Miknasa

The Miknasa are a Berber tribe in Morocco and western Algeria.

They were originally from Tripolitania and southern Tunisia, but moved even in pre-Islamic times to the west and settled in western Algeria and the Central Morocco. There testified, inter alia, the name of the present town of Meknes / Miknas their presence.

After the submission by the Muslims Miknasa embraced Islam. Already 711 members of this tribe is involved in the conquest of the Western Goth Tariq ibn Ziyad below. They settled north of Cordoba, in Andalusia, and founded in the 11th century, the dynasty of the Aftasiden in Badajoz.

Another group of Miknasa participated in the uprising of the Maysara ( 739-742 ) part, took over the Islam of the Kharijites and founded on the northern edge of the Sahara, the emirate Sijilmasa ( 771-980 ). This gained as the end point of the western Trans-Sahara trade with Sudan great economic prosperity. It could fend off the attacks of the Fatimids in alliance with the Caliphate of Córdoba. When Prince al - Mutazz but allied with the Fatimids, the Miknasa were expelled 980 of the umayyadentreuen Magrawa from Sijilmasa. This Sijilmasa dominated until 1054, before the city was destroyed by the Almoravids.

Another part of the Miknasa - Berber was a faithful ally of the Fatimids in the fight against the Umayyads and their allies in Morocco in the 10th century. They rushed 912 Rustamiden of Tahert and sold 917 times the Salihiden from northern Morocco. However, they could get stuck against the resistance of Magrawa not permanently in northern Morocco. The weakened by the fighting with the Magrawa Miknasa were subjected in the 11th century by the Almoravids.