The Almoravid movement develops early in the eleventh century among the Sanhaja confederation, whose control of trans-Saharan trade routes is under pressure from the Zenata Berbers in the north and the state of Ghana in the south.

Yahya Ibn Ibrahim, a leader of the Godala tribe of the Sanhaja confederation, decides to raise the level of Islamic knowledge and practice among his people.

To accomplish this, on his return from the hajj (Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca) in 1048–1049, he brings with him Abdallah Ibn Yasin, a Moroccan scholar.

In the early years of the movement, the scholar is concerned only with imposing moral discipline and a strict adherence to Islamic principles among his followers.

Abd Allah ibn Yasin also becomes known as one of the marabouts, or holy persons (from al murabitun, "those who have made a religious retreat").

The Almoravid movement shifts from promoting religious reform to engaging in military conquest after 1054 and is led by Lamtuna leaders: first Yahya, then his brother Abu Bakr, then his cousin Yusuf ibn Tashfin.

With Marrakech as their capital, the Almoravids conquer Morocco, the Maghreb as far east as Algiers, and Spain up to the Ebro River by 1106.