Zirids

Zirid dynasty
973–1148
The Zirid territory (green), max. extent (end of 10th century) ·
Capital		Achir (before 1014), Kairouan (from 1014 to 1057) Mahdia (after 1057) ·  ·
Languages		Berber, Arabic, African Romance, Hebrew
Religion		Islam (Sunni, Ibadi) Christianity (Catholicism) Judaism
Government		Monarchy (Emirate)
Emir
•	973–984	Buluggin ibn Ziri
•	1121–1148	Abu'l-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali
History
•	Established	973
•	Disestablished	1148
Currency		Dinar
Preceded by Succeeded by Fatimid Caliphate Hammadid dynasty Kingdom of Sicily

The Zirid dynasty (Berber: ⵉⵣⵉⵔⵉⴻⵏ / Izirien, Arabic: زيريون‎‎ /ALA-LC: Zīryūn), also called Banu Ziri, was a Sanhaja Berber dynasty from current Algeria, which ruled the central Maghreb from 972 to 1014 and Ifriqiya (eastern Maghreb) from 972 to 1148.

Descendants of Ziri ibn Menad, a military leader who rallied to the Cairo-based Fatimids and gave his name to the dynasty, the Zirids were emirs who ruled in the name of the Fatimid Caliphate. In fact they reinforced their independence until officially breaking with the Fatimids in the mid-11th century. Transmitting power by hereditary means, they constituted a true dynasty. They were the first dynasty of Berber origin in the Maghreb during the Middle Ages. It opened the way to a period in Maghrebi where political power was held by Berber dynasties (Almoravids, Almohads, Zianids, Marinids and Hafsids).

Continuing their conquests to Fez and to all of modern-day Morocco in 980, they encountered resistance from the local Zenata Berbers, who made allegiance to the Caliphate of Cordoba. Various Zirid branches did however rule the central Maghreb. This branch of the Zirids, at the beginning of the 11th century, following various family disputes, broke away as the Hammadids and took control of the territories of the central Maghreb. The Zirids proper were then designated as Badicides and occupied only Ifriqiyah between 1048 and 1148. Part of the dynasty fled to al-Andalus and later founded, in 1019, the Taifa of Granada on the ruins of the Caliphate of Cordoba. The Zirids of Granada were again defeated by the expansion of the Almoravids, who annexed their kingdom in 1090, while the Badicides and the Hammadids remained independent. Following the recognition of the Sunni Muslim Abbasid Caliphate and the assertion of Ifriqiya and the Central Maghreb as independent kingdoms of Sunni obedience in 1048, the Fatimids reportedly masterminded the migration of the Hilalians to the Maghreb. In the 12th century, the Hilalian invasions combined with the attacks of the Normans of Sicily on the littoral weakened Zirid power. The Almohads finally conquered the central Maghreb and Ifriqiya in 1152, thus unifying the whole of the Maghreb and ending the Zirid dynasties.