The Berbers

The Berbers
The Berbers (also known as the Amazigh), are a racially
diverse group. Berbers are indigenous to the north
African region. The Berber people are distributed
throughout an area stretching from the Siwa Oasis in
Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean; from the Niger River to the
Mediterranean Sea.

The Berber people had their own dialect; a variation of

the Afro-Asiatic group of languages. Since Islam arrived
in north Africa in 600AD, the Berbers of Maghreb have
spoken variations of Mahgrebi Arabic.
During France's occupation of north Africa, the use of
languages other than French was banned. In school,
Algerian pupils were forced to adopt the language, thus
abandoning their mother tongues, including classical
Arabic, together with all of the Berber dialects.
Nowadays, most Berbers inhabit countries of north Africa
such as Morocco and Algeria. Large Berber
concentrations are also found in Mauritania, Mali, Niger,
Libya and Tunisia, with migrant communities having
settled in Turkey, France and Europe.

The Berber community encompasses an entire geography

and history of north Africa. Berbers are not a distinct
ethnicity per se: they are composed of a range of
societies, ancestries and phenotypes. The unifying factor
of the Berber people is their shared language, coupled
with their collective identification with Berber history and
heritage.

Tajine Traditional Cuisine

Some 25-30 million Berber language speakers live in

north Africa today. The number of ethnic Berbers is
believed to be far greater: native Berbers who now speak
other tongues. Berbers call themselves the "i-Mazighen", meaning the free or noble men. The term is believed
to be derived from ancient Greek or Roman.

A collection of the most famous Berbers throughout

history include:

King Masinissa of Numidia.

King Jugurtha.
Apuleius, the Berber-Roman author.
Saint Augustine of Hippo.
Lusius Quietus, the Berber-Roman general.
Kahina, a female Berber military and religious leader.
Kusaila, leader of the Awraba tribe and head of the Sanhadja
people.
Tariq Ibn Ziyad, a famous general who conquered Hispania.
Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, Almoravid emperor.
Ibn Battula, the medieval explorer.
Abbas Ibn Firnas, the prolific inventor and early aviation
pioneer.
Estevanico, early explorer of the Americas.
Zinedine Zidane, the eminent French football player.
Loreen, Swedish born Eurovision Song Contest winner of
2012.
Ibrahim Afellay, the Dutch football player.

Until the 11th Century, the majority of north-west Africa

was a Muslim Berger-speaking area. The history of the
Berber people is of great interest to Tony Freeman, as an
enthusiast in north African culture.

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