emirate · Iberia

Taifa of Silves

1027 CE – 1063 CE (approx.) · capital Silves

A taifa in the western Algarve ruled by the Banu Muzayn from Silves, then a rich river port and later a city of poets under Seville.

Origins

Around 1027 Muhammad ibn Muzayn, from a local Arab family, took control of Silves on the Arade river. The town had grown into the chief city of the Algarve, and the family ruled it as an independent principality amid the confusion following the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba.

Rule and society

Silves, with its red sandstone castle and navigable river, traded in figs, dried fruit and timber and was known for its pure Arabic speech and poetry. The Banu Muzayn ruled a small territory and had to fend off the expanding Taifa of Seville and the neighbouring Taifa of Santa María del Algarve.

Decline and legacy

In 1063 al-Mutadid of Seville annexed Silves and made his son al-Mutamid governor, with the poet Ibn Ammar at his side. The city later became the Second Taifa of Silves in 1144.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

More states of Iberia →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Taifa of Silves. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/taifa-of-silves
MLA
“Taifa of Silves.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/taifa-of-silves. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Taifa of Silves.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/taifa-of-silves.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Taifa of Silves’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/taifa-of-silves (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