Ganids

Ganida (Banu Gania) - a medieval Berber dynasty that ruled the Balearic Islands in 1126-1205.

The dynasty founder Amir Ali I ibn Ali ibn Yusuf al-Manifi came from the Berber tribe Sanhaj , and his mother was the closest relative of the Almoravid dynasty (Ganiya, his mother, was the daughter of Amir ul-muslimin Yusuf ibn Tashfin’s brother). This undoubtedly predetermined the successful political career of Ali and his brother Yahya (the latter was the Almoravid governor in Spain in 1126-1147). Becoming an amir of the Balearic Islands under the Almoravid sovereignty in 1126, Ali I founded a dynasty that, under his successor Muhammad I, in 1146 (541 AH) achieved the status of an independent state.

However, the Ganids soon faced a new force in the region - the rapidly gaining power of the Almohad state. In the ensuing battle, success was initially accompanied by the Balearic emirs: in 1184 they even managed to capture Marrakesh , Bejaja and part of Tunisia . However, in the same year, the Ganid troops were defeated and in 1185/1186 (581 AH), the Ganids were forced to recognize themselves as vassals of the Almohad .

In 1205 (601 AH), the Almohads deposed the last Amir Yahya, who then for several decades waged a stubborn struggle with them in North Africa until his death in 1237 (635 AH).