Almohad Imperial Administration

Timeline

1. c. 1121–1133Tinmal · Atlas MountainsIbn Tumart integrated Berber tribes through the doctrine of tawhid and established a religious-military community at Tinmal; after 'Abd al-Mu'min succeeded him, he transformed the movement into a state, with the caliph as spiritual leader directing a council of ten (shura) and tribal military mobilization, laying the embryonic form of theocratic-monarchical administration.
2. 1147–1150Marrakesh · MoroccoAfter conquering Marrakesh, the former Almoravid capital, the empire reorganized the old administrative blocks of North Africa into wilayah governorships, appointing a chancellor to handle daily affairs, a treasury collecting land taxes and trade taxes, and using the huffaz network to enforce doctrinal review locally, building a central-local framework for cross-strait imperial governance.
3. 1151–1160Imperial center (the Marrakesh–Seville axis) · AndalusiaBetween 1151 and 1160 the empire reached its greatest extent: the central caliph directed affairs through the chancellor, finance officials, and court secretaries; North Africa and Andalusia each had governors (walis) and military commanders; the Maliki qadi system handled justice; and hisba supervised markets and moral order. The huffaz and tribal chiefs formed a two-tier network of local control—the most mature stage of the Almohad administrative system.
4. 1163–1269Seville · SpainSuccessor caliphs such as Abu Ya'qub Yusuf moved the capital to Rabat and strengthened the court bureaucracy, but tribal centrifugal tendencies, the overextended Andalusian front, and the Christian counteroffensive reduced central control; after the loss of Andalusia in the mid-13th century, the administrative system contracted into a Maghrebi local-regime model until it fell to the Marinids in 1269.