Berbers are a people who live in the Sahara and the countries of northern Africa. Morocco and Algeria have large populations of Berbers. Other Berbers have migrated to other continents, including Europe and the Americas. Most Berbers call themselves Amazigh (plural Imazighen), which means the people who speak Tamazight. The Tamazight language is part of the Afro-Asian language family. This family includes Temajeq, the language of the related Tuareg people.
Most Berbers live in rugged mountain villages where they grow crops and raise livestock. Such groups include the Kabyle of Algeria and tribes in the Atlas and Rif mountains of Morocco. Other Berber groups live in desert regions, mainly as nomadic herders, who move from place to place to find grazing for their herds. Some Berbers live in cities along the Mediterranean coast. Many hold jobs in business and other professions.
Archaeologists have traced Berber origins to the Capsian culture, a north African people who date back more than 10,000 years. Since prehistoric times, Berber lands in northern Africa have been a crossroad of peoples from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Early texts of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans described the Berbers. Since about 600 B.C., the Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, Spaniards, French, and Italians have ruled portions of the Berber homeland. During Carthaginian and Roman rule, from about 600 B.C. to about A.D. 400, Berber traders linked the Mediterranean coast to the gold, ivory, and slave markets of western Africa. Some coastal Berbers became Roman citizens. Berbers in the mountains and desert remained independent.
Arabs brought the Islamic religion and Arab culture to northern Africa after A.D. 600. Today, nearly all Berbers are Sunni Muslims, and most have adopted Arab customs. Traditional Berber languages and customs remain mainly in the mountains and desert areas.
During the 700’s, Muslim Berbers joined with Arabs in conquering Spain. After 1050, empires ruled by Berbers controlled much of northern Africa for nearly 200 years. Desert Berbers established the Almoravid dynasty (family of rulers) by about 1050. At its height, the dynasty controlled the northwestern corner of Africa and the southern parts of what are now Spain and Portugal. In 1147, Moroccan mountain Berbers overthrew the Almoravids and established the Almohad dynasty. The Almohads controlled all of northern Africa from Morocco to Libya, as well as southern Spain and Portugal, into the mid-1200’s.
See also Tuareg .
