The Miknasa Berbers historically populated theAurès and are part of the Dharisa tribe belonging to Botr who descended from Madghis, coming from theAures mountains in Algeria.[2][3][4][5] The Aures and the regions north of it were traditionally the home of the Miknasa, they were also mentioned to have been situated there by Ibn Khaldun, Al Yaqubi and Al Bakri at the time of the foundation ofTahert.[6] In antiquity Ptolomey referred to three groups who had inhabited a certain mountain range which can now be identified as theOuarsenis, one of these three peoples were the Μυκίνοι who were most likely the Miknasa, Edrisi had also mentioned the Miknasa as one of the tribes that inhabited the Ouarsenis.[7]
Another group of the Miknasa took part in the successful massiveBerber Revolt led byMaysara al-Matghari in 739–742 against the Umayyad Arabs, and managed to wipe out the Umayyad Arab presence in Morocco and Algeria.[10] The Berber principalityBanu Midrar is named afterAbul-Qasim Samku ibn Wasul, nicknamed Midrar, a Miknasa Berber who was said to take part in the Berber Revolt.[10] The principality of the Banu Midrar was founded by Miknasa who came from theAures massif, and at the time were nomads south ofTiaret.[11][12] The Miknasa adoptedKharijism-Islam and established theEmirate ofSijilmasa, under the Midrarid dynasty, on the northern edge of theSahara in 757.[13][14] This became very wealthy as the western end-point of theTrans-Saharan trade route with theSudan.[15] In alliance with theCaliphate of Córdoba, it was able to fight off the attacks of theFatimids. However, when the Miknasa chief Al-Mutazz allied himself with the Fatimids, the Miknasa were driven out of Sijilmasa by theMaghrawa, who were allies of theUmayyads.[citation needed]
A further group of Miknasa were allied with the Fatimids against the Umayyads, and overthrew theRustamids ofTahert in 912 and drove theSalihids from northern Morocco in 917.[16][17][18] But they could not maintain their resistance to the Maghrawa in northern Morocco permanently, and, weakened by the struggle, they were subdued by theAlmoravids in the 11th century.[19]
^Zerouki, Brahim. L'Imamat de Tahart: Histoire politico-socio-religieuse. France: L'Harmattan, 1987.”Les Miknassa, traditionnellement, avaient pour demeure les Awras ainsi que la région située au nord de ces montagnes (228). Ils y sont en effet signalés par Ibn Haldun (229) qui situe son propos au moment des bouleversements qui provoquèrent la fondation de Tahart, ainsi que par Al Ya'qubi (230) ainsi que par Al Bakri (231)”
