Almohad Farming, Trade, Revenue and Coinage in the Maghreb and al-Andalus

From the twelfth century until the Almohad caliphate ended in 1269, rulers based in the Maghreb governed territories that also included much of al-Andalus. Their economy depended on varied local production and on routes linking inland settlements, cities, ports, and markets. Farming and water management were especially important in al-Andalus, while in the Maghreb rural communities, trans-Saharan connections, and Mediterranean ports formed parts of a wider system. The state sought revenue through taxation and used coinage to express and administer its authority, although economic practices varied across this large and changing realm.

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Farming and water management across different regions

Agriculture in al-Andalus used water-management systems developed across several centuries. An acequia was an irrigation channel that carried water from a source such as a river, spring or reservoir to cultivated land. Diverting and distributing water allowed crops to be grown where rainfall alone was insufficient. The source and construction of each network depended on local terrain and supply.

Irrigation made it possible to grow a varied range of crops around Andalusi settlements. The region’s agricultural repertoire included cereals, olives, rice, sugarcane, cotton, citrus fruits, and vegetables, though their cultivation varied by locality and period. Water management also served urban and elite needs. In addition to fields, water could supply baths, mosques, houses, gardens, and palaces. Almohad rulers developed estates outside major cities with reservoirs that helped sustain orchards and other plantings. The gardens associated with Marrakesh and Seville illustrate how managed water could support both production and courtly landscapes.

In the Maghreb, farming, herding and trade could overlap within a household’s activities. The chronicler al-Wahid al-Marrakushi described Kumiya people as farmers, shepherds and sellers of milk and firewood. Rural resources supplied both household needs and products that could be carried to market.

Rural production, cities, and markets

Rural production supplied food and raw materials to cities, where textile workers, metalworkers and other artisans served local customers and larger commissions. Markets connected these producers with sellers, transporters and buyers. A town’s population therefore depended on repeated movement of grain, animal products, fuel and manufactured goods.

Al-Marrakushi’s description of Kumiya people selling milk and firewood illustrates exchange in ordinary necessities. Herding supplied dairy produce, while gathered fuel could be carried into towns. Selling such goods converted household work and access to rural resources into money or other purchases.

Tax collection and the resources of government

Almohad rule depended on collecting taxes across provinces and maintaining the forces and officials needed to govern them. In rural districts, the state entrusted security and tax collection to allied tribes, including the Hintata and Arab groups. This arrangement allowed the government to work through local powers rather than rely on officials alone. It also made the caliphate dependent on the cooperation of those groups.

Revenue arrangements helped bind allied groups to the state. An iqta assigned rights to specified revenues or resources in return for service, rather than simply making every cultivator’s land the private property of a commander. Governors and tribal leaders could use these resources to maintain followers. Their regional influence became harder for the caliph to control during political crises.

Sijilmassa connected the western Maghreb with trans-Saharan routes carrying gold and other goods. Holding the town helped rulers participate in networks that crossed regions beyond their direct administration. Maintaining those connections mattered for gold supplies, trade and the revenues used to support government and military service.

Ports and long-distance trade

Almohad commerce connected inland routes with both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The government invested in naval and port infrastructure for military purposes and to strengthen maritime trade. Existing ports, including Tangier and Ceuta, were reinforced. These coastal connections complemented inland and trans-Saharan routes rather than replacing them.

Merchants and ports linked Maghrebi cities such as Tunis, Béjaïa, Constantine, Tlemcen, and Ceuta with trading partners including Pisa, Genoa, Venice, and Marseille. A record of a Marseille merchants’ establishment at Ceuta in 1236 offers a specific example of this commercial presence. Trade continued across religious boundaries, even as political conflict and raiding also formed part of relations between Christian and Muslim powers.

These connections made ports important not only as places where goods changed hands, but also as links between regions with different resources and routes. The Almohad state’s interest in fleets and harbours reflected both commercial and strategic concerns. The balance between those concerns varied, and access to a port did not mean that the caliphate exercised equally strong control over every route or market.

Gold coinage and changing monetary practice

Almohad rulers issued gold dinars and smaller denominations as well as silver money. A surviving half-dinar of Abd al-Mu’min in the Smithsonian weighs 2.22 grams. Half-dinars offered a smaller gold unit alongside full dinars. Coins allowed payments in defined monetary units while their metal content gave them value beyond a ruler’s immediate territory.

Coin inscriptions proclaimed religious and dynastic authority. Round gold pieces could carry text arranged within a square, while the silver dirham was characteristically square in shape. The layout made the new coinage readily recognisable. Names, titles and religious formulae identified the authority behind a payment as the piece passed between holders.

An exceptional ten-dinar gold piece from Marrakesh, dated to al-Murtada’s reign in 1248–1266, names the ruler and his ancestry and refers to Ibn Tumart. At 49.9 grams, it was an unusually large object rather than everyday small change, and it was later mounted as jewellery. It illustrates the use of monetary form for conspicuous dynastic display.

Economic change as Almohad authority declined

Almohad economic life was shaped by regional diversity and by the changing reach of central government. After the defeat at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, Almohad authority weakened, and territories in both al-Andalus and the Maghreb increasingly slipped from central control. As the caliphate contracted, its rulers’ ability to coordinate provincial administration and command routes also diminished. The end of Almohad rule in 1269 did not end the farming, markets, or trade networks of the region, but it marked the close of the political framework that had connected them under a single caliphate.

For the wider setting, see The Almohad Caliphate: History, Government and Society.