A brief read about Berbers

[Larache4eva]

am not a berber, but i found this articles interesting and thought of sharing them:

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.

Total population c. 22 million
Regions with significant populations

Morocco:12,000,000
Algeria: 7,500,000
Tunisia: 200,000
Libya: 250,000+
Mauritania: 80,000
Egypt: 10,000
France: 1,000,000
Spain: 50,000
Netherlands: 200,000
Belgium: 150,000
Israel: 50,000


Language : Berber (Tamazight)
Religion :Islam, Judaism, Christianity, atheism, Others
Related ethnic groups: Afro-Asiatic Semitic

Famous Berbers :

In ancient times

• Shoshenq I, (Egyptian Pharaoh of Libyan origin)
• Masinissa, King of Numidia, North Africa, present day Algeria and Tunisia
• Jugurtha, King of Numidia
• Juba II, King of Numidia
• Terence, (full name Publius Terentius Afer), Roman writer
• Apuleius, Roman writer ("half-Numidian, half-Gaetulian")
• Tacfarinas, who fought the Romans in the Aures Mountains
• Saint Augustine of Hippo, (from Tagaste, was Berber)
• Saint Monica of Hippo, Saint Augustine's mother
• Arius, (who proposed the doctrine of Arianism)
• Donatus Magnus, (leader of the Donatist schism)
• Macrinus

In medieval times

• Dihya or al-Kahina
• Aksil or Kusayla
• Salih ibn Tarif of the Berghouata
• Tariq ibn Ziyad, one of the leaders of the Moorish conquest of Iberia in 711.
• Ibn Tumart, founder of the Almohad dynasty
• Yusuf ibn Tashfin, founder of the Almoravid dynasty
• Ibn Battuta (1304 - 1377), Moroccan traveller and explorer
• al-Ajurrumi (famous grammarian of Arabic)
• Fodhil al-Warthilani, traveler and religious scholar of the 1700s
• Abu Yaqub Yusuf I, who had the Giralda in Seville built.
• Abu Yaqub Yusuf II, who had the Torre del Oro in Seville built.
• Ziri ibn Manad founder of the Zirid dynasty
• Sidi Mahrez Tunisian saint
• Ibn Al Djazzar famous doctor of Kairouan, 980.
• Muhammad Awzal (ca. 1680-1749), prolific Sous Berber poet (see also Ocean of Tears)
• Muhammad al-Jazuli, author of the Dala'il al-Khairat, Sufi

In modern times


Politicians

• Saïd Sadi, secularist politician.
• Hocine Aït Ahmed, Algerian revolutionary fighter and secularist politician.
• Sidi Said, Leader of the Algerian syndicat of workers : UGTA.
• Khalida Toumi, Algerian feminist and secularist, currently spokesman of the Algerian government.
• Ahmed Ouyahia, Prime Minister of Algeria
• Belaïd Abrika, one of the spokesmen of the Arouch.
• Ferhat Mehenni, politician and singer who militates for the autonomy of Kabylie.
• Nordine Ait Hamouda, secularist politician and son of Colonel Amirouche.

Artists

• Takfarinas - Kabyle singer
• Ait Menguellet - Kabyle singer
• Khalid Izri - Singer from Rif
• Lounes Matoub, Berberist and secularist singer assassinated in 1998.
• Idir - Kabyle singer
• Igout Abdelhadi-Izenzarn Amazigh singer/musical group from Souss (south of Morocco).
• Fatima Tabaamrant- a singer and Amazigh activist in the Souss
• Haj Mohamed Demsiri- a singer from the Souss.
• Sliman Azem - singer
• Si Mohand, Kabyle folk poet.
• Souad Massi, a young, female Kabyle singer who performs mainly in French and Maghrebin Arabic.
• Aît Ouarab Mohamed Idir Halo (Al Anka), Chaabi singer in Both Kabyle and Algerian Arabic.
• Karim Ziad - singer
• El Hachemi Guerouabi, Chaabi Singer from Mostaghanem, North of algéria

Writers

• Mouloud Feraoun, writer assassinated by the OAS.
• Tahar Djaout, writer and journalist assassinated by the GIA in 1993.
• Salem Chaker, Berberist, linguist, cultural and political activist, writer, and director of Berber at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris
• Mouloud Mammeri, writer, anthropologist and linguist. His interest and work about Tamazight is behind the popular galvanization towards the Amazigh (Berber) culture and language.

Sport

• Mohamed Chafiq, Moroccan writer and the dean of the IRCAM.
• Zinedine Zidane (1972 - ), French football superstar.
• Rabah Madjer, Algerian football superstar, Winner of the European Champion's League in 1987 with Porto FC
• Mustapha Hadji (1972-), Morrocan soccer player nominated best African player of the year 1998

Famous people who may have had some Berber ancestors
Nearly all North Africans - and many Andalusi Moors - fall and fell into this category, but do not in general identify themselves as Berber. For lists of them, look under the respective countries.



Read more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berber_people


PS: this article is dedicated to all the emazighen especially Nawal aka nwella_amazigh,,,ur culture is my culture

[Ghazala]

Are you quite sure you're not Berber too?

[Larache4eva]

lol yeah am not berber maybe some ancestors but not of any that i know

[Amazigh Man]

Thanks Larache for the article..

it's pretty acurate...

but there are other statistics that show more Amazigh people in Morocco than the 12 million....

and what do you mean you are not Berber/Amazigh...??!?!?!?!

if you read your article very good you will discover that you are Amazigh too.. even if you do not spaeak Amazigh language...

[freemocy]

Berber means Amazigh..they mean the same thing..
The term Berbers is an old version of the current name Amazigh ..

[Larache4eva]

[quote]Nearly all North Africans - and many Andalusi Moors - fall and fell into this category, but do not in general identify themselves as Berber. For lists of them, look under the respective countries.[/QUOTE]

u welcome amazigh_man

yes as for what 's in written in the quote that amkes all of us Amazigh

[Amazigh Man]

Originally Posted by freemocy

Berber means Amazigh..they mean the same thing..
The term Berbers is an old version of the current name Amazigh ..

what you saying is crap of course...!!

Amazigh is not a current version of Berber...

the word Amazigh is thousands of years older than the word Berber....

the word Berber has a greek origin (Barbar)... meaning : the foreigner

the Romans used the word to describe Amazigh people in North Africa...

the Romans considered Amazigh poeple as Barbarians.. because they refused and resisted the Roman occupation..

and then the word changed from Barbarian to Berber..

(french : barbare is diffrent from Berbère )

and there is today a difference in English between Berber and Barbarian..

what important is that the Amazigh people ignored for thousands of years and till this moment the word Berber and they use only the words:

amazigh : (male)

tamazight: (famele)

imazighen: Amazigh people / Amazigh men

timazighin: Amazigh women

tamazgha : North Africa / land of the Amazigh folk

timmuzgha : Amazighity, being Amazigh


but in arabic it's the same word : barbar