La Qal‘a des Banī Ḥammād : l’histoire d’un déclin

International audienceThe present article traces the history Qal‘at Banī Ḥammād from the last years of the Ḥammādid period up to its disappearance at the beginning of the 16th century. Built in 398/1007-1008 Qal‘at Banī Ḥammād was the political and economic capital of the central Maghreb during the 11th century. After the transfert of the Ḥammādid court to Bidjāya the older capital of the Ḥammādid began to decline notable in the reign of the prince Yaḥyā b. al-‘Azīz. The attaks led by the Almohads and ‘Alī b. Ghāniyya of Majorca in 547/1153 and 581/1184 respectely, transformed Qal‘at Banī Ḥammād into a simple small town wich survived from the 13th century until the beginning of the 16 th century