Almoravid leader Yusuf ibn Tashfin, after friendly correspondence with the caliph at Baghdad, whom he acknowledged as Amir al-Mu'minin ("Commander of the Faithful"), assumes the title of Amir al Muslimin ("Commander of the Muslims") in 1097.

The Almoravid confederation has by 1100 incorporated all the emirates formerly held by competing Berber and Arab dynasties, thus bringing under Almoravid rule the whole of Muslim Spain, except Valencia.

The Almoravid power is at its height at Yusuf's death in 1106: the Moorish empire now includes all of Northwest Africa as far as Algiers, and all of Iberia south of the Tagus as far eastward as the mouth of the Ebro, including the Balearic Islands.

'Ali ibn Yusuf, the son of Yusuf bin Tashufin, who he succeeds, decrees the death penalty for any Jews living in the city of Marrakech, founded by his father.

At the same time, one of his military leaders and two of his physicians are Jews.

'Ali orders all Jews to convert or leave Morocco in 1107, basing his decree on limiting Mohammed's “tolerance” of the Jews to five hundred years after the Hegira—although, under this formula, fifteen more years remain until the quinticentennial.

The Almoravids' Moorish empire includes all of Northwest Africa as far as Algiers, and all of Iberia south of the Tagus as far eastward as the mouth of the Ebro, including the Balearic Islands.

The Almoravid army led by Ali ibn Yusuf fails in 1109 to reconquer Toledo (lost in 1085).

Almoravid leader Ali ibn Yusuf organizes an auto-da-fé of the works of Al-Ghazali in front of the great mosque of Cordoba.

Recognized as the heir of his father Yusuf ibn Tashfin in 1102, he had succeeded his father upon his death in 1106.

Ruling from Morocco, he has appointed his brother Tamin ibn Yusuf as governor of Al-Andalus.

'Ali ibn Yusuf has led the Almoravids from 1106.

In his reign, the union between Spain and Africa is consolidated and Andalusian civilization takes root; administrative machinery is Spanish in pattern, writers and artists cross the straits, and the great monuments built by 'Ali in the Maghrib are models of pure Andalusian art.

The Almohads had added Sintra and Santarém to their domain under Yusuf ibn Tashfin's son and successor, Ali ibn Yusuf, and Iberia was again invaded in 1119 and 1121, but the tide has turned, the French having assisted the Aragonese to recover Zaragoza.

Count Afonso Henriques of Portugal leads forces to victory over the Moors in 1139 at the Battle of Ourique (the site of the battle is uncertain, but is probably not that of present-day Ourique in southern Portugal).