The Miknasa (

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

: ''Imeknasen'') was a Zenata

tribe of the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

History

The Miknasa Berbers historically populated the

Aurès Aurès () is a natural region located in the mountainous area of the Aurès Mountains, Aurès range, in eastern Algeria. The region includes the provinces of Algeria, Algerian provinces of Batna Province, Batna, Tebessa Province, Tebessa, Consta ...

and are part of the Dharisa tribe belonging to Botr who descended from Madghis, coming from the Aures mountains in Algeria. The Aures and the regions north of it were traditionally the home of the Miknasa, they were also mentioned to have been situated there by Ibn Khaldun, Al Yaqubi and Al Bakri at the time of the foundation of

Tahert Tiaret () or Tahert () is a major city in northwestern Algeria that gives its name to the wider farming region of Tiaret Province. Both the town and region lie south-west of the capital of Algiers in the western region of the Hautes Plaines, i ...

.Zerouki, Brahim.
L'Imamat de Tahart: Histoire politico-socio-religieuse.
�France: L'Harmattan, 1987.”Les Miknassa, traditionnellement, avaient pour demeure les Awras ainsi que la région située au nord de ces montagnes (228). Ils y sont en effet signalés par Ibn Haldun (229) qui situe son propos au moment des bouleversements qui provoquèrent la fondation de Tahart, ainsi que par Al Ya'qubi (230) ainsi que par Al Bakri (231)” In antiquity Ptolomey referred to three groups who had inhabited a certain mountain range which can now be identified as the Ouarsenis, one of these three peoples were the Μυκίνοι who were most likely the Miknasa, Edrisi had also mentioned the Miknasa as one of the tribes that inhabited the Ouarsenis. After defeat by the Umayyads, many of the Miknasa converted to Islam. In 711, members of the tribe took part in the conquest of the

Visigothic Kingdom The Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths () was a Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic people ...

under Tariq ibn Ziyad. They settled north of Córdoba and in the 11th century founded the

Aftasid dynasty The Aftasid dynasty (Arabic: بنو الأفطس ''Banu al-Aftas'') was an Arabization, Arabized Muladí, Iberian-Berbers, Berber dynasty that ruled the Taifa of Badajoz in Al-Andalus. History When the Caliphate of Cordoba broke up into the Taifa ...

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

. Another group of the Miknasa took part in the successful massive

Berber Revolt The Berber Revolt or the Kharijite Revolt of 740–743 AD (122–125 AH in the Islamic calendar) took place during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and marked the first successful secession from the Arab caliphate (ruled ...

led by Maysara al-Matghari in 739–742 against the Umayyad Arabs, and managed to wipe out the Umayyad Arab presence in Morocco and Algeria. The Berber principality Banu Midrar is named after Abul-Qasim Samku ibn Wasul, nicknamed Midrar, a Miknasa Berber who was said to take part in the Berber Revolt. The principality of the Banu Midrar was founded by Miknasa who came from the Aures massif, and at the time were nomads south of

Tiaret Tiaret () or Tahert () is a major city in northwestern Algeria that gives its name to the wider farming region of Tiaret Province. Both the town and region lie south-west of the capital of Algiers in the western region of the Hautes Plaines, i ...

. The Miknasa adopted Kharijism-Islam and established the

Emirate An emirate is a territory ruled by an emir, a title used by monarchs or high officeholders in the Muslim world. From a historical point of view, an emirate is a political-religious unit smaller than a caliphate. It can be considered equivalent ...

of Sijilmasa, under the Midrarid dynasty, on the northern edge of the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

in 757. This became very wealthy as the western end-point of the Trans-Saharan trade route with the

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. In alliance with the

Caliphate of Córdoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

, it was able to fight off the attacks of the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

. However, when the Miknasa chief Al-Mutazz allied himself with the Fatimids, the Miknasa were driven out of Sijilmasa by the Maghrawa, who were allies of the Umayyads. A further group of Miknasa were allied with the Fatimids against the Umayyads, and overthrew the Rustamids of

in 912 and drove the Salihids from northern Morocco in 917. But they could not maintain their resistance to the Maghrawa in northern Morocco permanently, and, weakened by the struggle, they were subdued by the Almoravids in the 11th century.

Toponyms

The modern Moroccan city of

Meknes Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...

, which took its name from them, bears witness to their presence, as does the Spanish town of Mequinenza.

References

{{Reflist Berber peoples and tribes Berbers in Algeria Berbers in Morocco Medieval history of Morocco Berbers in Tunisia

History

Toponyms

See also

References