Lamtuna

The Lamtuna are a nomadic Berber tribe belonging to the Saharan Sanhaja (also pronounced "Zenaga") who traditionally inhabited the Adrar Plateau. During the Almoravids period many Lamtunas emigrated northwards. The Sahrawi Tajakant tribe are of the most recognizable offshoots of the Lamtunas, they inhabit the area between Morocco and Western Sahara.

During the eighth century the Lamtuna created a kingdom out of a confederation of Berber tribes, which they dominated until the early tenth century. The Lamtuna probably did not convert to Islam until the ninth century. The Almoravid dynasty, the founders of a powerful empire that in the eleventh century extended over Morocco, Southern Iberia and western Algeria are from this tribe.

The Banu Ghaniya, successors of this dynasty in Tripoli and the Nafusa Mountains and governors of the Spanish Balearic Islands until about the middle of the 13th century, originated from this tribe as well.

During the Almoravids, the Lamtunas were known as the Mulathamin or Tagelmust; which mean the veiled ones in Arabic and Berber language respectively. The traditional rivals of the Latuna were the Gudala, whom they supplanted as rulers of the Almoravid dynasty.

Notable Lamtunas

• Abu Bakr ibn Umar
• Yusuf ibn Tashfin