Berbers II

1040-1269 CE

From 1040 to 1269 CE, the Berbers twice conquered an empire from the Sahara's edge — first the Almoravids sweeping from their Mauritanian ribat to rule Morocco and Al-Andalus, then the Almohads toppling them with even fiercer puritanism and building mosques whose minarets still tower over Marrakesh and Seville. Desert warriors became masters of Iberian gardens, until the Christians pushed back and the empire splintered into squabbling successor states.