Emirate of Nekor

Emirate of Nekor
إمارة بني صالح
710–1015
The Emirate of Nekor (yellow) at the time of the Idrisid dynasty.
StatusClient state of the Umayyad Caliphate (710–750)
CapitalTamsāmān (710–760)
Nekor (760–1015)
Common languagesArabic
Berber
Religion
Sunni Islam (Maliki)
GovernmentEmirate
Emir 
• 710–749
Şālih I ibn Mansūr
• 947–970
Jurthum ibn Ahmad
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Established
710
• Disestablished
1015
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Umayyad Caliphate
Caliphate of Qurtubah

The Emirate of Nekor or Şālihid Emirate (Arabic: إمارة بني صالح, romanizedʾImārat Banī Ṣāliḥ) was an Arab emirate centered in the Rīf area of present-day Morocco. Its capital was initially located at Tamsāmān, and then moved to Nekor. The ruling dynasty was as of Himyarite Arab descent. The emirate was founded in 710 CE by Şālih ibn Mansūr through a Caliphate grant. Under his guidance, the local Berber (Amazigh) tribes adopted Islam, but later deposed him in favor of one Dāwūd al-Rundī (unlikely to have been a native of Ronda) from the Nafza tribe. They subsequently changed their mind and reappointed Şālih ibn Mansūr. His dynasty, the Banū Şālih, thereafter ruled the region until about 1015.

Several successive political entities controlled the Rīf In the period between the 8th and 14th centuries. The Emirate of Nekor, established at the beginning of the 8th century, ended with the destruction of its capital city Nekor in 1080. The area was integrated subsequently into the dominions of the Almoravids, and then those of the Almohads and the Marīnids.

The Emirate of Nekor (or Nakūr) was the first autonomous state in the Maghreb and the only one that adhered to Sunni Islam exclusively, specifically the Maliki school. Not much is known about the town of Nekor's archaeology outside the field survey and minor excavations conducted in the 1980s. The town has what may have been a mosque, a possible hammam, or public bathhouse, and two substantial walls. Ceramics excavated there include local productions and others that show its connections with Ifrīqya and al-Andalus.