ABSTRACT
The Almoravids (al-Murābiṭūn, 434/1042–530/1147) were a Saharan Berber tribal federation who conquered the western Maghrib and most of al-Andalus in the second half of the fifth/eleventh century. They were the first indigenous group to unify this part of the Maghrib and the first Maghrib-based empire to conquer al-Andalus. They revolutionized the political structures of both regions through a novel combination of local elements with others adopted from the broader Islamic world. Their strategies for political legitimation, which included the concept of Abbasid investiture, illustrate this novel combination.
