while the Ayyubids were taking over Egypt, the Almohad dynasty managed to conquer and rule the rest of North Africa (modern Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) and Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal). When they conquered Cordoba, the Almohads threw all the Jews out of town, among them the young Maimonides. But the Almohads could not hold their empire together for very long. Soon after 1200, rebellions and fights destroyed the Almohad empire.

The Christian kingdoms of Northern Spain - Castile, Aragon, and Portugal - took advantage of the Almohad weakness to conquer southern Spain. First they won a big battle and took Toledo in 1212; then they took Corboba in 1236, Valencia in 1238, and Seville in 1248. By 1250 the only important Spanish city still under Islamic control was Granada.

Granada's Alhambra (Russell
Sturgis Collection, Washington University Archives,
St. Louis Missouri)

Meanwhile in North Africa, the Almohad empire had split into three new kingdoms. The Hafsids ruled the east (modern Libya and Tunisia). The 'Abd al-Wadids ruled the middle (modern Algeria). And the Marinids ruled the west (modern Morocco).

Almohad architecture
Mamluks
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