Editing Chinguetti (section)

===Center of Trade===
By the 11th century, Chinguetti had become a trading center for a confederation of [[Berber people|Berber]] [[tribe]]s, known as the ''[[Sanhaja]]''. They eventually melded with the [[Almoravid]]s, represented by [[Abdallah ibn Yasin]], who would eventually control an empire stretching from present-day [[Senegal]] to ''[[al-Andalus]]'' in modern-day [[Spain]]. The city's stark, unadorned [[architecture]] reflects the strict religious beliefs of the Almoravids, who spread the [[Maliki]]te rite of [[Sunni]] [[Islam]] throughout the Western [[Maghreb]].

After two centuries of decline, the city was effectively re-founded in the 13th century as a fortified trading-center for nomadic trans-Saharan [[caravan (travellers)|caravan]]s, and as a means of connecting the Mediterranean with Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the walls of the original fortification disappeared centuries ago, many of the buildings in the old section of the city date from this period.