(1130–1269) Berber confederation born out of religious opposition to the Islamic doctrines of the Almoravid dynasty. The Almohad leader Ibn Tūmart began his rebellion in the 1120s. Marrakech was captured in 1147 under the leadership of his successor aynAbd al-Muhamzahmin. By the 1170s all of the Maghrib was under unified control for the only time in its history, and the Almohads also controlled Muslim Spain. Their rule was marked by, on the one hand, the cultivation of science and philosophy and, on the other, efforts at religious unification by compelling Jews and Christians to convert or emigrate. They lost control of Spain to the Christians in 1212 and of their North African provinces to the Hsubdotafssubdotid dynasty in Tunis (1236) and the Marīnids in Marrakech (1269).

Learn more about Almohad dynasty with a free trial on Britannica.com.