Berber

The Berbers (also called Imazighen, "free men", singular Amazigh) are an ethnic group indigenous to Northwest Africa, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. There are between 14 and 25 million speakers of Berber languages in North Africa (see population estimation), principally concentrated in Morocco and Algeria but with smaller communities as far east as Egypt and as far south as Burkina Faso.

Famous Berbers

In ancient times

• Shoshenq I, (Egyptian Pharaoh of Libyan origin)
• Masinissa, King of Numidia, North Africa, present day Algeria and Tunisia
• Jugurtha, King of Numidia
• Juba II, King of Numidia
• Terence, (full name Publius Terentius Afer), Roman writer
• Apuleius, Roman writer ("half-Numidian, half-Gaetulian")
• Tacfarinas, who fought the Romans in the Aures Mountains
• Saint Augustine of Hippo, (from Tagaste, was Berber, although he grew up speaking Punic)
• Saint Monica of Hippo, Saint Augustine's mother
• Arius, (who proposed the doctrine of Arianism)
• Donatus, (leader of the Donatist schism)
• Macrinus

In medieval times

• Dihya or al-Kahina
• Aksil or Kusayla
• Salih ibn Tarif of the Berghouata
• Tariq ibn Ziyad, one of the leaders of the Moorish conquest of Iberia in 711.
• Ibn Tumart, founder of the Almohad dynasty
• Yusuf ibn Tashfin, founder of the Almoravid dynasty
• Ibn Battuta (1304 - 1377), Moroccan traveller and explorer
• al-Ajurrumi (famous grammarian of Arabic)
• Fodhil al-Warthilani, traveler and religious scholar of the 1700's
• Abu Yaqub Yusuf I, who had the Giralda in Seville built.
• Abu Yaqub Yusuf II, who had the Torre del Oro in Seville built.
• Ziri ibn Manad founder of the Zirid dynasty
• Sidi Mahrez Tunisian saint
• Ibn Al Djazzar famous doctor of Kairouan, 980.

In modern times

Kabyles

Politicians

• Saïd Sadi, secularist politician.
• Hocine Aït Ahmed, Algerian revolutionary fighter and secularist politician.
• Sidi Said, Leader of the Algerian syndicat of workers : UGTA.
• Khalida Toumi, Algerian feminist and secularist, currently spokesman of the Algerian goverment.
• Ahmed Ouyahia, Prime Minister of Algeria
• Belaïd Abrika, one of the spokesmen of the Arouch.
• Ferhat Mehenni, politician and singer who militates for the autonomy of Kabylie.
• Nordine Ait Hamouda, secularist politician and son of Colonel Amirouche.

Figures of the Algerian resistance and revolution

• Abane Ramdane, Algerian revolutionary fighter, assassinated in 1957.
• Krim Belkacem, Algerian revolutionary fighter, assassinated in 1970.
• Colonel Amirouche, Algerian revolutionary fighter, killed by french troops in 1959.
• Lalla Fatma n Soumer, woman who led western Kabylie in battle against French colonizers.

Artists

• Ait Menguellet - singer
• Khalid Izri - Singer from Rif
• Lounes Matoub, Berberist and secularist singer assassinated in 1998.
• Idir - singer
• Sliman Azem - singer
• Si Mohand, Kabyle folk poet.
• Aît Ouarab Mohamed Idir Halo (Al Anka), Chaabi Singer in Both Kabyle and Algerian Arabic.
• Karim Ziad - singer
• El Hachemi Guerouabi, Chaabi Singer from Mostaghanem, North of algéria.

Writers

• Mouloud Feraoun, writer assassinated by the OAS.
• Tahar Djaout, writer and journalist assassinated by the GIA in 1993.
• Salem Chaker, Berberist, linguist, cultural and political activist, writer, and director of Berber at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris

Sport

• Zinedine Zidane (1972 - ), French football superstar.
• Rabah Madjer, Algerian football superstar, Winner of the European Champion's League in 1987 with Porto FC

Others

• Abd el-Krim, leader of the Rif guerrillas against the Spanish and French colonizers.
• Walid Mimoun - Protest Singer from Rif
• Ali Lmrabet, Moroccan journalist.
• Kateb Yacine, Algerian Writer.
• Mohamed Choukri (famous writer)
• Liamine Zeroual, President of Algeria between 1994-1999.
• Mohamed Chafik
• Abdallah Oualline Berber Warrior & freedom fighter. Fought against the Spanish occupation in Ait Baamrane, south of Agadir.
• Driss Jettou, Prime Minister of Morocco
• Didouche Mourad
• Cherif Khedam - composer
• Cheikh El Hasnaoui - singer
• Abdallah Nihrane -Scientific Investigator, Assistant Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York USA
• Tinariwen - critically acclaimed band of Tuareg musicians

Famous people who were either Berber or Punic

• Septimus Severus (Roman emperor from the mainly Punic Libyan city of Lepcis Magna, founded by Phoenicians)
• Caracalla, his son
• Tertullian, an early Christian theologian (born in the highly multiethnic, Phoenician-founded city of Carthage)
• Vibia Perpetua (early Christian martyr, also born in Carthage)
• Cyprian (also born in Carthage)

Famous people who may have had some Berber ancestors

Nearly all North Africans - and many Andalusi Moors - fall and fell into this category, but do not in general identify themselves as Berber. For lists of them, look under the respective countries.

Related Topics:
Andalusi - Moors

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