Yusuf ibn Tashufin (died 1106) was a North African Almoravid ruler and conqueror who created the first Berber Empire uniting North Africa and Spain.

Before 1061, when he was appointed commander of the Almoravid armies in Morocco by his cousin Abu Bakr, virtually nothing is known of Ibn Tashufin except that he belonged to the Berber family which, together with Abdullah ibn Yasin, had founded the Almoravid movement some 10 years earlier. Apparently Ibn Tashufin's appointment was to have been temporary, to enable Abu Bakr to put down tribal uprisings in the Sahara, but since Ibn Tashufin chose not to relinquish command and Abu Bakr agreed to confine his activities to the desert and black Africa, from 1061 on Ibn Tashufin was virtual leader of the Almoravids.

Ibn Tashufin's career is divided in two phases: the conquest of western North Africa to Algiers and the conquest of Spain. The first step Ibn...