Kingdom of Tlemcen

Zayyanid kingdom of Tlemcen
مملكة تلمسان (ar)
1235–1556
Flag of the Zayyanid Kingdom (1235–1338, 1488–1556) Flag of the Zayyanid Kingdom (1338–1488)
The Zayyanid kingdom of Tlemcen in the fifteenth century, with its neighbors Marinid and Hafsíd.
Capital		Tlemcen
Languages		Berber, Arabic
Religion		Islam
Government		Monarchy
Sultan
•	1236–1283	Abu Yahya I bin Zayyan
•	1550–1556	Al Hassan ben Abu Muh
History
•	Independence from the Almohad Empire	1235
•	Annexation by the Ottoman Empire	1556
Currency		Dinar
Preceded by Almohad Caliphate

The Kingdom of Tlemcen was a Berber kingdom in what is now the northwest of Algeria. Its territory stretched from Tlemcen to the Chelif bend and Algiers, and reached at its zenith the Moulouya river to the west, Sijilmasa to the south and the Soummam river to the east.

The Tlemcen kingdom was established after the demise of the Almohad Caliphate in 1236, and later fell under Ottoman rule in 1554. It was ruled by sultans of the Zayyanid dynasty. The capital of the kingdom was at Tlemcen, which lay on the main east-west route between Morocco and Ifriqiya.

Tlemcen was also a hub on the north-south trade route from Oran on the Mediterranean coast to the Western Sudan. As a prosperous trading center, it attracted its more powerful neighbors. At different times the Moroccans from the west, Ifriqiyans from the east, and Aragonese from the north invaded and occupied the kingdom.

The Bānu ʿabd āl-Wād, also called the Bānu Ziyān or Zayyanids after Yaghmurasen Ibn Zyan, the founder of the dynasty, were leaders of a Berber group who had long been settled in the Central Maghreb. Although contemporary chroniclers asserted that they had a noble origin, little is known for sure. The town of Tlemcen, called Pomaria by the Romans, is about 2,500 feet (760 m) above sea level in fertile, well-watered country.

Tlemcen was an important center under the Almoravids and their successors the Almohads, who began a new wall around the town in 1161.