Have you ever asked someone where they were from and have been answered « I am Berber », without actually understanding what it meant?!

The amalgam is very fast made today by qualifying of « Arabs », populations from North Africa. They have their own culture, language and civilization.

Azul fellawen, welcome!
This article is made for you! We will take the time to basically define what a Berber is, and why a Berber is not an Arab, and vice versa !

What is a « Berber » ? (definiton)

« Berber » is the term designating the inhabitants of Berberia. « Berberia » is a name given for the first time by Arabs.

It relates to the coasts' territories of North Africa.
This term is said to be issued from Latin, « barbarus », stemming itself from the Greek, « barbaros ». The ancient Greeks used this expression to refer to all the tribes stranger to their civilization.

Yet, Greeks and Romans used other terms to designate Berbers: Moors, Numidians, Lybians and many other specific names for the tribes of this territory.

For about a century now, Berbers rather designate themselves under the name of « Imazighen », plural form of « Amazigh » allegedly meaning « free men ».

Where are « Berbers » located ? (geography)

Berbers are thus the peoples who live in North Africa. They were present long before the advent of the Roman Empire and have spread from the Canary Islands all the way to Egypt.
We find them in a dozen countries : mainly in Morocco and Algeria, but also in Tunisia, in Libya, in Egypt and even in Niger, in Mali, in Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

However, Morocco and Algeria both outnumber other countries in terms of Berber-speaking population nowadays.

Migrations generated by the decolonization also make of Europe a zone of dense concentration of Berber communities. In France in particular, Berber immigration dates far back : Kabyles, originally from Algeria, are probably of the order of a million in France, they alone.

Why Berbers are not Arabs ?

The amalgam is very fast made today by qualifying of « Arabs », dwellers of Maghreb.

This confusion is not harmless : indeed, the Muslim domination prevails, as of now, since about thirteen centuries, ensuing a progressive yet well implanted process of arabization of many sides of the North African society. Thus, the arab language has been considered as the language of the sacred, but also of knowledge, and political power but their culture has come on top of Berber beliefs in this area, pretty much like Christians with paganism.

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The vast majority of northern Africa's inhabitants who call themselves « Arabs » are in fact genetically Berbers.

Who are « Berbers » ? (identity)

They have their own culture, language and civilization.

Their language, although being mainly passed on orally, also has a written form : tifinagh.
Tifinagh is the alphabet of Berber language. The oldest remain of this alphabet goes back to the Antiquity, in the VIth century B.C.

Despite the fact they share the same alphabet, we cannot attribute them a common language. Indeed, there is no such thing as a strictly speaking « berber language », but rather « Berber parlances », in other words, a variety of Berber languages specific to each region. Nonetheless, one could argue there is a structural unity, since we can easily set a common grammatical base, therefore reducing their differences to shallow aspects.

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