The Coming of the Almohads and the Rise of the Banū Ghāniya

48 Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The Coming of the Almohads and the Rise of the Banū Ghāniya

3.1 The Almoravids and the Realignment of the Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

The Almoravids (447/1056–541/1147), Ṣanhāja Berbers from northern Maurita- nia, had come to dominate al-Maghrib al-Aqṣā in its entirety by approximately 473/1080. Equally important, they had taken control of the southern and northern termini of the western Trans-Saharan route (the route which connected al-Maghrib al-Aqṣā to Ghāna): Awdaghust (conquered in 446/1054–5) and Sijilmāsa (conquered 447/1055–6). It should not be forgotten that as Saharans themselves the Almoravid tribes had always been directly involved in all stages of the Trans-Saharan trade and they were thus in a far better position to dominate it than their northern neighbors. Lange has suggested that Almoravid re- ligious propaganda spread by emissaries and travelers exerted an influence on the three major states located just south of the Sahara in western and central Bilād al-Sūdān between the Atlantic and Lake Chad (from west to east these kingdoms were Ghāna, Kāw, and Kānim). This Almoravid influence strength- ened the resolve of the local Muslim communities that were already present in all three states and spurred the noticeable Islamization of these states (or at any rate of their ruling families and elites) during this period.1 As a result of the factors listed above, it is not surprising that the Saharan gold trade flourished under Almoravid rule. Almoravid dinars made from West African gold were highly prized and used in transactions far outside of the Almoravid borders not only in the Mashriq but also in Christian Europe where they were called marabotins and even in China where they were called mulan- pi.2 It is the contention of Dévisse and Messier that the Almoravids attained a near monopoly over the traffic in gold from western Bilād al-Sūdān.3

1 Dierk Lange, “The Almoravids and the Islamization of the Great States of West Africa,” in Itinéraires d’Orient: Hommages á Claude Cahen, ed. Raoul Curiel and Rika Gyselen (Bures- sur- Yvette, 1994), pp. 65–76. 2 See Ronald A. Messier, “The Almoravids: West African Gold and the Gold Currency of the Mediterranean Basin,” JESHO, vol. 17, no. 1 (1974): 32–4. 3 Ibid., p. 41; Dévisse, “Routes de commerce,” pp. 71–2.

It may be recalled from our survey of trade routes in the first chapter that there were three major clusters of Trans-Saharan routes during the Islamic period: the westernmost with its northern terminus at Sijilmāsa (the most direct route to the sources of the gold at Bambuk, south of the Senegal River, and Bure on the Upper Niger); a central route with its northern terminus at Wargla in al-Maghrib al-Awsaṭ (Algeria); and an eastern branch which passed through the Libyan oases.4 Powerful dynasties in Ifrīqiya such as the Fatimids and Zirids as well as the Rustamids of the Central Maghrib benefitted from the central and eastern Trans-Saharan routes although these latter routes were prob- ably not as profitable as the Sijilmāsa-Awdaghust route which was the closest route to the most important sources of gold at this time, and in fact it appears that most West African gold arrived in Sijilmāsa during the tenth and eleventh centuries.5 During the Fatimid and early Zirid periods (early tenth century to middle eleventh century) when Ifrīqiya was politically and economically the most developed region of North Africa, Sijilmāsa had been linked to Qayrawān by east-west routes. Beginning in the 1050s, the Trans-Saharan routes were af- fected by a great “disequilibrium” as Dévisse calls it.6 The eastern and central routes nearly fell out of use altogether except for a small amount of activity in Wargla where the Ibāḍī merchants maintained their Trans-Saharan links.7 There were several reasons for this pronounced shift in favor of the western routes. First of all, the Almoravids had expanded deeper into the Sahara and West Africa than any previous Islamic dynasty and with direct control over Sijilmāsa, Awdaghust, and the salt fields of Tāza, they could deny the use of these locations to their rivals. Secondly, the Almoravid period witnessed an unprecedented flourishing of civilization in al-Maghrib al-Aqṣā. Both Fez and the new foundation of Marrakech became world-class cities on a par with Qayrawān and Cordoba in their respective heydays. The addition of al-Andalus, with its great cities such as Seville, to the Almoravid Empire meant that there was now a large domestic market with sophisticated tastes and an insatiable

4 The Awdaghust-Sijilmāsa route was the most direct route to the gold since it is commonly supposed that the two sources of West African gold during this period were at Bambuk, south of the Senegal River, and Bure on the Upper Niger. Both regions were located on the borders of the kingdom of Ghana, that is to say in western West Africa lying directly south of Morocco (al-Maghrib al-Aqṣā) on the other side of the Sahara. A traveler who crossed the Sahara directly from a more easterly base than Sijilmāsa such as the Jarīd or the Libyan oases would still have to travel west a considerable distance to reach these areas. For more about Bambuk and Bure see Messier, “Exploitation of West African Gold,” pp. 129–32. 5 Ibid., p. 147. 6 Dévisse, “Routes de commerce,” p. 70. 7 Ibid., p. 69.