The Rise and Spread of the Almoravids in the Context of the Medieval Warm Period (SP)

Abstract

In the early eleventh century, there sprung from the western African desert the powerful Almoravid movement that, within one generation, occupied first the whole Magreb al-Aqṣà [Western Maghreb], and then al-Andalus. This political process has been studied as a phenomenom with a strong component of religious renovation which led its members to seek expansion up to the time when the movement ended. It is of particular interest that the moments preceding the Almoravid expansion coincide roughly with the height of the Medieval Warm Period in the Sahel, the Period itself spanning the years 850-1250. This paper explores the possibility that a link exists between the climatological event and the rise of the historical process. A list of documentary and archaeological sources will be provided that will allow us to relate the climatic biomarkers with the historical facts.