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.

History

The Berbers have lived in North Africa for as far back as records of the area go. References to them occur frequently in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sources. Berber groups are first mentioned in writing by the ancient Egyptians during the Predynastic Period, and during the New Kingdom the Egyptians later fought against the Meshwesh and Lebu (Libyans) tribes on their western borders. Many Egyptologists think that from about 945 BC the Egyptians were ruled by Meshwesh immigrants who founded the Twenty-second Dynasty under Shoshenq I, beginning a long period of Berber rule in Egypt, although others posit different origins for these dynasties, including Nubian ones. The Byzantine chroniclers often complain of the Mazikes (Amazigh) raiding outlying monasteries, and berbers long remained the main population of the Western Desert well into the Nineteenth century.

Related Topics:
Ancient Egypt - Predynastic Period - New Kingdom - Meshwesh - Lebu - Tribes - 945 BC - Twenty-second Dynasty - Shoshenq I - Nubia - Byzantine - Western Desert

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For many centuries the Berbers inhabited the coast of North Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean. In historical times, they have expanded south into the Sahara (displacing earlier black African populations such as the Azer and Bafour), and have in turn been mainly culturally assimilated in much of North Africa by Arabs, particularly following the incursion of the Banu Hilal in the 11th century.

Related Topics:
Sahara - Azer - Bafour - Arab - Banu Hilal

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Berbers and the Islamic conquest

Unlike the conquests of previous religions and cultures, the coming of Islam, which was spread by Arabs, was to have pervasive and long-lasting effects on the Maghrib. The new faith, in its various forms, would penetrate nearly all segments of society, bringing with it armies, learned men, and fervent mystics, and in large part replacing tribal practices and loyalties with new social norms and political idioms.

Related Topics:
Islam - Arabs - Maghrib

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Nonetheless, the Islamization and Arabization of the region were complicated and lengthy processes. Whereas nomadic Berbers were quick to convert and assist the Arab conquerors, not until the twelfth century under the Almohad Dynasty did the Christian and Jewish communities become totally marginalized.

Related Topics:
Berbers - Christian - Jew

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The first Arab military expeditions into the Maghrib, between 642 and 669, resulted in the spread of Islam. These early forays from a base in Egypt occurred under local initiative rather than under orders from the central caliphate. When the seat of the caliphate moved from Medina to Damascus, however, the Umayyads (a Muslim dynasty ruling from 661 to 750) recognized that the strategic necessity of dominating the Mediterranean dictated a concerted military effort on the North African front. In 670, therefore, an Arab army under Uqba ibn Nafi established the town of Al Qayrawan about 160 kilometers south of present-day Tunis and used it as a base for further operations.

Related Topics:
642 - 669 - Egypt - Umayyads - Uqba ibn Nafi - Al Qayrawan - Tunis

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Abu al Muhajir Dinar, Uqba's successor, pushed westward into Algeria and eventually worked out a modus vivendi with Kusayla, the ruler of an extensive confederation of Christian Berbers. Kusayla, who had been based in Tilimsan (Tlemcen), became a Muslim and moved his headquarters to Takirwan, near Al Qayrawan.

Related Topics:
Abu al Muhajir Dinar - Kusayla - Tilimsan

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This harmony was short-lived, however. Arab and Berber forces controlled the region in turn until 697. By 711 Umayyad forces helped by Berber converts to Islam had conquered all of North Africa. Governors appointed by the Umayyad caliphs ruled from Al Qayrawan, capital the new wilaya (province) of Ifriqiya, which covered Tripolitania (the western part of present-day Libya), Tunisia, and eastern Algeria.

Related Topics:
697 - 711 - Al Qayrawan - Tripolitania - Tunisia

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Paradoxically, the spread of Islam among the Berbers did not guarantee their support for the Arab-dominated caliphate. The ruling Arabs alienated the Berbers by taxing them heavily; treating converts as second-class Muslims; and, at worst, by enslaving them. As a result, widespread opposition took the form of open revolt in 739-40 under the banner of Kharijite Islam. The Kharijites objected to Ali, the fourth caliph, making peace with the Umayyads in 657 and left Ali's camp (khariji means "those who leave"). The Kharijites had been fighting Umayyad rule in the East, and many Berbers were attracted by the sect's egalitarian precepts. For example, according to Kharijism, any suitable Muslim candidate could be elected caliph without regard to race, station, or descent from the Prophet Muhammad.

Related Topics:
Umayyad - Kharijism - Muhammad

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After the revolt, Kharijites established a number of theocratic tribal kingdoms, most of which had short and troubled histories. Others, however, like Sijilmasa and Tilimsan, which straddled the principal trade routes, proved more viable and prospered. In 750 the Abbasids, who succeeded the Umayyads as Muslim rulers, moved the caliphate to Baghdad and reestablished caliphal authority in Ifriqiya, appointing Ibrahim ibn al Aghlab as governor in Al Qayrawan. Although nominally serving at the caliph's pleasure, Al Aghlab and his successors, the Aghlabids, ruled independently until 909, presiding over a court that became a center for learning and culture.

