Banu Ghaniya

The Banu Ghaniya were an Almoravid Sanhaja Berber dynasty.^[1] Their first leader, Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Yusuf, descendant of 5th almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf, was appointed as governor of the Balearic Islands in 1126.^[2] Following the collapse of the Almoravid power at the hand of the Almohads in the 1140s, the Banu Ghaniya continued to govern the Balearic Islands as independent emirs until about 1203, with a brief interruption in the 1180s. Later leaders (Ali ibn Ishaq and Yahya) made a determined attempt to reconquer the Maghreb (and in particular Ifriqiya), taking Bougie, Constantine and Algiers,^[3] and conquering most of modern Tunisia^[4] from about 1180 onwards.

They were influential in the downfall of the Almohad Empire in Eastern Maghrib.^[5] In Tunisia Ali ibn Ishaq adhered to the Abbasid Caliphate and was formally appointed by Al-Mustadi with the title of "heir of the Almoravids".^[6]

Emirs

• Muhammad ben Ali ben Yusuf 1126-1165 (deposed)
• Ishak ben Muhammad (son) 1165-1183
• Muhammad ben Ishak (son) 1183-1184
• To Almohad 1184
• Ali ben Ishak (known as Ali Ibn Ghaniya) 1184-1188, emir (by conquest) of Bougie (1185–1186) Algiers (1186) and Gafsa (1186–1187), warlord in Tunis 1187-1188
• Yahya ben Ishak (known as Yahya Ibn Ghaniya) 1188-1202/1203 lord of war in Tunis 1188-1212

References

1. C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, (Columbia University Press, 1996), 21.
2. Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (2004). The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-7486-2137-8.
3. Abun-Nasr 1987, p. 99
4. , Ki-Zerbo & Tamsir Niane 1997, p. 20
5. Bosworth 2004, p. 21
6. Abun-Nasr 1987, p. 100

Bibliography

• Ki-Zerbo, Joseph; Tamsir Niane, Djibril (1997). Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-85255-094-6.
• Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. (1987). A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-33184-5.
• Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (2004). The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2137-8.