Taifa of Arcos

The Taifa of Arcos was a Berber kingdom in al-Andalus with its capital at Arcos de la Frontera, in what is now the province of Cádiz. It was founded in 1011 when Muhammad I of the Banu Jizrun, a Zanata Berber family, expelled the Umayyad governor of the cora of Sidonia and proclaimed independence. The taifa existed in two separate periods. The first lasted from 1011 to 1068, when Arcos was forcibly incorporated into the Taifa of Seville under Abbad II al-Mu'tadid. After Seville's fall to the Almoravids, the region was ruled from Morocco until 1143, when the Idrisid Abu'l-Qasim Ahyal restored a short-lived taifa. This second period ended in 1145 with the Almohad conquest. The Jizrunid emirs Muhammad I, Abdun ibn Muhammad and Muhammad II al-Qaim ruled during the first period, which was marked by conflicts with Seville and other neighbouring taifas. Arcos was a small state, but its fortress made it a local power in the region.