Berbers 41 Berber cave dwellings and mosque on a hill in Chenini, Tunisia Berbers continue to live in modern North Africa and form a large segment of the populations in Morocco and Algeria, with some tribes continuing to reside in Mauritania, Tunisia, and Mali ad commander Musa ibn Nusayr followed al-Ziyad’s landing the next year and Berber soldiers continued to play a major role in Muslim expansion throughout Iberia and southern France for centuries The first major Berber political-military state to emerge was the Almoravid Empire, which was founded in Mauritania and the Sahara around 1050 and practiced a more orthodox form of Sunni Islam With the founding of their capital city, Marrakesh, in Morocco in 1062, Almoravid expansion continued under the joint rule of Yusuf ibn Tashfin and his cousin, Abu Bakr In 1086 Almoravid armies landed in Iberia, where Yusuf defeated Alfonso VI, the Christian king of Castile, which allowed the Berber empire to establish a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim state with control over much of southern Iberia, all of Morocco, and parts of West Africa By 1150 another Berber movement, the Almohads, under ‘Abd al-Mu’min overthrew the Almoravids, taking over Morocco and southern Spain while expanding east across North Africa Like their predecessors, the Almohads founded a fundamentalist and militaristic Sunni Muslim state, and Christians and Jews often faced imperial persecution Unlike the Almoravids the Almohad Empire slowly broke apart into smaller states, and the last Almohad caliph, Idris II, ruled only the city of Marrakesh before his murder in 1269 Under the Almoravid and Almohad periods, the majority of the Berber tribes converted to Sunni Islam, following the Maliki School of Islamic jurisprudence Although the Berbers continued to hold onto aspects of their culture and continued to speak Berber languages, many also adopted some Arab cultural practices Berbers continue to live throughout present-day North Africa and form a large segment of the populations in Morocco and Algeria, with some tribes continuing to reside in Mauritania, Tunisia, and Mali See also Abbasid dynasty; Muslim Spain; Umayyad dynasty Further reading: Brett, Michael, and Elizabeth Fentress The Berbers Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers, 1997; Hagopian, Elaine C “Islam and Society-Formation in Morocco Past and Present.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (Autumn 1963); Norris, H T The Berbers in Arabic Literature New York: Longman, 1982; Rodd, Francis “Kahena, Queen of the Berbers: A Sketch of the Arab Invasion of Ifrikiya in the First Century of the Hijra.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London (Winter 1925); Shatzmiller, Maya The Berbers and the Islamic State: The