The Berbers, or Imazighen, are the indigenous people of North Africa's Maghreb. The region's first civilizations rose about 12,000 years ago, a time when its landscapes were much wetter and greener. The lives of its early farmers have been recorded through ancient cave paintings, most notably those of Tassili n'Ajjer in modern Algeria. The Sahara desert began expanding around 3000 BCE, isolating the populations of the Maghreb in the process. While Egypt thrived in the Nile Valley, the ancestors of the Berbers adapted to life along the arid coast. They bred light, fast horses and dromedary camels to move across the sands.
As the Mediterranean world grew richer, North Africa became a major center of trade. The Phoenicians founded Carthage on the coast of modern Tunisia in 814 BCE. Their civilization soon extended outward along the shores of North Africa and subjugated its native peoples. Berber states became a major element of the Carthaginian military, including during the Punic Wars with Rome.
In 206 BCE, during the Second Punic War, a Berber leader named Masinissa turned against his Carthaginian allies. He founded the Kingdom of Numidia with Roman support, which reigned independently through 40 CE. Numidia grew alongside other Berber kingdoms such as Mauretania. By the year 46, both had been annexed as Roman provinces. The gradual decline of Rome left North Africa vulnerable to a series of invasions and occupations. The Vandals, a Germanic foe of the Romans, moved into the Maghreb in 435. Control passed to the Byzantine Empire by 590 CE.
After centuries of ties with the Romans, Phoenicians, and Greeks, the Berber states were a multicultural and religiously diverse network of communities. Many adopted Christianity and Judaism as their major faith. Soon, however, a new religion would come to dominate the region. Islamic armies spreading from the Middle East conquered all of the Maghreb between 642 and 709. They began the process of converting its indigenous people, leading to the majority Muslim population still seen today.
The Berber states then integrated into the Sunni Umayyad dynasty. Again they served as military leaders, with the occasional revolt as well. When the Umayyads invaded Spain in 711, Berber soldiers and cavalry made up the majority of their forces. The Spanish referred to their conquerors as Moors, a name that stuck for another thousand years. The Berbers of Al-Andalus operated with relative autonomy and built their own powerful kingdoms based in Morocco. The Almoravid dynasty, for example, founded Morocco’s capital Marrakesh in 1062. At their height, the Almoravids controlled much of Southern Spain and the Western Maghreb. The succeeding Almohad Caliphate saw the gradual loss of Spanish territory to Christian forces. By the late 13th century, the Moorish caliphates had receded to Morocco.
Over the next several centuries, Berber and Arabic cultures mingled but never fully merged. Arabic spread from urban centers, but rural nomads continued to speak Berber languages. Islam became more widely accepted in the 15th century, when Spain and Portugal, fresh off the Reconquista, launched several invasions of the Maghreb. North Africa fragmented between a number of Arabic dynasties and the Ottoman Turks. Later, France invaded modern Algeria in 1830, kicking off an era of European colonialism in the Maghreb. Last to fall was Morocco, which became a French and Spanish protectorate in 1912.
The modern nations of North Africa and the Sahara gained their independence through the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. Since then, the many different Berber populations have struggled to define and preserve their cultures. Competition from languages like Arabic, French, Spanish, and Italian have all endangered the Berber language family. In recent decades, Berber activists have won greater recognition for their cultures and position in the Maghreb. Their progress includes the teaching of Berber languages in Morocco and Algeria. Independence movements, particularly among the Libyan Tuaregs, have been ongoing since 2011.
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References
Goodman, Jane. Berber Culture on the World Stage: From Village to Video. Indiana University Press. 2005.
Hart, David M. Tribe and Society in Rural Morocco. Routledge. 2014.
Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce. The Berber Identity Movement and the Challenge to North African States. University of Texas Press. 2011.
Nisan, Mordechai. Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression. 2nd ed. McFarland. 2012.
Zurutuza, Karlos. “Libya's Berbers Fear Ethnic Conflict.” Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 6 Jan. 2015, www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/12/libya-berbers-fear-ethnic-conflict-2014123065353199495.html.
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