What Up, Nerds?
OMG Hussites Part 2 is in production! In the mean time, my ever-lovely girlfriend has now made it to Marrakech, Morocco, which just happens to be one of the seats of one of my favorite western Islamic Empires ever.
Because everyone has a list of their favorite Western Islamic Empires, right?
In the early 1040's, at about the same time Robert "the Weasel" Guiscard was getting off the boat to be a mercenary in south Italy, there lived a Muslim west-African chief named Yahya. Yahya was a pretty good Muslim. And as such, he was returning home from his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. While traveling along the coast of the southern Mediterranean he met a religious scholar from Morocco.
The two men hit it off, and Yahya got to complaining about how his people were such bad Muslims and how he didn't think there was anything he could do about it. The scholar told Yahya about a school where he could find someone who could reform his people. Yahya was ecstatic to discover this and so he stopped at the school on his way home. The man the school sent with him was named Abdallah.
Yahya happily came home with his brand new proselytizing Abdallah. When they arrived Abdallah proscribed the tribe rigid orthodoxy, strict adherence to Islamic law, even stricter punishments for breaking the law, and practically puritanical zeal. Abdallah was a provocative firebrand. Yahya's people did not like Abdallah one bit. So as soon as Yahya died a few years later, Abdallah was told in no uncertain terms to f*ck right off.
At this point Abdallah was all the screwed. Or he would have been, except for some reason the leaders of the tribe right next to Yahya's decided to adopt him into their tribe. They kept him on a tight leash though. So Abdallah was no true provocateur, but he did preach for Islamic law and also for some reason against multi-story houses. But when Abdallah's new tribe really got excited about Islam was when Abdallah started emphasizing one particular religious calling: conquering the enemies of Islam.
In this case the enemies of Islam were the wishy-washy sorta-Muslims from Yahya's old tribe.
So Abdallah's people got excited, conquered their neighboring tribes, and started knocking down all the second floors off of their multi-story houses. Clearly because they had been able to conquer the other tribes they had a good thing going on. They named themselves el-MuraabeTuun, or the Almoravids, and set off to conquer them an empire!
They began with a smart first move, the quick seizure of the town Sijilmasa--which was THE trading hub and gold hub of the region. With this economic backing they moved on to attack both north and the south. They met some immediate success and managed to knock the second floors off of several houses. Unfortunately both the chief of the tribe and Abdallah were killed in battles pretty quick. But replacement leaders were found and the Almoravids continued to conquer more and more lands--especially to the north.
In 1062 the Almoravid leader Abu Bakr ibn Umar decided the old seat of his court was too busy and crowded. So he decided to lay out a new one-floor-high capital in modern Morocco. He chose a site in the middle of a plain that was neutral territory between two squabbling tribes, and up sprung the city of Marrakech.
Not long after that, Abu Bakr decided that ruling the Almoravids just wasn't his thing. So decided to give both control of Morocco--and for some inexplicable reason also his favorite wife--over to his cousin. Abu Bakr headed back down to the Almoravid homeland and spent the rest of his days suppressing revolts until he was killed by a poison arrow.
In 1075 the Almoravids decided to knock the second floors off the houses to their east, so they invaded the great Ghana Empire. By 1100 the Ghana empire collapsed and the Almoravids took some of it while other parts of rebounded and founded the Mali Empire.
In 1086 the princes of Islamic Spain begged the Almoravids to come help them turn back the advancing tide of the Christian Reconquista. The Almoravids stopped the Christian reconquest, but were so disgusted by the behavior of the Spanish princes that they came back four years later to conquer all of Islamic Spain. At that point that meant the south half of the Iberian peninsula. But as he fought onward, the Almoravid king also managed to take the towns of Valencia and Zaragosa. This was basically the high water mark for the Almoravids, who owned a ridiculous amount of western Africa and Europe.
Almost immediately afterwards the Almoravid Empire took a turn for the worse. They started losing ground to the Spanish Christian kings and were troubled by the disturbances of the Alomohad agitators in the Almoravid base of power at Morocco. In 1147 the Alamohads conquered Marrakech, and that was the end of the Almoravids. Oh well, at least it would take a while before everybody could rebuild the second floors of their houses.
