<P> In the 11th century, Berbers of the Sahara began a jihad to reform Islam in North Africa and remove any trace of cultural or religious pluralism . This movement created an empire encompassing parts of Spain and North Africa . At its greatest extent, it appears to have included southern and eastern Iberia and roughly all of present - day Morocco . This movement seems to have assisted the southern penetration of Africa, one that was continued by later groups . In addition, the Almoravids are traditionally believed to have attacked and brought about the destruction of the West African Ghana Empire . </P> <P> However, this interpretation has been questioned . Conrad and Fisher (1982) argued that the notion of any Almoravid military conquest at its core is merely perpetuated folklore, derived from a misinterpretation or naive reliance on Arabic sources while Dierke Lange agrees but argues that this doesn't preclude Almoravid political agitation, claiming that Ghana's demise owed much to the latter . </P> <P> The Almohads (or Almohadis) were similar to the Almoravids, in that they similarly attacked any alternative beliefs that they saw as corruptions of Islam . They managed to conquer southern Spain, and their North African empire extended further than that of the Almoravids, reaching to Egypt . </P> <P> The Hafsids were a Masmuda - Berber dynasty ruling Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia) from 1229 to 1574 . Their territories were stretched from east of modern Algeria to west of modern Libya during their zenith . </P>

The non-african culture that dominated north africa prior to 1500 was