Editing Azougui (section)

{{Infobox settlement
<!--See Template:Infobox Settlement for additional fields that may be available-->
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<!-- Basic info  ---------------->| name               = Azougui
| official_name      = 
| native_name_lang   = ar
| other_name         = Azuggi
| native_name        = آزوكي
| nickname           = 
| settlement_type    = Site of medieval town
| total_type         = <!-- to set a non-standard label for total area and population rows -->
<!-- images and maps  ----------->| image_skyline      = AzouguiArchaeologicalSite.jpg
| imagesize          = 
| image_caption      = Archaeological site
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| pushpin_map        = Mauritania<!-- name of a location map as per Template:Location_map -->
| pushpin_label_position = top <!-- position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
| pushpin_map_caption = Location within [[Mauritania]]
| pushpin_mapsize    = 300
<!-- Location ------------------>| subdivision_type   = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_type1  = [[Regions of Mauritania|Region]]
| subdivision_name   = {{MRT}}
| subdivision_name1  = [[Adrar Region]]
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}} 

'''Azougui''' (or '''Azuggi''', {{langx|ar|آزوكي|āzūkī}}, {{langx|mey|آزوگي|āzūgī}}) was a town in north-western [[Mauritania]], lying on the [[Adrar Plateau]], north-west of [[Atar, Mauritania|Atar]].  In the eleventh century it was the first capital of the [[Almoravid dynasty]],<ref>{{harvnb|Arnaud|2013|p=48}}. It was regarded as the Almoravid capital by the eleventh-century chronicler al-Bakri: see {{harvnb|Gaudio|1978|p=58}}.</ref> who conquered a territory stretching from the [[Ghana Empire]] to [[Morocco]] and the [[Iberian Peninsula]].    

The chronicler [[al-Bakri]] ({{circa|1040}}–1094) claims a fortress "surrounded by 20,000 palms" was built here by [[Yannu ibn Umar]], a brother of the first Almoravid chieftains, [[Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni]] and [[Abu Bakr ibn Umar]], and marked the frontier between the dominions of the [[Lamtuna]] and the [[Godala|Gudala]].<ref>al-Bakri, in {{harvnb|Levtzion|Hopkins|2000|p=73}})</ref>  Both of them [[Berbers|Berber]] [[Sanhaja]] desert tribes and one-time allies, the Lamtuna formed the core of the Almoravids after the Gudala broke away. It was near this location, at a place called [[Battle of Tabfarilla|Tabfarilla]], that the early Almoravids suffered their first significant defeat, when the Gudala crushed an Almoravid Lamtuna army based in Azougui and killed their leader [[Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni|Yahya ibn Umar]] in 1056.  Azougui and the nearby battlefield subsequently became a revered site for the Almoravids. Both al-Bakri and [[Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Zuhri|al-Zuhri]], another chronicler writing in the 1150s, regarded Azougui as the capital of the Almoravids.<ref>On al-Bakri, see {{harvnb|Gaudio|1978|p=58}}. On al-Zuhri, see {{harvnb|Levtzion|Hopkins|2000|p=95}})</ref>  

[[Muhammad al-Idrisi|Al-Idrisi]] identified Azuggi as an essential stop on the [[trans-Saharan trade]] route between [[Morocco]] and [[Ghana Empire|Ghana]] ("Whoever wants to go to the countries of Sila, [[Takrur]] and Ghana in the land of the Sudan cannot avoid this town").<ref>al-Idrisi, in {{harvnb|Levtzion|Hopkins|2000|pp=127–128}})</ref>  He also notes that the "[[Guinea (region)|Guineans]]" (prob. [[Soninke people|Soninke]]) called it "Quqadam". 

The site is even older, as seventh century [[Petroglyph|rock carvings]] attest.  Parts of the [[citadel]] and the [[necropolis]] of [[Imam al-Hadrami|al-Imam al-Hadrami]] survive.