Almohads enter Marrakech

1146

Abd al-Mumin's Berber reformers, descending from the Atlas Mountains, captured the Almoravid capital after a two-year siege, ending the dynasty that had united Morocco and Muslim Spain. The last Almoravid emir, Ishaq ibn Ali, was dragged from hiding and executed in his own palace. The Almohads rebuilt Marrakech's mosques and fortifications on a grander scale, erecting the Koutoubia minaret as a symbol of the new puritan dynasty's ambition.