Berbers

Since the Muslim conquest, the inhabitants of the Maghreb have been heavily influenced by Arab culture. Many in one way or another own a local variety of Arabic . Some also speak French and Spanish, which spread in northern Africa during the colonial period (XIX — XX centuries). There is a significant diaspora of Berbers in France, a number of famous personalities come from it. The Berbers are not an ethnically and linguistically completely homogeneous group; they live in strip with the Arabs. Currently, the number of Berbers is estimated from 20 to 40 million people ^[19] . According to other sources, there are about 100 million Berbers in North Africa, but only about 25-30 million of them still speak the Berber language ^[20] . The majority of the population of North Africa west of Egypt is believed to have a Berber ethnic origin, although due to Arabization and Islamization, some ethnic Berbers identify themselves as “Arabized Berbers” ^{[21] [22]} .

Berbers are represented by various ethnic groups and make up about 25-30% of Algerians, 50% of Moroccans. According to the World Amazigov Congress (WCA), about 50% of the total Berber population is part of Moroccan society, 30% live in Algeria, and the remaining 20% ​​of this ethnic community live in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Mali. In Libya (200 thousand), Mali (450 thousand), Niger (700 thousand), Tunisia (30 thousand) and Mauritania (250 thousand) ^[23] . In France, Spain, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and other European countries, large Berber immigrant communities live ^{[18] [24]} . Currently, approximately 1.2 million Berbers are counted only in France. Most of them have French citizenship. Berbers - the second largest ethnic group after the Kurds, which does not have its own nationally autonomous entities.

The name "Berbers", given by Europeans by analogy with the barbarians because of the incomprehensibility of their language, is not used by the Berber peoples themselves, that is, it is an exonym . Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Berber languages ​​have been using Latin (with some specific additions) and Arabic alphabets.

Among the numerous Berber peoples, the main ones can be distinguished:

1. Amazirgi are a people in Morocco , on the extreme northwestern coastal strip of the mainland (the so-called Reef , from which its population, famous for its sea robberies, was known as the reef pirates ) and the northernmost part of the Atlas to the province of Tell .
2. Shillou , a people in Morocco , occupies part of a large plain along Um al-Rebia and Tenzift , part of the southern Atlas until its extreme forks on the Atlantic Ocean .
3. Kabila - people in Algeria .
4. Shawiya is a people in Algeria .
5. Sahara Berbers inhabiting deserts live separated by vast spaces. The most famous of them: Tuaregs , Beni Mesab , Sokna , Audshila , Siva .

The question of whether the Guanches belonged to the Berbers, which was partially exterminated and partially assimilated by the Spaniards of the indigenous Canary Islands, remains a controversial issue.

Berbers before the Arab conquests

The imazigens (plural of amazig) are one of the most ancient peoples living in North Africa, according to some reports, for 10 thousand years and having a rich history. Ancestors of the Berbers, Libyans, who lived west of Egypt, are mentioned in ancient Egyptian inscriptions ^[25] . According to some versions, they are of European origin. According to the results of linguistic and other studies, there are suggestions that they are descendants of the Gauls or related to the first settlers in North Africa ^[26] . According to another version, the Berbers have common roots with the peoples who inhabited the Iberian Peninsula . That they have a common history long before they became dependent on Rome. Many historians and linguists in support of this conclusion cite the linguistic similarity of the Berber and Ibero-Caucasian languages. It is believed that the civilization of the ancient Berbers gave impetus to the development of ancient Egypt ^[27] .

The Age of Arab Conquest and the Berber Dynasties

The Arab conquests in the Maghreb from the 7th century did not greatly change the racial picture, but significantly influenced the culture of the indigenous population ^[28] . Many Berbers lost their identity as they integrated into Arab society and forgot their mother tongue. However, they preserved cultural differences in the form of traditions and customs, which are very different from the culture of the inhabitants of the Maghreb. Berber identity is manifested in the features of traditional clothing, folk dances and songs, folklore and crafts ^[27] . Preserved among the Tuareg and having distinct geometric shapes, the graphics of the language (tafinagh) existed already 4 thousand years ago. Recently, through the efforts of Berber cultural and educational organizations, it has been returning to everyday life and reinforcing colloquial dialects.

Some Berbers reached a high position under the Arabs. So the Arab commander Tariq ibn Ziyad (670-720) who conquered the Visigoth kingdom was of Berber origin.

