Lamtuna
The Lamtuna are a nomadic Berber tribe belonging to the Sanhaja (Zenaga) confederation, who traditionally inhabited areas from Sous to Adrar Plateau. During the Almoravid period, many Lamtunas emigrated northwards. Currently, the Lemtuna Tribe is based in the South of Mauritania (Monguel and Agueilat). The chief of this Tribe is Mr. Limam Ould Teguedi (former Minister of Justice, former Minister of culture and former Atternoy General of Mauritania. Among notable families, the family of Ehl Aly Ibn Ibrahim and Ehl Abdawa, Ehl Mohamed El-Emine, Ehl Mohammed Ghali. Sahrawi Tajakant as well as Messouma tribes are of the most recognisable 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, the successors of this dynasty in Tripoli and the Nafusa Mountains and the governors of the Spanish Balearic Islands until about the middle of the 13th century, originated from this tribe as well.
During the Almoravid era, the Lamtunas were known as the Mulathamin or Tagelmust, which means "the veiled ones" in the Arabic and Berber languages respectively. The traditional rivals of the Lamtuna were the Gudala, whom they supplanted as rulers of the Almoravid dynasty.