Lamtuna
The Lamtuna are a nomadic Berber tribe belonging to the Sanhaja (Zenaga) confederation, who traditionally inhabited the Adrar Plateau. During the Almoravid period, many Lamtunas emigrated northwards. The Sahrawi Tajakant tribe are of the most recognizable offshoots of the Lamtunas. They inhabit the area between Morocco and Western Sahara.
During the eighth century the Lamtuna created a kingdom out of a confederation of Berber tribes, which they dominated until the early tenth century. The Lamtuna probably did not convert to Islam until the ninth century. The Almoravid dynasty, the founders of a powerful empire that in the eleventh century extended over Morocco, Southern Iberia and western Algeria are from this tribe.
The Banu Ghaniya, successors of this dynasty in Tripoli and the Nafusa Mountains and governors of the Spanish Balearic Islands until about the middle of the 13th century, originated from this tribe as well.
During the Almoravids, the Lamtunas were known as the Mulathamin or Tagelmust, which mean the veiled ones in Arabic and Berber language respectively. The traditional rivals of the Lamtuna were the Gudala, whom they supplanted as rulers of the Almoravid dynasty.
Notable Lamtunas
External links
- Nebel A, Landau-Tasseron E, Filon D, Oppenheim A, Faerman M (June 2002). "Genetic evidence for the expansion of Arabian tribes into the Southern Levant and North Africa". Am. J. Hum. Genet. 70 (6): 1594–6. doi:10.1086/340669. PMC 379148
. PMID 11992266.