The vast majority of the dynasties that ruled in North Africa had Berber roots. The Berbers became the founders of the Almoravid empire , one of the most powerful Muslim states, founded in the middle of the XI century by the Berbers - the followers of Abdullah ibn Yasin in the territory of present-day Morocco , Algeria , Spain and Portugal . Almoravids pursued any dissent, they destroyed the agricultural civilization of the early Middle Ages, after which a long period of decline of North Africa began ^[29] .

In the VII-VIII centuries. the territories of modern Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya were included in the centralized Arab-Muslim state. In the XI-XII centuries. Berber nomads Almoravida and Almohad invaded the western regions of the Maghreb. Their rule led to the so-called Bedouinization and depopulation of North Africa, the decline of its agricultural and urban culture. In the past, the Berbers had several of their states, almost completely coinciding in their borders with modern Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. So, in the XIII century. Hafsids - in Tunisia, Zayanids - in Western Algeria and Marinids - in Morocco arose on the wreckage of the power of Almohad ^[30] .

From 1515 to 1830 came the period of Turks domination in the territories of modern Algeria and Tunisia. About the same period was marked by the rise of piracy. Operating from the many ports of the Maghreb ( Barbarian coast ), including such large as Tunisia , Tripoli , Algeria and Sale , they kept the whole western Mediterranean in awe.

Colonial Period

France, having conquered Algeria in 1830, and then Morocco and Tunisia, provided the Berbers with the opportunity to study in their own language, different legal procedures were applied to them than the Arabs, various measures were applied so that the Euro-Berber identity played a role in the event of Arab uprisings in the colony. France in 1881 establishes colonial rule in Algeria, and in 1883 draws up a protectorate over Tunisia. The French have repeatedly tried to use the ethno-cultural differences of the population to incite hatred between them. Such a fragmentation of a single Moroccan community, the ideologists of the French colonial administration believed, would minimize the possibility of creating a single anti-French protest front.

In 1912, Morocco became a protectorate of France. The cities of Larache and Azilah have come under Spanish control. Spanish troops landed at strategic points on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. However, they immediately faced fierce resistance from the Riphean tribes. The last Berber state is considered the confederate republic of the Er-Reef tribes - a state created after the victory at Anval in 1921, rebels against the Moroccan Sultan and the European colonialists by the inhabitants of Er-Reef (a mountainous region in northern Morocco), which lasted until 1926. The Spanish-French intervention on the territory of the republic was called the Reef War . After the invasion of the republic by the 250,000-strong Spanish-French army led by Marshal Pétain, President Abd al-Krim , realizing the futility of further resistance, surrendered and statehood was eliminated.

North African Independence Period

Tunisia and Morocco gained independence in 1956 , Algeria in 1962 . Despite the contribution of the Berbers to the political life of the countries of Arab Africa, their non-Arabized tribes do not have political, but sometimes cultural autonomy, although they are the largest ethnic minority. All attempts to gain autonomy were brutally suppressed.

In the life of modern North African countries, the Berber question occupies an important place, but everywhere it is resolved in different ways. Whereas in Morocco, mainly liberal policies were pursued with regard to the Berbers, in Algeria the problem of the indigenous population is especially acute. The main center of resistance is the mountainous region of Kabiliya , where two-thirds of Algeria's Berbers ( Kabila ) live.

• Matmata and Tataouin are monuments of traditional Berber architecture, depicted in the Star Wars movie saga as the planet Tatooine .

• Berbers // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Anthology of the Berber literature (Kabila). T.I - II in IV parts / Comp. and holes ed. S.V. Prozhogina. M .: Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2001. - 871 p.
• Volodina M. A. Berber of North Africa: cultural and political evolution (on the example of Morocco) / Otv. ed. Ph.D. D. B. Malysheva ; Rec .: Doctor of History R. G. Landa , Ph.D. V.I. Maksimenko. - M .: IMEMO RAS , 2011 .-- 112 p. - (Library of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations). - ISBN 978-5-9535-0296-2 .
• Sergeev M.S. Berber of North Africa: Past and Present. - M., 2003 .-- 214 p. - (Institute for the Study of Israel and the Middle East). - ISBN 5-89394-103-9 .

• Brett, Michael; Fentress, Elizabeth (1997) [ ISBN 0-631-16852-4 ], The Berbers (The Peoples of Africa), ISBN 0-631-20767-8 (Pbk)