OMG Hussites Part 2 is in production! In the mean time, my ever-lovely girlfriend has now made it to Marrakech, Morocco, which just happens to be one of the seats of one of my favorite western Islamic Empires ever.
Because everyone has a list of their favorite Western Islamic Empires, right?
In the early 1040's, at about the same time Robert "the Weasel" Guiscard was getting off the boat to be a mercenary in south Italy, there lived a Muslim west-African chief named Yahya. Yahya was a pretty good Muslim. And as such, he was returning home from his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. While traveling along the coast of the southern Mediterranean he met a religious scholar from Morocco.
The two men hit it off, and Yahya got to complaining about how his people were such bad Muslims and how he didn't think there was anything he could do about it. The scholar told Yahya about a school where he could find someone who could reform his people. Yahya was ecstatic to discover this and so he stopped at the school on his way home. The man the school sent with him was named Abdallah.
Yahya happily came home with his brand new proselytizing Abdallah. When they arrived Abdallah proscribed the tribe rigid orthodoxy, strict adherence to Islamic law, even stricter punishments for breaking the law, and practically puritanical zeal. Abdallah was a provocative firebrand. Yahya's people did not like Abdallah one bit. So as soon as Yahya died a few years later, Abdallah was told in no uncertain terms to f*ck right off.
At this point Abdallah was all the screwed. Or he would have been, except for some reason the leaders of the tribe right next to Yahya's decided to adopt him into their tribe. They kept him on a tight leash though. So Abdallah was no true provocateur, but he did preach for Islamic law and also for some reason against multi-story houses. But when Abdallah's new tribe really got excited about Islam was when Abdallah started emphasizing one particular religious calling: conquering the enemies of Islam.
 |
| OH JESUS two stories is bad enough! |
In this case the enemies of Islam were the wishy-washy sorta-Muslims from Yahya's old tribe.
So Abdallah's people got excited, conquered their neighboring tribes, and started knocking down all the second floors off of their multi-story houses. Clearly because they had been able to conquer the other tribes they had a good thing going on. They named themselves el-MuraabeTuun, or the Almoravids, and set off to conquer them an empire!
They began with a smart first move, the quick seizure of the town Sijilmasa--which was THE trading hub and gold hub of the region. With this economic backing they moved on to attack both north and the south. They met some immediate success and managed to knock the second floors off of several houses. Unfortunately both the chief of the tribe and Abdallah were killed in battles pretty quick. But replacement leaders were found and the Almoravids continued to conquer more and more lands--especially to the north.
In 1062 the Almoravid leader Abu Bakr ibn Umar decided the old seat of his court was too busy and crowded. So he decided to lay out a new one-floor-high capital in modern Morocco. He chose a site in the middle of a plain that was neutral territory between two squabbling tribes, and up sprung the city of Marrakech.
Not long after that, Abu Bakr decided that ruling the Almoravids just wasn't his thing. So decided to give both control of Morocco--and for some inexplicable reason also his favorite wife--over to his cousin. Abu Bakr headed back down to the Almoravid homeland and spent the rest of his days suppressing revolts until he was killed by a poison arrow.
In 1075 the Almoravids decided to knock the second floors off the houses to their east, so they invaded the great Ghana Empire. By 1100 the Ghana empire collapsed and the Almoravids took some of it while other parts of rebounded and founded the Mali Empire.
In 1086 the princes of Islamic Spain begged the Almoravids to come help them turn back the advancing tide of the Christian Reconquista. The Almoravids stopped the Christian reconquest, but were so disgusted by the behavior of the Spanish princes that they came back four years later to conquer all of Islamic Spain. At that point that meant the south half of the Iberian peninsula. But as he fought onward, the Almoravid king also managed to take the towns of Valencia and Zaragosa. This was basically the high water mark for the Almoravids, who owned a ridiculous amount of western Africa and Europe.
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| That right there is like seven countries all in one Empire. Hell yeah, son. (Pic from Wiki) |
Almost immediately afterwards the Almoravid Empire took a turn for the worse. They started losing ground to the Spanish Christian kings and were troubled by the disturbances of the Alomohad agitators in the Almoravid base of power at Morocco. In 1147 the Alamohads conquered Marrakech, and that was the end of the Almoravids. Oh well, at least it would take a while before everybody could rebuild the second floors of their houses.
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