Related Topics:
Sijilmasa - Tilimsan - Ibrahim ibn al Aghlab - Al Qayrawan - Aghlabid

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Just to the west of Aghlabid lands, Abd ar Rahman ibn Rustam ruled most of the central Maghrib from Tahert, southwest of Algiers. The rulers of the Rustamid imamate, which lasted from 761 to 909, each an Ibadi Kharijite imam, were elected by leading citizens. The imams gained a reputation for honesty, piety, and justice. The court at Tahert was noted for its support of scholarship in mathematics, astronomy, and astrology, as well as theology and law. The Rustamid imams, however, failed, by choice or by neglect, to organize a reliable standing army. This important factor, accompanied by the dynasty's eventual collapse into decadence, opened the way for Tahert's demise under the assault of the Fatimids.

Related Topics:
Aghlabid - Abd ar Rahman ibn Rustam - Tahert - Algiers - Rustamid - Ibadi - Kharijite - Imam - Fatimids

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Berbers in Al-Andalus

The Muslims who entered Iberia in 711 were mainly Berbers, and were led by a Berber, Tariq ibn Ziyad, though under the suzerainty of the Arab Caliph of Damascus Abd al-Malik and his North African Viceroy, Musa ibn Nusayr. A second mixed army of Arabs and Berbers came in 712 under Ibn Nusayr himself, and are claimed to have formed approximately 66% of the Islamic population in Iberia, and supposedly that is the reason why they helped the Umayyad caliph Abd ar-Rahman I in Al-Andalus, because his mother was a Berber woman. During the Taifa era, the petty kings came from a variety of ethnic groups; some - for instance the Zirid kings of Granada - were of Berber origin. The Taifa period ended when a Berber dynasty - the Almoravids from modern-day Western Sahara and Mauritania - took over Al-Andalus; they were succeeded by the Almohad dynasty from Morocco, during which time al-Andalus flourished.

Related Topics:
Muslim - Iberia - 711 - Tariq ibn Ziyad - Caliph - Damascus - Abd al-Malik - Musa ibn Nusayr - Arab - 712 - Umayyad - Abd ar-Rahman I - Al-Andalus - Taifa - Zirid - Granada - Almoravid - Western Sahara - Mauritania - Almohad - Morocco

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In the power hierarchy, Berbers were situated between the Arabic aristocracy and the Muladi populace.

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Ethnic rivalries were one of the factors of Andalusi politics.

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Initially they settled the Cantabric Mounts, the Central System and the Andalusian mountains.

Related Topics:
Cantabric Mounts - Central System - Andalusia

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After the fall of the Caliphate, the taifa kingdoms of Toledo, Badajoz, Málaga and Granada had Berber rulers.

Related Topics:
Toledo - Badajoz - Málaga

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Modern-day Berbers

The Berbers live mainly in Morocco (between 35%- 80% of the population) and in Algeria (about 15%-33% of the population), as well as Libya and Tunisia, though exact statistics are unavailablehttp://www.ethnologue.com/; see Berber languages#Population. Most North Africans who consider themselves Arab also have significant Berber ancestryhttp://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/journal/issues/v68n4/002582/002582.text.html. One particularly prominent Berber group are the Kabyles of northern Algeria, who number approximately 4 million and have kept, to a large degree, their original language and culture. Other noteworthy groups include the Shluh (plural of Arabic "Shalh" and Berber "Ashalhi") of south Morocco, the Riffain of north Morocco, the Chaouia of Algeria, and the Tuareg of the Sahara. There are approximately 3 million Berber immigrants in Europe, especially the Riffain and the Kabyles in the Netherlands and France. Some proportion of the inhabitants of the Canary Islands are descended from the aboriginal Guanches - usually considered to have been Berber - among whom a few Canary Islander customs, such as the eating of gofio, originated.

Related Topics:
Morocco - Algeria - Libya - Tunisia - Berber languages#Population - North Africa - Arab - Berber - Kabyles - Shluh - Riffain - Chaouia - Tuareg - Sahara - Europe - Netherlands - France - Canary Islands - Guanches - Gofio

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Although stereotyped in the West as nomads, most Berbers were in fact traditionally farmers, living in the mountains relatively close to the Mediterranean coast, or oasis dwellers; the Tuareg and Zenaga of the southern Sahara, however, were nomadic. Some groups, such as the Chaouis, practiced transhumance.

Related Topics:
Tuareg - Zenaga - Sahara - Chaoui - Transhumance

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Political tensions have arisen between some Berber groups (especially the Kabyle) and North African governments over the past few decades, partly over linguistic and cultural issues; for instance, in Morocco, giving children Berber names was banned.

Related Topics:
Kabyle - Morocco

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