The Almoravid Maghrib uncovers the richness and complexity of a neglected past. A pivotal moment in the history of North Africa, the rise of the Almoravids brought a corner of the Maghrib into closer contact with the world around. From the Cid to the Seljuqs, the Almoravids impressed contemporaries in ways no Maghribi regime had, signalling a transformation of western North Africa through burgeoning trans-Saharan and trans-Mediterranean commerce, urbanization (two of Morocco's four imperial cities were founded), and the epic encounter with the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures of Iberia. The Almoravids witnessed a series of key transformations and beginnings, including the introduction of one of the area's most successful gold currencies, the formulation of a new religious orthodoxy, the parallel rise of counter-movements (popular, messianic, and spiritual), and the inception of pan-Maghribi-Andalusi artistic, literary, and architectural styles.

Camilo Gómez-Rivas is Associate Professor of Mediterranean Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the author of Law and the Islamization of Morocco under the Almoravids (2014) and “Berber Rule and Abbasid Legitimacy” in The Routledge Handbook of Muslim Iberia (2020).

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and Note on Language and Dates
Principal Characters in the Narrative
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Preacher
Chapter 2: The Queen and Her Kings
Chapter 3: The Deposed
Chapter 4: The Son
Chapter 5: The Mahdis
Chapter 6: The Qadi and the Rebel
Conclusion
Time Line
Glossary of Key Terms
Further Reading