Tamesna itself is a mountain village on the spine of the Atlas Mountains, in south-central Morocco about 50 miles (80 km.) southeast of Marrakech, but this region also includes the Masmuda Berber peoples, which extend across the southern Atlas and down to the sea along the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Between 744 and 1058 the region was an independent kingdom ruled by the Berghwata, one of the Masmuda Berber tribes. The Berghwata followed a syncretic religion inspired by Islam featuring the second ruler of the dynasty, Salih ibn Tarif, as the final prophet.