Taifa of Carmona

The Taifa of Carmona was a Berber kingdom in al-Andalus that emerged in 1013 during the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba. It was ruled by the Banu Birzal, a Zenata Berber family from the Zab region of the central Maghreb, and had its capital at Carmona, east of Seville. The taifa experienced two separate periods of independence. The first lasted from 1013 until 1066, when the kingdom was conquered by the Taifa of Seville. After a period of Sevillian and then Almoravid control, Carmona regained its independence around 1143 under the Darddusid dynasty. This second period ended in 1150, when the Almohad Caliphate annexed the town. The emirs of the first period included Abdallah ibn Ishaq al-Berzali, Muhammad, Ishaq and Al-Aziz. Carmona was a small state, but its fortress and position on the routes between Seville, Córdoba and the south made it a recurring prize in the wars that fragmented Muslim Spain after the fall of the Umayyad caliphate.