Azougui

Azougui lies in the Adrar, among the rocky plateaus and palm groves of the western Sahara. Medieval accounts describe a fortified oasis here, on the frontier between the Lamtuna and Gudala peoples. Its wells and date palms supported a settlement in a country otherwise marked by dry valleys and desert. In the eleventh century Azougui was an early centre of the Almoravids, the movement that went on to rule lands from the western Sahara to Morocco and al-Andalus. The chronicler al-Bakri attributed its fortress to Yannu ibn Umar, brother of two early Almoravid leaders. Nearby, in 1056, a Gudala army defeated the Lamtuna and killed Yahya ibn Umar, an early setback for the movement.